Spoilers for “Steven Universe.” Content warning for romantic abuse.
If you grew up with Cartoon Network in the 2010s, you’re probably familiar with the part-romcom, part-drama sci-fi, slice-of-life coming-of-age animated series “Steven Universe.” The entire controversy surrounding this show would take an extensive amount of time to properly unpack regardless of opinion (and people already did so online on both sides of this argument), but it’s worth seriously exploring the nature and content of this show. A lot of the criticisms are valid — especially near the end of the show — but despite some of its blunders, there are some excellent ideas in the show. Many people who hate “Steven Universe” likely don’t receive well to the comforting appeal of the show, which is understandable. However, for the thematic risks taken, especially for a kids’ cartoon, “Steven Universe” is underappreciated, whether you like the show or not, for how it depicts many sides of relationships.
Before we can get into the themes of “Steven Universe,” we need to understand this show’s plot. The series follows the adventures of a kid named Steven in the small coastal town of Beach City. His primary caretakers are the Crystal Gems: Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, who are extraterrestrial lifeforms that go on mysterious missions that Steven eventually goes on too.
The main conflict of the show comes when it’s eventually revealed that there are more gems out there and that the Crystal Gems come from this space base called “Homeworld,” where the fascist Diamonds rule over the other gems. They practice a caste-like system where gems are created for specific purposes and taught dogma. If they’re “defective” or defiant to the Diamonds’ rule, they’re “shattered,” or killed.
Against this backdrop, the show heavily explores the different relationships between its characters, romantic or otherwise. It especially focuses on the nature of these relationships as they cross boundaries in real categories like gender or plot-specific ones such as the aforementioned caste systems. When these divisions are combined with the central conflict of the series, it attempts to show different maladaptions and emotional struggles that come as a result.
An infamous example of this could be found in the character Lapis Lazuli. In the show, Lapis was imprisoned for centuries in a mirror. When freed, the main villain at the time named Jasper coerces Lapis to “fuse” with her, meaning becoming a singular entity and an allegory for, debatably, getting close relationship-wise. Lapis uses her power to chain their fusion to the bottom of the sea so that they wouldn’t destroy Earth. Lapis later says that she “misses” Jasper after they broke the fusion.
This relationship between Lapis and Jasper was mutually toxic, with both of them constantly abusing each other when fused. This reflects both the cycle of abuse and “reactive abuse,” or a defense reaction to prolonged abuse where the one getting abused reflects that same negativity onto the abuser to abuse them according to the Marriage Recovery Center’s article “When the Victim Becomes the Abuser.”
Lapis’ abuse didn’t end there. Her perpetuation of trauma with Jasper led to her becoming emotionally abusive and incredibly toxic treatment of Peridot, who was only trying her best to be amicable in her own way. If the abuse wasn’t cyclical with Jasper, it certainly was with Peridot.
Lapis, like Jasper in “Steven Universe Future,” deserved a better redemption arc that acknowledged how badly she treated these two gems, making amends with her past in a proper way and managing her emotional trauma. Lapis is an example of a complex character who deserved more time to develop.
The show also talks about different types of obsession based emotional connections, such as limerence or codependency. Limerence is an involuntary attachment that becomes obsessive — the type of love that Pearl has for Pink Diamond in the caste system, where Pearl served her. Pearl’s character arc included moving on from Pink Diamond and focusing on herself.
Something slightly more explored especially in “Steven Universe Future” is Steven’s conflict in identity and guilt for what someone you’re related to did or experienced. This struggle doesn’t only represent existential crisis but also generational trauma in the sense that past struggles have been brought into the present. Pink Diamond left all her problems for Steven and the Crystal Gems to figure out and, through her actions, she hurt the ones she loved.
The healthiest relationship in “Steven Universe” by far is between Ruby and Sapphire, who fuse to become Garnet and changed the landscape of children’s media. Their love story is formulaic but holds a ton of symbolism, being a watershed moment for normalizing queer representation in youth programming. Their wedding shared an episode with a major plot development so that the episode couldn’t be skipped.
Furthermore, the themes of managing codependency (in “Future”) and issues from Pearl actively tricking Garnet to fuse with her and the Pink Diamond reveal making them split being resolved in healthy and rational ways involving dialogue between the two in the series is incredibly important especially for younger minds.
Whether you love or hate “Steven Universe” with its flaws and missed opportunities, it’s hard to refute its historical and cultural significance. The show explores an incredible breadth of themes without exploring them to the extent it should. Still, “Steven Universe” laid the groundwork for many other shows after it and made audiences aware of topics considered difficult for many to properly explain to a child. There’s a lot to appreciate with this show idea-wise and especially in the realm of relationships which could be built upon in official continuations or fan projects, ultimately starting dialogues about these topics.