Fun family story: when my aunt was marrying her wife everyone was really excited but also dreading it because my aunt is known for her insanely long speeches so everyone knew her vows would be like 9 hours long so when it came time for her to say her vows she had a shit ton of cue cards in her hands and even her wife started groaning and my aunt took a deep inhale and then unravelled all the cue cards which were taped together and they all just read ‘HOT DAMN’ in giant letters and those were my aunts vows.
Just a little note here: my aunt is almost 49 years old and is a beautiful, strong, fantastically brave trans lesbian. She holds that title proudly and always wants people to know that you can find love and discover your true identity no matter what age. She fully transitioned about 3 years ago and only knew her true identity at the age of 40. She lived a full life previous to her transition, was married to somebody else and even has a daughter (who is in a wonderful polyamorous relationship) and she regrets absolutely nothing from her life and how and when she transitioned and found the true love of her life.
So everyone please know not to be afraid to discover yourself and find love at any age. You are all wonderful and lovely and my aunt didn’t tell me to say this directly to you all but it is something that she always preaches heavily and i thought the people should know
Aside from being just a really neat animation style, I definitely see there being a metaphor in Spinel’s old school rubber hose animation aesthetic. Like, it’s very representative of the past, of childhood even, of the abandonment and burying of old things and people from your past. If just leaving these old things that used to make you happy to rot back in the past instead of bringing them along with you to grow and change too
Like, Pink’s whole ambition at that time was to be seen as serious and as important as the other Diamonds. She hated being treated like a child (we really see this in “Jungle Moon”) and wanted a colony to prove her worth, to be seen as equal among the other Diamonds.
In the scene in the movie where Pink is granted a colony and she’s on the Diamond phone thing to Yellow and Blue, Spinel is bouncing around and goofing off and Pink clearly looks embarrassed, hurriedly shoving Spinel out of the way so Yellow and Blue don’t see. Pink doesn’t want to bring Spinel along because Pink’s embarrassed by her, afraid she’ll make Pink look like a foolish little kid and not the grown up responsible Gem she’s trying to prove she is to Yellow and Blue.
And it’s really not unlike how tweens and teens stop watching cartoons because they get teased and how it’s seen as childish to watch cartoons, that it’s a thing babies do and if you want to be a grown up, if you want to be respected, you better leave that cartoon stuff in the past. I’m sure this still happens today but it was definitely a prevalent mindset when many of the crewniverse were kids.
And I think the crew have a love of old animation and maybe a desire to fish it up out of the past and bring it to today instead of just leaving it back there with forgotten memories of childish things. Like, the idea some people have that really toony toons can’t be taken seriously (a criticism lobbed at SU quite a few times!) and the crew wanting to push against that and say you can still have goofy, fun, toony cartoons and give them modern deep plots and heavy emotion, that the two together are not a contradiction
Anyway, yeah, I definitely feel Spinel’s animation style was a super deliberate choice for the overarching theme of her character
But y'all seem to be forgetting about/ not caring about Pink’s trauma.
Pink was abused. Pink was under high expectations, yet for the longest time was never given any chance to prove herself. When she misbehaved, she was locked in a dark tower and starved of light.
It doesn’t excuse what happened between Pink and Spinel. But people have to remember her upbringing. Unlike Steven, she didn’t have people encouraging her and holding her hand through things. And there were serious consequences for doing what she felt was right. That was the only thing she knew. Sure, her actions were childish and bratty. But I’ve seen so many people calling her evil. She’s far from evil. She isn’t good, either. She’s created heroes and villains. I think so many people saw her as this perfect, wonderful being.
‘I always thought I might be bad, now I’m sure that it’s true. Cause I think you’re so good, and I’m nothing like you. ’ -Love Like You.
I am positive this line is Rose singing to Greg. Always have been. She knows she isn’t perfect. She’s made mistakes, and done things she didn’t like. To write her off as a villain is ignorant. The greatest lesson from Steven Universe is that the world isn’t as simple as black and white. Of course she would seem like the worst SU 'villain’. She’s the only person we won’t get a redemption for. She will never have the chance to make up for her mistakes, or fix her wrong doings. She will never have the chance to overcome her trauma, unlike Spinel. Whether or not due to her own actions, my point stands. There will always be gems like Spinel and White that get redemptions. Pink/Rose never will.
It should also be known that Pink was the ONLY diamond the treat other gems with respect. Pink worked towards freedom on Homeworld before she even knew it.
She lacked the ability to change like Steven did. Pink wasn’t able to change because change was regarded as bad. Change made you imperfect. And to Pink, who was already imperfect, that wouldn’t have help her in anyway.
bernie 2016: the 1% should pay their fair share in taxes
bernie 2020: what if we executed the oil execs 😳 and started a class war 🙈💕
This may ~sound revolutionary~ because America is so far to the fucking right, but this is basic ass rights we deserve. Bernie isn’t saying anything pearl-clutchingly radical. The rich class just wants to step on our windpipe and always hear “thank you”
Pro tip: if an evangelical stranger approaches you asking to pray for you, there’s inevitably something about you that they see and want to change. [Ex: I attend a very conservative, very religious uni and am clearly tomboyish/lesbiany, and thus am constantly attracting evangelical strangers] If you can’t shake them (usually very difficult), then turn the tactic upon them by asking if they mind you leading the prayer bc “I have a few things on my mind.”
Then talk about whatever it is that’s making them uncomfortable. I ask god to protect all the lgbt+ kids that are lost, isolated or homeless. I mention my non-Christian brothers, sisters, and siblings that have to fight for recognition and respect in a monoreligious nation. I pray for the protection of immigrants and refugees, reminding my evangelical friends that their savoir was once one of that number. You can pray for pregnant mothers to find the resources and abortive care that they need, if they need it, if you’re feeling particularly brave.
This achieves two things: 1) there is no response to this, esp if you wrap it up with “amen, thank you guys so much for doing that with me. I hope y'all have a blessed day” and leave them no room to continue the prayer. But more importantly 2) that group will NEVER bother you again and you will show them, using their own method against them, that their prayer isn’t an act of faith, but of power.
Just thought I’d share bc I know that I used to be accosted by evangelical strangers once a week on my uni campus and never had a good response or ‘out’. This is by far the most effective method of shutting that sort of behavior down real quick.
Jesus could be a passive-aggressive son of a G and this is right out of his playbook.
