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Feb. 2nd, 2019 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feotakahariThere’s a specific scene in Steven Universe that’s everything I want from “dark” media.
Within the lore of SU, the beings known as Gems have the ability to synchronize their minds and “fuse” into a stronger form with combined powers. This requires a shared mindset, and they separate again if their emotions fall out of sync. In practice, a lot of the characters we see fuse are people who care about each other, and fusion is treated as an act of love in many ways.
In and of itself, this is a wildly romanticized concept. “These two people love each other so much that their souls join in union!” But SU keeps poking and prodding at the edges of the idea. Can people miscommunicate so thoroughly that even when joined as one, they still misunderstand each other? If shared love can bind people together, then what about shared hatred? When does loving another person become neglecting your own growth as an individual?
One of the most infamous scenes in SU is when Steven and Garnet investigate the villains' experiments in fusion. To the Homeworld army, fusion is something that makes you stronger, more powerful, and more lethal. Any emotional aspects are irrelevant, because to Homeworld, emotions in general are irrelevant. So they took the broken remains of fallen rebels, forcibly fused them together, and created screaming monstrosities to attack everything in the vicinity. In a species that doesn't reproduce sexually, this is the closest possible act to rape.
Firstly, this scene makes perfect sense with everything that came before. Homeworld believes that everything and everyone is to be used to solely for a specific purpose. Fusions serve their purpose through warfare, and rebels serve what purpose remains to them through punishment and recycling. Of course Homeworld would try to refine and further weaponize the parts of fusion that are most useful to it, and of course it wouldn't care about the consequences as applied to "defective" rebels! As horrific and evil as this scene is, it's not really that surprising to see that Homeworld still lacks moral standards.
Secondly, this scene doesn't invalidate everything that came before. These monsters are not the same as loving fusions like Garnet, and in the end, they don't change Garnet's feelings about herself and her relationship. The affection the audience already feels towards Garnet is able to coexist with the horror at what Homeworld has done.
Maybe this is just a part of my larger thoughts on media, and my tendency to approach a story as a set of dominoes falling in order. I dislike to see a new element suddenly come out of nowhere, or see an interesting element that was already in use get suddenly discarded as no longer fitting. But Steven Universe fits together well enough that its darkest elements can stand side by side with its most idealistic ones, and that means a lot to me.
Within the lore of SU, the beings known as Gems have the ability to synchronize their minds and “fuse” into a stronger form with combined powers. This requires a shared mindset, and they separate again if their emotions fall out of sync. In practice, a lot of the characters we see fuse are people who care about each other, and fusion is treated as an act of love in many ways.
In and of itself, this is a wildly romanticized concept. “These two people love each other so much that their souls join in union!” But SU keeps poking and prodding at the edges of the idea. Can people miscommunicate so thoroughly that even when joined as one, they still misunderstand each other? If shared love can bind people together, then what about shared hatred? When does loving another person become neglecting your own growth as an individual?
One of the most infamous scenes in SU is when Steven and Garnet investigate the villains' experiments in fusion. To the Homeworld army, fusion is something that makes you stronger, more powerful, and more lethal. Any emotional aspects are irrelevant, because to Homeworld, emotions in general are irrelevant. So they took the broken remains of fallen rebels, forcibly fused them together, and created screaming monstrosities to attack everything in the vicinity. In a species that doesn't reproduce sexually, this is the closest possible act to rape.
Firstly, this scene makes perfect sense with everything that came before. Homeworld believes that everything and everyone is to be used to solely for a specific purpose. Fusions serve their purpose through warfare, and rebels serve what purpose remains to them through punishment and recycling. Of course Homeworld would try to refine and further weaponize the parts of fusion that are most useful to it, and of course it wouldn't care about the consequences as applied to "defective" rebels! As horrific and evil as this scene is, it's not really that surprising to see that Homeworld still lacks moral standards.
Secondly, this scene doesn't invalidate everything that came before. These monsters are not the same as loving fusions like Garnet, and in the end, they don't change Garnet's feelings about herself and her relationship. The affection the audience already feels towards Garnet is able to coexist with the horror at what Homeworld has done.
Maybe this is just a part of my larger thoughts on media, and my tendency to approach a story as a set of dominoes falling in order. I dislike to see a new element suddenly come out of nowhere, or see an interesting element that was already in use get suddenly discarded as no longer fitting. But Steven Universe fits together well enough that its darkest elements can stand side by side with its most idealistic ones, and that means a lot to me.
