Is it okay if I make an observation? We get American TV here. We get more American channels than Canadian channels. In all my years watching American TV I've noticed that you tend to politicize everything. Everything is either "right' or "left." Even in a children's cartoon people can't stop talking about how a character is "conservative." Is it not possible to see a person as an actual person without labeling them based on what party they'd vote for?
Honestly, no. The political situation here is really polarized and really bad. Everything is political these days.
And SU has always been a deeply political show anyway. Suggesting that LGBT themes are normal is actually a pretty hard left stance.
edited 18th Nov '16 11:37:53 AM by LeGarcon
Oh really when?Yeah, I really gotta disagree with you there. In my books, just including gay people is not political unless you make a big fuss about that aspect of their character in the show and make it a huge anvil rather than just, y'know, being normal about it.
Loves feel-good animation a whole lot.Considering America's current state right now, being normal about it is also a huge political statement. It's that bad here.
And don't think Iran is progressive, they only offer the surgery for people who are admitted homosexuals. Because a man could never love a man so obviously you must be a woman and receive "treatment"
Oh really when?Honestly, I think having gay characters and portraying it as completely normal is in and of itself a political statement.
Especially given...recent events.
edited 18th Nov '16 12:24:09 PM by KarkatTheDalek
Oh God! Natural light!I mean, we used to have a show called Little Mosque on the Prairie, and to the best of my knowledge there was no controversy. But if someone were to make that show down south, I don't even know what would happen.
Sorry to bring up this point, but I appreciate that the show gave at least some nuance to Andy's character. All his comments in his introductory scene just seemed like the show was trying too hard to make him a Straw Conservative. And I think if the show ended in a more cathartic way (for both the creators and the audience) with Andy being told off for his views, admitting he's completely wrong, or getting punched into the stratosphere, that would send the wrong message to real people like him.
As several people have pointed out since the election, part of why so many people voted for Trump was the feeling of being ostracized for not agreeing with liberal views, and getting lumped into the extreme side. Don't get me wrong, they're wrong, but portraying all of them as xenophobic fuckwits that have no redeeming qualities or justifiable motivation does less than nothing. They'll just get further locked down in their opinions and be harder to convince. It's sort of like the Jasper/Bismuth problem: if he's the only conservative one, and is a stereotype, he represents all conservatives as that stereotype. So giving Andy some motivation, but not necessarily justifying his words, seemed like a nice compromise.
Speaking of which, I think Stephen Colbert gave a great speech about politics and "the other side" in his ending speech on his live election coverage special
. It is very much worth a watch.
Pretty Cure has a season going on right new about magical gems that power up said Magical Girls. I dont watch it because I didnt like it like I did the others, but there are many gems from Steven Universe there! Ruby and Saphire are givens but Alexandrite REALLY makes me wonder if this was inspired by Steven Universe.
As long as this flower is in my heart. My Strength will flow without end.One of the most brilliant things this episode did with Andy was the way they introduced his antagonistic behavior, in a way designed to make us see him as less of a hostile character and more of a fool.
The very first thing he accuses them of being is "hippies," which is characterization shorthand for a lot of tropes - for one, hippies were a phenomenon from decades ago. And for decades, even at the time the actual phenomenon was going on, being angry at hippies was memetically associated with being out of touch with people and blathering about nothing. Nowadays, it's always associated with old people who don't understand how the world is changing. That initial gripe establishes Andy as a obstinate old windbag, and even though a lot of what he says later are associated with more current and nasty issues, that first impression colors everything we see him do after wards. And so right from those first few seconds, we know before we're told that Andy's problem is that he's out of touch with the world, not that he's outright hateful.
Had he led with the "illegal immigrants" line, he would have come off a lot less sympathetic because it would have been coloring the rest of his characterization instead. As it was, he comes off as more of an Archie Bunker than anything else, and his conniptions are thus more humorous.
edited 18th Nov '16 2:40:33 PM by KnownUnknown

If remember correctly, Lapis didn't say that she hated the table, she said that if the corn spent years trapped in the mirror it would hate the table. I think she was just trying to make light of her past experiences like Peridot was, not saying that she hated the Earth.
Also, if remember correctly, a main reason why she first attacked the Rubies' ship was to protect Steven and Peridot, since it looked like the ship was getting ready to attack, she even asked if Peridot was okay afterwards.