I mean, I didn't say it did.
But this does make me think of something else, not exactly about religion, but how the show feels.
I've seen a couple of people take jabs at the show for being emotionally manipulated or whatever. I don't agree, and it usually comes off as people who aren't interested in what it's actually about, but I'm still curious how a common a view-point that is.
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Yeah, this is a kid's animated show with 16 or 17 canonical lesbian characters, two canonical gay characters, and one or two canonical bisexual characters, it's anything but "cowardly".
Only as much as any piece of media is emotionally manipulative for aiming to produce a specific emotion with each scene.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Aug 29th 2018 at 10:06:59 AM
Edited my above post because I somehow forgot about the lesbian Homeworld Gems in my count.
Final count:
16 or 17 lesbians: Ruby, Sapphire, Pearl, S, Peridot, Lapis, Topaz right ear, Topaz left ear, Rhodonite counts as two, Flourite counts as six, maybe Amethyst
2 gays: Mr. Smiley, Mr. Frowney
1 or two bis: Rose, maybe Amethyst
That count seems weird to me. It's been confirmed since awhile back that gems aren't unfamiliar with romance, and given their nature, that's almost always going to mean female/lesbian relationships.
Although, I'll also note you included some characters whose feelings haven't even been confirmed to be romantic.
Edited by LSBK on Aug 29th 2018 at 12:19:20 PM
That count seems weird to me. It's been confirmed since awhile back that gems aren't unfamiliar with romance, and given their nature, that's almost always going to mean female/lesbian relationships.
Well, yeah. They still qualify as lesbians for the purposes of LGBT representation.
Although, I'll also note you included some characters whose feelings haven't even been confirmed to be romantic.
Rhodonite and Flourite? I figured it was a pretty safe assumption that they qualify. Technically, Mr. Frowney might not have been gay, but given the confirmation that Mr. Smiley is gay came immediately after (and in response to) the episode with Mr. Frowney, it's a pretty logical leap to make.
Steven Universe feels like the kind of show where it doesn't need to be 100% explicitly spelled out that a character's gay in order for that character to be canonically gay. There's so much textual homo in this show already that the writers can afford to write gay characters as gay subtextually just with body language and inference from dialogue.
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If Mystery Girl is actually Sabina, that would make her bisexual, not a lesbian.
Edited by Crossover-Enthusiast on Aug 29th 2018 at 1:42:44 PM
Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢I was referring to Lapis and Peridot about not being explicitly, yes. I wouldn't be surprised if it went there, but it hasn't yet.
I actually could see Amethyst as bisexual, but for the most part they seem less interested in using her for romance than either Pearl or Garnet (and thus Ruby and Sapphire).
Edited by LSBK on Aug 29th 2018 at 12:44:57 PM
I mean, one of the writers of the show certainly seems to think that Lapis and Peridot are a couple, and that's fairly close to Word of God. Otherwise, refer back to my previous point about the show already having so much textual homo that it can afford to have some subtextual homo that still 'counts' as homo.
Sorry, sorry, was being overly acerbic for the sake of humor again. I'm really trying to get better at that.
My actual point was that I've always kinda found the worldbuilding in Steven Universe to be lacking, especially with how it relates to Earth and how humanity as a civilization was affected by contact with an extraterrestrial species in its infancy, including the massive damage done to it. For crying out loud, Russia doesn't exist. That alone should have some kind of impact on the world other than three cities having different names.
My various fanfics.

Edited by LSBK on Aug 29th 2018 at 11:40:12 AM