ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "BuddyStarr said: "What is "Steven Universe"? (yes, I feel old)"
It's an animated children's show on Cartoon Network about a boy being raised by three women who are not human but gems that take on human formand his single father. Steven is half-gem and half-human who goes on adventures and missions with his three female caretakers, who were part of a team with his mother.
That's the premise of the show. It starts off as a seemingly silly show about a boy growing up and going on adventures and making mistakes and learning from them, but pretty early on you realize how deep and really emotional the show actually is. It's like a punch in the gut because you don't expect it. And the show just continues on outdoing itself in that aspect even when we now expect it.
The show actually uses that premise to really touch upon real human topics in incredibly nuanced and knowledgeable ways. The premise itself is about a boy being brought up in a non-traditional family household, his three heroes being all female, his father who seems like a deadbeat actually is not and is one of the best portrayals of fathers in television. It also delves deeply into gender identity/expression, complicated human relationships, dealing with burdens that you've inherited from a parent that everybody idolizes but you yourself have no memory of or relationship with, using animation and fantasy elements to symbolize human interaction and relationships, and utilizes reverse magical perceptions meaning that it's the fantasy characters that find mundane, every day human behavior to be fascinating.
I think the show works so well because it's the first show on Cartoon Network to be run by a woman, Rebecca Sugar. The way she gathered a seriously diverse team of talent with very different backgrounds (race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and even those with non-traditional art/music backgrounds in animation)and gave them a lot of freedom to create the storylines and overarching plot, and characterizations of the characters of the show (not just the main ones but all the recurring characters that make up the town and world this show portrays) was really beyond what many live-action shows have been able to do. Even the voice actors she's hired were made up of non-traditional voice actors for most of the characters and they are mostly Asian-Americanand black women (Steven is voiced by an actual boy who has really matured and grown). It wasn't on purpose, it just happened. Of course, those voice actors helped shape what the characters ended up becoming which adds to the incredible representation this show has. That's why it's considered one of the most progressive, and forward-thinking and yet non-preachy and entertaining shows on TV by some critics and most of its fanbase.
Plus, the music (both the underscoring and actual songs) are pretty incredible. I also love how the show started out being unassuming and it turns out to be this massive epic story. It was a very slow world-build which I felt was a great way to slowly reveal the story and keep the audience not knowing what to expect."
Thanks for your response. I did do a google search and found out some of it but your explanation is much more thorough and succinct . Is there any way to catch up from the beginning? i.e., Netflix or Amazon?
and because she was like the first Asian person I ever saw on television ever. I then remember seeing her name on a Playbill for the Miss Saigon National tour when I was a few years older in the 90s. I'm Vietnamese so of course so many of my family members went to see the show. I had no idea that like about 20 years later I'll see her name again, remember all of that, and then fall in love with her through this show. I swear Steven Universe is just combining all of my favorite things and keeps on doing it.
