earth embassy au! the star trek future where all pop culture aliens know each other.. spock grew up around everybody !! the star of every ambassador convention
imo steven universe stopped deserving to be cut any slack or let off the hook for any of its shit once it decided to make an illegal immigrant joke on a children’s show that was most definitely seen by countless undocumented immigrant children and their families when it aired on television and like… showed the character who expressed that he hates illegal immigrants as someone the other characters needed to accept and understand. nah. fuck those gringos for putting shit like that in their Super Progressive Forward Thinking Children’s Show
like Rebecca Sugar is just a bubblegum version of Matt and Trey if we’re being real💁🏾♀️
I’m having a hard time finding the episode or any script as to what’s being referenced. Any sources for anyone who stopped watching a while ago? Please and thank you!
The episode is Gem Harvest.
It was essentially supposed to be a “thanksgiving” episode, and sort of show what it is like when you have that one racist and homophobic relative over to dinner who won’t shut up. While that is a reasonably funny idea, it kinda fell apart because the plot was about catering to Andy (Greg’s cousin), making him feel better about Lapis and Peridot living in the barn, and the Gems trying to do stuff HE liked so he’d be pacified. Regardless of what they did, he still complained and threw a fit about one thing or the other. Even though the episode ended with him deciding they could stay in his family’s barn, he never actually learned a real lesson to imply he saw the things he said/did were wrong. He admitted he was wrong about the Gems, but that doesn’t mean he thinks he’s wrong about everything else. Also, the problem with using the Gems as a metaphor for a different race/sexuality/gender that a bigot hates… there are ACTUAL human characters within the show who would definitely be offended by Andy, and it would have been good to see them react in a more realistic way. Imagine if Andy had been saying this stuff to the Pizza family, or Connie? It wouldn’t have been a “metaphor” for racism, it would have been literal blatant RACISM (even after Andy repeatedly insults the Gems then leaves, Steven still begs him to stay. Andy hasn’t really done a thing that shows he’s nice. I get that Steven wants more human family members, but Andy was portrayed as a pretty bad human). It wasn’t such a bad idea in general, but it was executed poorly (they didn’t even bring any of this back later on to show if Andy has really changed his ideals, or if he is just tolerating the Gems for Greg and Steven)
I think what really made it horrible was the context in which it aired. Just 10 days prior, Donald Trump was elected president. The episode’s clunky, terrible message- “sometimes you just have to get along with your racist family members”- subsequently became an endorsement of trump voters. Because the crewniverse didn’t think about the potential consequences of what they put in their show, and what they might be telling children about the political landscape, they ended up encouraging passivity around emboldened, violent racists who just achieved a massive victory in national politics, at the expense of marginalized children and families who were and are very understandably hurt and afraid.
this is a really good addition ^ like what fucking atrocious timing to come out with a sentiment like that
Plot Designing 