Steven Universe - A group of traumatized, broken, desperate people

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Today in "things I like about Steven Universe, the Cluster There's a tendency in fantasy media to create "acceptable targets"-basically people it's "okay" to kill. Zombies are "okay" to kill because they're not "really alive" in the first place. They re more like a plague than they are like people. doesn't matter if you shoot them in the skull, if you blow off their limbs, make them bleed, make them writhe, make them howl, make them suffer. wmatever You're not murdering people. You're curing a píague With a shotgun You know, like, check your humanity at the door You don't need here This is a wonld where there's no reason not to be violent, a fantasy world where the name of the game is murdering dozens or hundreds or thousands of people without having to worry about that weird, pesky thing called a conscience And, hey, if you don't get that, then you're just...weak, or whatever, and youjre probably going to die or get someone else killed because those are the only options in this world we've created, and if you're sitting there, wringing your hands, then you're missing the point You dont get it. Don't you get it? Killing is okay now Maiming is okay now its good its admirable it's even necessary. And it's always unconditionally ustified At least as long as you're aiming at the acceptable targets Hell, as long as you're doing that, it doesn't even matter who you hit in the meantime. It's all okay. Its unconditionally justified doesn't matter if Superman crushed half of Metropolis He had to. it's justified Zod was a monster. He had to be stopped. Reactionary violence against a big enough threat, real or perceived, is always okay and always worth it. And it anyone else dies in the process, then...okay Who cares? We love creating these stories where mass murder is the only way out And it would have been easy to do that with the Cluster When the fusion experiments were introduced, they were basically played up for shock value. Body horror Disembodied hands and feet, sewn together writhing around on the floor and screaming digitally distorted screams It was far and away the most extreme thing Steven Universe had ever explicitly shown on-screen - and presented in such an unexpectedly tense and overtly terrifying way that I remember coming on here and posting a little trigger warning for people in all the other time zones t would have been easy to say, "Well, okay so...his would be a mercy kiling. I mean, these Gems technically died years ago, anyway. These are just their remnants, all twisted up and tortured. It's okay to end them now But I'm glad they were only initialy shocking. Eventualy, kind of cute. And, ultimately. sympathetic s that a weapon? No. The Cluster is not a weapon Or a monster It's not even scary It's pretty. And it's sad. And it's trying But it needs help. CN Pictured: the Cluster. A group of traumatized, broken, desperate people lashing out in ways that are hurtful and destructive to the world around them because they don't feel whole, and they don't know how to cope with that Related images (and others! Pictured: the Cluster. A group of traumatized, broken, desperate people who don't want to hurt anyone. Who just need a little bit of patience, a little bit of understanding, a space where they can exist and heal in peace, and the support of other people like themselves Shard, meet shard The Cluster. Like all the Crystal Gems. Like me. Like a lot of us.

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Top Comments

KarmikCykle

May 16, 2016 at 03:38PM EDT

Funny how they mention the destruction in Man of Steel as necessary for stopping Zodd, because one of the most common complaints about that movie that I've heard and agree with is that the destruction was gratuitous and not accurate to how Superman should be portrayed as a character.

+23

Robotwaterbottle

May 16, 2016 at 03:05PM EDT

As good of a point as the latter half of this post makes, I don't think the first half understands that sometimes violence IS the only real solution to a problem, and seems to demonize it a lot in those first few paragraphs.

+17

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