Season One’s moral message is dead.
I literally only just thought about this since it’s not super obvious. A lot of people have probably already talked about this, but over the course of season one, we see Steven mature. Season one’s main purpose is establishment. It greets us with the characters and their dynamics. It’s why nobody cared back then that there was a lot of “filler”, since we were getting to know the world we found ourselves in, and getting to know the character dynamics. It was all good.
But there was an underlying theme that cropped up every single time a plot episode happened, and that is ‘peace and war’.
Every time they face a threat, The Crystal Gems would dive into action and kick the crap out of whatever was facing them. That was how they dealt with problems, they just beat it with raw strength because they didnt have any consequences to come afterward since Homeworld was no longer a threat as far as they knew. However, as the season progressed, this solution stopped working. This is most prevelant in the episode ‘Marble Madness’ where Peridot sends a bunch of plug robonoids to Earth and the Gems just keep destroying them. Steven eventually realises that they’re learning nothing this way, and they have absolutely no idea why they keep coming back, and their best source of information would be the robot itself. So Steven suggests that they stop fighting it and follow it instead. They do, and it leads them to them discovering that Homeworld is still doing something on Earth, though they don’t know what, as Peridot threatens Steven’s life so they’re forced to jump into action. This is the best example we can see of Steven’s pacifism. He doesn’t want to fight, and he doesn’t like that The Crystal Gems always fight every problem they face. By being kind and caring, he was able to get the solution to a problem. This even continues into season two with Peridot as he wants to talk to her and figure out the problem while the Gems just want to attack her and bubble her.
When Lapis first appears, Steven talks to her. Lapis and Steven become friends, and she dislikes The Crystal Gems because they try to attack her. Even the very first time that Lapis is out of the mirror, they all run outside with their weapons drawn. When Peridot first arrives, Steven sees the good in her and wants to speak to her, but the Gems see her as a threat. With Centipeetle, or Nephrite, Steven wants to calm her down and talk to her but the Gems keep attacking her.
Multiple times through the season we’re taught that fighting every single problem you face isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes problems can be solved with kindness and caring. That’s why it’s such a shock at the end of season one when we’re face with a problem that can’t be solved with hugs and kisses. After everything he’s learned, with his kindness getting him into trouble with Peridot, and now this, Steven is forced to face the realisation that some people just aren’t capable of such kindness. He tells Lapis that they “have to fight them [Homeworld]” because of everything that they’ve done. And that’s just what he knows about at that very moment, which is literally just that Gems invaded Earth and attacked his family.
Now, however, that message is dead and the show has danced on its grave because Steven has gone from someone who is understanding and learning that not everything is strictly black and white, and sometimes the oppressed have no choice but to fight back against the oppressors; and turned into someone who sides with the oppressors because ‘everyone deserves a chance’. Which is BULLSHIT because time and time again the Diamonds have shown that they dont deserve a chance at all. Not even including all the genocide, colonising, slavery, and all that crap. I mean just what we’ve seen in the show toward Steven. Every time Steven has tried to talk to them they almost kill him and everyone he loves. Yet he still insists that there’s “no need to fight.”
That kind of message, that every single problem can be solved with kindness, is a good idea but a VERY DANGEROUS CONCEPT if dont wrong. And it’s done very very wrong.
Season One: “If someone hurts someone, and you hurt them back, what does that make you?” Steven: “A hero?”
S: “They hurt my friends, they hurt my face! They’ve got you here in prison!” L: “That’s why we can’t fight them.” S: “That’s why we have to fight them!”
Season three: “Nobody deserves this.”
Season five: “There’s no need to fight. Let me talk to them.”
Fuck you Steven, you’re a shit protagonist and we hate you.
