YES ABSOLUTELY THIS!!! And I think its also important to note that like— with the way the show portrayed the dynamic between the diamonds and steven— I truly don’t feel like it would have mattered whether they redeemed them or not.
Rebecca speaks a lot about how they talked with higher ups for CN’s anti bullying campaign and did their own homework on child psychology and how to solve problems and conflicts, and they wanted to portray conflicts being solved through open communication, and they talk about how they wanted to do this from the start because CN had an audience of mostly young boys, and they had never seen shows aimed at kids in that regard actually portraying problems being solved with anything But violence. they wanted to show problems being solved with communication and to do that they also had to humanize the other party so there was understanding as to Why the bad action was done which is actually sooo important for tweens and teens to see in media, to be able to see nuanced conflict, because not only is it more interesting but it sets them up to understand conflict in the Real World much better— the people who hurt you arent irredeemable evil cartoon villains, but they’re not right. they’re hurting you because they have their own problems to sort out and are taking it out on you and that’s THEIR problem. In the magfest q&a rebecca says that in the early stages of the movie higher ups were just repeatedly insisting to them that steven just HAD to fucking Kill spinel and they were like. NO? LMFAOOOOO
The thing abt this argument and why it falls flat is that the show still blatantly shows that their actions are BAD and shows that they do have to face consequences for those actions, even if they had reasons for doing so. It doesn’t matter if steven “forgave” the diamonds or not (which objectively he Didn’t he’s still visibly uncomfortable around them and LITERALLY TRIES TO KILL WHITE IN A MENTAL BREAK LMFAO) because he still called their asses out on their abuse. The show DIRECTLY tells the audience that this Isn’t normal, people can’t do this and your family cant treat you like this, and you deserve better than that. It tells you that nobody has the right to tell you who you are, even the people who claim to love you.
Like i think often the reason a lot of people stay with their toxic family members is out of guilt, or a feeling of obligation— even feeling like they deserve to be treated that way. But steven… doesn’t. Not only does he NOT forgive the diamonds like objectively (he just doesn’t think anyone deserves to DIE especially if they’re Willing to make the effort to do better and hold themselves accountable) but he just objectively knows he DOESN’T deserve to be treated that way and he Doesn’t let that shit slide. The diamonds were needed for the plot to heal the corrupted gems and it’s just not in character for steven to kill them or whatever, but the narrative was also just Always about family and connection and humanity while also acknowledging that people will do fucked up things and treat you badly and you DON’T DESERVE to be treated that way. Whether you choose to forgive them is Your Choice— The show never said you Have To!! And again, objectively, steven doesn’t forgive the diamonds— he just wanted to give them the chance to change. And frankly i think forcing white to be nice to people was a punishment far worse than death for her /j
Not to mention its also important to show that people CAN take accountability for their actions and do better and become better people but they have to make the effort to do so and still face consequences— that’s what su was about the entire time!!!
I think about the blue diamond scene in cym sooo much bc i think it sums this up perfectly— it doesnt matter whether or not they got redeemed bc steven called them out on their abuse and said, in text, “this isn’t normal. this isn’t what a loving family does”. The message this gives to kids is SO FUCKING IMPORTANT.
Kids don’t have the means to get out of their abusive households yet but su told them that they have every right to not put up with their shit and once we get older and gain more autonomy we realize that does often involve leaving. sooo many people recognized that They were being abused because of su’s narratives around it but because the show objectively told you “You SHOULDN’T have to put up with this, people who love you don’t treat you this way” they DON’T feel like they HAVE to forgive them. Thats all it comes down to— just because steven gave the diamonds the chance to improve doesn’t mean you have to do that to your abusers, or that he forgave them, or that their actions were justified or endorsed by the shows writing. it’s the exact opposite. thats just What Steven Did. what you do is your choice. And if you see a children’s cartoon objectively saying “Abuse Is Bad and you dont deserve to be treated like shit” and think that its telling you you HAVE to forgive your abusers purely bc the main character didn’t like kill them then you’ve got your own issues to work out man idk. 😭😭
