praise r/bobsaintclair



Attempts at seriously analyzing kid’s cartoons are always wonkey. For every instance of a fan correctly hitting on overarching themes of isolation, insecurity and the need to overcome social stratification, there are individuals who sincerely believe silly kawaii jokes like Steven Universe dancing in a dress are actually a overt recognition of transexuality. Like many of you, I am a sucker for seeking out early foreshadowing and subtle cues that indicate the creator’s intent. Unlike many of you, I know when I’ve gone too far.

When it comes to the Steven Universe fandom, there are many ideas and beliefs that I can attack. The gemtlemen (and their stupid desire for “male” gems) still linger in our collective unconscious, but thankfully that meme was put to the sword months ago. Due to this cartoon’s tendency to redeem freaking everything, some have started to state that Onion is just a lonely child with an acute form of autism, which is also stupid seeing how ONION is obviously The evil one Lord Satan made flesh. There are other thoughts floating around like Lars being born with a vagina, but that is an idea too dumb for words/sanity.

What I really want to focus on is a tongue and cheek meme that has been making the rounds for a few weeks now, namely that something about the Crystal Gems is vaguely communist. Now I love picturing Pearls rising up as one in order to raise the red flag, but calling such a revolt “COMMUNIST” only speaks to our general lack of imagination. It should be admitted that when we hear the word “caste” most of us think of bugs or maybe India, and it is true that there are anti-caste system Commie guerrillas still operating in isolated pockets of that country. To take that fact and use it too unironically proliferate faux Leninist propaganda pics is just silly though.

Humor me for a second. Comparing Rose’s rebellion with communist revolution is not only silly, its inaccurate. Of course everyone here understands that pasting Earthen sociopolitical theories onto immortal amorphous sentient space rocks can’t be done. But more to the point, communism and the reasons behind the Gem war are totally incompatible. The goal of communism is to give everything that is made and the decisions about how it is to be made (ie the means of production) over to the proletariat (ie those who actually make it). If gems are produced rather than bred, than that means gemkind’s means of production centers around the growth of their species. When Rose fought against Homeworld, she essentially fought to stop the creation of more gems. She and her followers fought to destroy their means of production, which is a totally uncommunist thing to do.

Ho-Ho-Ho Chi Minh?!!







Take my advice: don’t over-analyze this stuff. You don’t want to end up thinking about the sociopolitical intricacies of something that airs on Cartoon Network. You don’t want to be like me.