The Real Problem with Homeworld

After listening to what Peridot had to say about Homeworld in Gem Drill, I think I’m beginning to understand precisely what Homeworld’s deal is, as well as why Rose and the Crystal Gems decided to rebel.

People assume that Homeworld is a cold, emotionless, evil society where the upper echelons are comprised entirely of sadists who kill and torture lower-class Gems for funsies. They assume that their attempt to destroy Earth was done out of pure contempt for organic life. But the more we learn about Homeworld, the clearer it becomes that things are not so clear-cut. Why would Peridot get so teary-eyed reminiscing about Homeworld if it had nothing positive to offer her? Why would Garnet and Pearl miss certain things about their home planet and society, even if they gave up everything they knew for the chance at a new life? Why would Lapis do anything to go back home, and why did she still remain loyal to Homeworld even if she found nothing resembling the life she knew when she returned?

Each new episode hammers home the importance of looking at others with compassion. Every antagonist had a reason for doing what they did. Even the Cluster, which was a terrifying abomination that should never have existed, had their reasons, and they deserved to be treated sympathetically and be heard. So what does this mean for Homeworld? What makes the Gempire tick, and why didn’t they stop the war before countless lives were lost?

Seeing Peridot’s behavior this episode, especially after Steven told her he loved her, made me realize that what is going on is not so much a battle between Good and Evil, but a conflict between a heavily individualistic model of society vs. a heavily community-oriented one.

Homeworld is a community-oriented model of society taken to its most extreme. Their social structure is focused entirely on the greater good of Gemkind. Every Gem’s life revolves around their job, and they are tailor-made to fulfill a specific and necessary role in Gem society. They are mass-produced according to demand to fill the quotas that their society needs to function. Their expansion is phrased by Peridot in It Could Have Been Great not so much as a conquest of lesser species, but as a means of acquiring valuable resources which allow the Gempire to sustain itself and expand outwards to find new resources on other planets.

And, despite fanon assertions that the Diamonds and higher-ranking Gems love to shatter lower-caste Gems who displease them at random for no reason, from what we’ve seen, Homeworld is very adamant about preserving the living resources they have. Before Peridot let slip that taboo word that starts with “C” and ends with “rystal Gems,” the eternally busy Yellow Diamond was perfectly willing to spend time and resources on calling a nearby transport ship to swing by and pick Pierdot up to take her home, even though Peridot claimed that she singlehandedly botched the mission. Blue Diamond only ordered Ruby to be shattered because she violated a major taboo of Homeworld, not because she was in her presence while being lower-class. And they were sending parties explicitly phrased as “diplomatic missions” before the actual war on Earth started, rather than shattering Rose and Pearl outright. Their actions were all about preserving Gem lives, even against the rebels, and the war only started because both sides reached an impasse that neither could surmount without resorting to violence.

And then there’s the matter of Peridot’s enhancers. Lots of people love to speculate that the enhancers were designed as a prison which kept Peridot from accessing “her true potential” by keeping her dependent upon Homeworld. But, honestly, I see them more as assistive technology. I mean, it’s not like Peridot’s actually going to become stronger by not having her enhancers; Gems can’t build muscle mass, as their forms are fixed to a specific template for their whole lives. But think about it: a Gem’s life revolves around being able to do their job, to the point that their caste and identity is based solely on “what they’re for.” Peridot, without her enhancers, clearly has trouble with most physical tasks that Peridots are expected to complete, such as removing metal panels or moving heavy machinery around. I’m willing to bet that Peridot is not so much a prisoner so much as she’s like Amethyst — something happened during Peridot’s incubation period that affected her form, making her different from what Peridots are “supposed” to be, in her case, being smaller and physically weaker. When viewed in that light, the enhancers are hardly shackles of enforced submission; instead, they are a means of allowing Peridot to integrate into Gem society by allowing her to perform her assigned function just as well as all of the other Peridots. Rather than a Social Darwinist society where all “defective” Gems are culled at birth, Homeworld’s government is focused on ensuring that all of its citizens are given what they see as the best possible quality of life, in this case, the ability to contribute to the continued functioning and expansion of the Gempire without physical strain or unnecessary damage. This is why Peridot spoke of Yellow Diamond as a champion of fairness and justice; she may not have been warm and fuzzy, but she ensured that accommodations were available to every stratum of Gem society, and went out of her way to give help to the Gems who needed it most. It’s also why Peridot spoke so fondly of even the inanimate version of Peridots, since her identity was so wrapped up in her caste and her job, that sense of belonging to something greater than herself, and that sense of contributing to Gem civilization at large through her caste’s collective efforts.

Now, in that sense, Homeworld is fantastic at providing for the physical needs and wellbeing of their subjects. But we also have proof that they are absolutely crummy at ensuring the psychological fulfillment and well-being of their subjects at an individual level.

When everything is about the community and the greater good, individual needs tend to take a backseat. Selflessness in moderation builds character, but when you’re constantly expected to work for others without taking care of your own needs, it can rapidly become unhealthy. On Homeworld, the focus isn’t on how you feel, but what you can do. We see the consequences of that in Peridot.

Peridot worked seemingly from the day she was born. Her entire life revolved around doing her job and doing it well. But even though YD went out of her way to provide physically and practically for Peridot, she failed to acknowledge Peridot as her own person, or even look her in the eye. Peridot has never had those basic psychological needs for validation and affection fulfilled, to the point where it’s implied that Steven’s “last words” were the first time someone, anyone, outright told her that they loved her and cared about her as a person, not just as a valuable “human resource” or Resident IT Guy.

Her strong flinch response to suddenly being touched or having physical harm threatened to her also suggests the possibility that she endured bullying or interpersonal abuse in her early years. Now, to me, this doesn’t suggest that all of Homeworld is evil so much as that, due to their priorities, they don’t have an effective system in place for dealing with corruption or abuse on an individual, interpersonal level. After all, if everyone is virtually interchangeable, then how could one Gem make others suffer unnecessarily due to their own issues? This ineffectiveness is also due to being a massive intergalactic empire. Even empires on Earth don’t have the manpower required to surveil everything that happens in every tiny province, so it’s easy for abuses of power to proliferate on the local level as long as the higher-ups or the central government don’t hear about it.

It also suggests that there aren’t really any therapists on Homeworld — so long as you’re capable of doing your job, no one feels the need to check up on you. A Gem who shirks her duties can put a spanner in the entire system and get slapped with a report, but a Peridot who bullies other Peridots or a supervisor who loves terrorizing her underlings isn’t going to be investigated so long as the consequences don’t impact or inconvenience the system at large. In such a system, it would be very easy for an emotional abuser to cover their tracks so long as their victims appeared perfectly functional. Heck, threatening to impede their ability to do their jobs would be enough to scare their victims into silence. And if a Gem falls apart due to the stress of being abused, rather than being taken care of or the perpetrator being dealt with, they’re probably just reassigned to somewhere else to prevent further conflict, and the cycle begins anew with the Gem who replaces them. Homeworld’s greatest issue is not so much outright maliciousness as it is emotional neglect of themselves and others, allowing interpersonal and societal problems to stew and fester by being ignored in favor of “the greater good.” As long as everyone’s physical needs are provided for, what right do they have to complain? To do so would be ungrateful for everything that’s been done for them, and so they keep silent.

That laser-like focus on providing for their own species also gave Gemkind a tendency to trample upon the rights of all non-Gem species who happened to get in the way of their goal. It’s colonialism at its purest essence; everything is about acquiring resources and land for the mother country and ensuring that all citizens of the empire have access to their promised supply of tea, sugar, and microchips. The fact that there may already be people who live on that land or might be harmed by the process of extracting those resources is treated as a mere inconvenience to be brushed aside so long as everyone in the motherland is happy.

This is why Rose’s fixation on individual experience and perception was considered so radical (and dangerous). Prioritizing, even celebrating, the individual over the community was virtually unheard of in Gem society. Even the Diamonds, whose iconography covers every inch of Gem art, are defined not as celebrities with a cult of personality, but as Gems whose function is to govern and ensure the well-being of all of the other Gems. Rose’s entire army was composed of Gems who weren’t happy with the role that was determined for them before their own birth. Pearl was from a caste that was so encouraged to put their needs aside for others that they were treated as literal objects, but despite being raised in such conditions she believed that she deserved autonomy and the freedom to choose her own path. Garnet, who preferred existing as herself rather than two separate Gems who were divided by a massive caste gulf, had to abandon her home planet and flee to Earth just to live her life in peace. In the end, they were happier on Earth than they were on Homeworld, because on Earth they were free to decide who they loved and how they lived.

But that’s also why Lapis claimed that the Crystal Gems “didn’t care about other Gems.” Every member of Rose’s faction prioritized their own individual happiness above the well-being of all of Homeworld, to the point that they were willing to destroy the system and kill their own kind, and for what? To humans, who are used to regarding themselves as individuals, such a motive is perfectly understandable, but to a Homeworld Gem it’s unnatural, even monstrous. All they were accomplishing was denying the Gempire valuable resources that could have ensured the well-being of existing Gems and the potential to create new ones. People who prioritized their own happiness over the good of their species were seen as selfish, defective, and were treated like outcasts. It’s why Peridot called out YD’s behavior when it became clear that her Diamond was acting based on her own emotions rather than for the good of Homeworld. It’s why Homeworld cut all ties to Earth and effectively exiled the surviving Crystal Gems rather than saying, “Hey, maybe these guys have a point and we should reform the system.” To the remaining Diamonds, Rose and the Crystal Gems were behaving selfishly, subverting their own best interests by interfering with the colonization effort for no discernible reason, and needed to be stopped for their own good and the good of all Gemkind.

However, this viewpoint also prevented the Homeworld Gems from examining their own actions, and from realizing that something had to change. This is why I think Steven is so important to the reconciliation of Homeworld and Earth: he’s not just a bridge between humanity and Gemkind, but also a balance between selflessness and self-care. He cares about others, and will frequently put himself in danger to protect those he loves, but at the same time he acknowledges the importance of being in touch with your own feelings and taking care of yourself, and judging by a recent interview, his finding that perfect balance will become a major part of his personal growth over the series. Hopefully he’ll bring those lessons with him to Homeworld when the time comes.