In the fifth episode of the second of Steven Universe, Amethyst becomes consumed with her form. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Steven Universe.
You know, there are a lot of things that Amethyst’s struggle could be a metaphor for. Self-esteem. Dysmorphia. Body positivity. SO MANY THINGS. Amethyst’ anxiety felt so real to me, even if the context was different than our own world. “Reformed” sheds light on the regeneration process, sure, but like much of Steven Universe, there’s something else going on here.
Crying Breakfast Friends
I’m pleased with the ways in which this show is set in the modern world while still existing in a sort of parallel universe or existence. Of course Steven would be super into character quizzes for his favorite show, and of course he’d find ways to relate the Crying Breakfast Friends characters to people in his life. Yet it’s this very quiz that gives the audience insight into who Amethyst is. Each of the questions that Steven asks of her hits super close to home, highlighting Amethyst’s issues with acceptance and how she’s perceived. Indeed, much of the first season helped us to understand why Amethyst often feels like she’s inferior to her fellow gems and why she’s so desperate for validation and acceptance. Even if she wasn’t willing to admit it, Steven’s quiz pushed her towards a difficult moment: regenerating how she wanted, not how she perceived others wanted her to do it.
Regenerating
I assumed that regenerating was an entirely arbitrary thing, and as soon as Amethyst got poofed, I then believed that it would be weeks until we saw her again. I mean, that’s how long it took Pearl, right??? But regeneration is a much more manual process, so much so that the speed of a regeneration can affect how a gem’s body turns out. It makes a lot of sense that Pearl took so much time because… well, it’s Pearl. She’s a perfectionist. And initially, I didn’t think much of the speed of Amethyst’s transformation. She took a short amount of time, and she came back with four legs. Y’all, it’s Amethyst. She is silly and absurd, so I saw it as yet another example of her behaving this way.
But I didn’t realize what this actually meant: she had rushed her regeneration. Thus, the conflict arises: Garnet tries to get Amethyst to take her regeneration more seriously, and Amethyst continually escalates each of her regenerations. And seriously, TALK ABOUT ESCALATION. Yet I understood why that was happening! Both characters kept butting heads because they refused to try to understand what the other person was saying. Garnet came on strong, and Amethyst willfully interpreted everything Garnet said as literally as humanly possible. Well, it’s important to acknowledge that she was trying to please Garnet, too. I don’t want to deny that! Amethyst wanted to be respected as Pearl was; she wanted the admiration that came with being a gem like Garnet and Pearl.
In the end, Amethyst realized she couldn’t be anyone else but herself, and it’s an awesome message. Every time she tried to be someone else, it failed. And given Amethyst’s origin story, I very much appreciate that this show says that Amethyst is perfectly fine just as she is.
The video for “Reformed” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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