In the thirty-seventh episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>, I am certain this show will end me. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Gods bless this whole show, THAT WAS INCREDIBLE. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still reeling from the experience of meeting Stevonnie for the first time, especially since the implications of them are REALLY, REALLY QUEER. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 gender? Sexuality? The complexity of both addressed in a way that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t patronizing or condescending??? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY WORLD???<\/p>\n
Dancing<\/b><\/p>\n
I am deeply Steven and I am deeply Connie. Truthfully, I adore dancing, and when I can let go of my own anxieties and self-doubt, I have a lot of fun doing it. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also clumsy and lack a great deal of physical coordination. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve decided to blame it on when my inner ear got damaged as a kid from an ear infection. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had balance issues and have difficulty judging distance or depth when it comes to eyesight.) My brain just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand how the world is physically arranged. (But give me math or complex philosophical arguments and I am GOOD.) (I hate math, though, WHO INVENTED THAT.)<\/p>\n
I want to be a better dancer, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so damn self-conscious about it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a good look, especially since I am so confident about many other things! So there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of me that was\u00c2\u00a0always<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0going to adore \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alone Together\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about fighting the urge to be afraid of dancing. Steven is nowhere near as coordinated as the rest of the Crystal Gems, and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even necessarily get\u00c2\u00a0better<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0by the episode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s end. Once more, it takes him being himself and\u00c2\u00a0trusting<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0himself for his first fusion to take place, and that certainty is the only thing that reliably works!<\/p>\n
Stevonnie<\/b><\/p>\n
The truth is that Garnet could not be closer to the truth: Stevonnie is an\u00c2\u00a0experience<\/i>. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretty sure I imagined Janelle Monae\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What an Experience\u00e2\u20ac\u009d playing in the background.) I am going to maintain that no gem is more supportive of Steven than Garnet, and I adore that she consistently believes in him. She is the only Crystal Gem to vocalize that support, and then, when Steven achieves Stevonnie, she is LITERALLY the happiest we have ever seen her. IT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING TO WITNESS.<\/p>\n
I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know where to begin with Stevonnie. They were such an unexpected thing on this show, and, like the Gems, I was completely bewildered by them. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good thing, though, and I love what the show did with this character. Stevonnie is drawn without existing solely in one part of the gender binary or the other. In fact, this is perhaps the first non-binary character I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come across in Mark Watches history, though I hesitate to make that judgment because Stevonnie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gender isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever named. But from the art, to the voice acting, to the INCREDIBLE way that Stevonnie interacts with the people of Beach Cty, I remained blown away by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alone Together.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about Lars and Sadie, for instance. It is undeniable that they were both flabbergasted by Stevonnie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beauty, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that is amazing??? Canonical evidence of non-heterosexual attraction? And neither character is demonized for said attraction??? IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? What does this men for both of these characters???<\/p>\n
Oh my god, and the rave scene. THE RAVE SCENE. I was so floored by how the scene introducing it (when Sour Cream invited them) because it helped to show that things were more complicated than a binary, while also \u00c2\u00a0showing us that Steven, Connie, and Stevonnie were three separate beings. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing wrong with them wanting to be apart! Having another person physically alongside you is often the best way to combat loneliness, and it worked to help Connie let go of her anxieties around dancing. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine what being a fusion is like, but at the same time, I suspect that the writers of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0are using the real world to inform what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s written here. Who else has felt like they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t belong because their body is different? Or because what you felt and experienced set you apart from the rest of the world? WHO ELSE IS RIDICULED WITH ANXIETY AND IS DEEPLY CONCERNED WITH HOW LITERALLY EVERYONE PERCEIVES THEM?<\/p>\n
I love that Connie is now part of the Gem world. I love that we have an episode that is so respectful of these experiences. I LOVE STEVONNIE BUT MAYBE NOT MORE THAN GARNET, OH MY GOD. I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get over how\u00c2\u00a0happy<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0she was.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alone Together\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the thirty-seventh episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe, I am certain this show will end me. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[665],"tags":[666],"class_list":["post-5984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-steven-universe","tag-mark-watches-steven-universe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"