In the forty-seventh episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>, Steven teams up with Buck to promote his dad\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new business, but it does not go as he thought it would. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>.<\/p>\n
This is such a great episode to be paired with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Open Book\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about how people choose to engage with art. Steven is shocked by how Buck behaves in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shirt Club\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, I hate to use Buck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s na\u00c3\u00afve. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never met someone who appreciates something due to irony. Thus, he assumes that Buck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interest in his flyer promoting Greg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guitar lessons is genuine. And why wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it be? Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a literal guy most of the time, so when Buck expressed interest, he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pick up on Buck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ulterior motive.<\/p>\n
Now, Buck isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t intentionally cruel here; he just assumes that Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on the same wavelength as him. And lord, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heartbreaking because Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flyer is so cool and heartfelt and sincere, and Buck makes it out to be an ironic joke so that he can seem on the cutting edge of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cool. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of me that will always see \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shirt Club\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as an anti-hipster story, then, since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about people who dilute the meaning of things or appropriate them in ways that harms the original artist. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll allow me to take things way too seriously for a second: THIS IS WHY CULTURAL APPROPRIATION MATTERS. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think this episode is even necessarily a direct metaphor for that phenomenon, but what it\u00c2\u00a0has<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0given me is a great way to point out how appropriation can be harmful!<\/p>\n
Think of it this way: Buck appropriates Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s design. And even if he just wants to make it cool, even if he appreciates it on an ironic level, he is the one who receives the credit for it. No one thanks Steven for drawing it. And as Buck gets more and more popular for it, how many people\u00c2\u00a0actually<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0visit Greg and get lessons from the shirt? Is there any material wealth passing in his direction? Yes, Buck doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell the shirts, which is good, but the metaphor still works. Greg doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see any positive from the shirts aside from people thinking he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brilliant and hilarious \u00e2\u20ac\u201c ironically, of course.<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a happy ending here, which is great! Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153revenge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is both a super hilarious and super disturbing sequence that evokes SNIPER ATTACKS ON POLITICIANS \u00e2\u20ac\u201c allows Buck to see how genuine statements of art can be just as powerful as ironic ones. His dad cries! Buck cries! Emotions! (Does Mayor Dewey just keep winning every mayoral election, only to then immediately start campaigning for the next election? Seems so.) And Buck realizes there\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0a value in Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interpretation of art, too. ALSO: I WOULD TOTALLY TAKE GUITAR LESSONS WITH GREG.<\/p>\n
Bonus: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been shirt!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the best pun I have seen from this show. AMAZING.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shirt Club\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 forty-seventh episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe, Steven teams up with Buck to promote his dad\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new business, but it does not go as he thought it would. 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-6006","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\/6006","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=6006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6006"}],"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":"