The Mary Sue: Superheroes, Steven Universe, and the Maternal Narrative

A great essay on Steven Universe and breaking the "norm" on traditional roles of gender, superheroes, and parents.

Essay can be found HERE

Enjoy!

That was interesting! It is one of the things I do love about this show, the different display of parenting. They do a good job in that episode where Connie's parents wants to meet Stevens "parents" and despite them being different, they accepted them because they saw their excellent parenting skills. Love all the mama gems xD

I think it still took a while for Connie's parents to be like okay, maybe Steven's parent are good parents. It wasn't until they were disciplining him that Connie's parents were like...ohh....

Yeah but what was important that they were able to accept them because they realized that despite being different from the normal mold of "parents" they were still good parents in the end.

That was a very interesting essay indeed. Steven Universe is definitely a tone changer from the cliche father driven, heterosexual shows we have seen for many years. It allows us to see that, yes mothers/women can be just as important in shaping a person, and that dads can take on the role of the 'nurturer'. I also love the fact that the Gems display the many different types of parents that can exist; Pearl: the stern, yet loving mother, Garnet: the one who gives you that push and let's you discover things for yourself, and Amethyst: the laid back mom who is still loving and concerned for you at times, and is not completely neglectful.