hmm don’t know how to address this but i looked it up and apparently Richard Phillips, the 72-year-old black man recently released from prison after serving 45 years for murder he didn’t commit, is being forced to sell his art, rather than willingly selling it, since the justice system is refusing to pay him anything. there’s a post going around saying he’s showcasing his art and we should support him by purchasing it, but i think it’s an important distinction that he doesn’t want to part from the art that he made in prison. parting permanently from art you’ve made can be difficult, and considering the emotional value of the art he made in order to cope with his situation, it’s cruel to take it away from him rather than to just donate money. also there’s like this weird fetishization of his “prison art” in the media that is frankly disgusting, like ogling his pain and suffering and making it into some sort of spectacle. i scoured twitter for a donation page but i couldn’t find anything yet
update: i emailed his lawyer and found the official gofundme for him if you guys can spare anything
white diamond: *mutilates steven, is responsible for pretty much all of his gem friends and parental figures’ trauma, is a horrifying villain and a representation of oppressive, autocratic, class segregating society*
marty: *is sort of shitty and materialistic dad*
steven: if i had a gun with two bullets i would shoot marty twice
damn if marty had just cried a little bit steven would’ve made him father of the year
but in all seriousness, this redemption is flawed in concept and in execution.
white diamond was a breath of fresh air when she was introduced because she was shown to be a genuinely intimating villain. a lot of people compared white to glados or mother gothel, both well-written antagonists specifically because they were manipulative and lacking compassion in a despicable, but cool way. and this is much deserved. white diamond (and the other diamonds, but white especially) is rooted at the core of the problems with gem society. i was excited to see her fighting against the protagonists.
however, this is exactly why redemption shouldn’t have been an option for her. all the homophobia (sapphire/ruby being barred from mixed fusing) class segregation (pearls being objectified slaves) and colonialism (the uh, colonies) allegories are at best meaningless and at worst terrible if the ONE PERSON WHO REPRESENTS ALL THAT is able to cross over to the good side on a ‘forgive everyone, especially the ones who are family’ basis.
now, if white diamond was built up as a ruler who struggled to maintain perfection, highlighting her awful actions while illustrating the mental turmoil behind the scenes, then i would at least understand the sympathetic angle. there have been well-written villains who’ve had good/understandable motives or reasons why they’re the way they are (azula from atla rings a bell), but even then they have to face consequences and work to gain acceptance from others. white did absolutely nothing except show a little humanity when the show needed her to and get a slap on the wrist. this isn’t an issue of white’s behavior as a character but of her as a product made by real people. you can’t pull a villain redemption by giving a genuinely terrible person so many second chances they eventually change their mind. it’s bad writing and, more importantly, a really bad message for kids.
steven universe’s prevailing attitude of ‘everyone’s dealing with their own tragic issues and self-worth so we need to think of THEIR feelings’ isn’t fundamentally a bad message, but you can’t apply it to established tyrannical regimes and expect it to work without nuance. you’d think that the show that told people with abusive/bad parents that it’s best to drop them and move on (marty in drop beat dad) wouldn’t push the ‘we’re family so you’re going to be good now’ narrative.
tdlr: this show tried really hard to have both badass villains and goofy parental figures that it worked to the detriment of both characterizations.
