steven universe fanfare

this is related to steven universe because steven universe fundamentally gives you real social change without the emotional rage satisfaction of killing the people on top who were better off than you. it gives you a destruction of class roles without a destruction of those who you once envied, and makes you deal with things getting better without getting your petty, hateful revenge. this is in contrast to most cartoons, and most media, in which your emotions of rage and hatred for the 'villains' is seen as just another valid part of your social justice instincts for a better world.

in most media, not once are you confronted with the fact that wishing pain on someone else is not the same thing as wishing things would get better for yourself and your peers. its a destructive impulse, not a constructive one.

in SU and SU future, you have to confront that. especially in the episode homeworld bound, where steven is presented again and again with all the good the diamonds are doing in this new world without class boundaries, and it doesn't make him happy. it makes him envious, because he himself has not found a new purpose in life after no longer being the hero. it also makes him angry, because he feels like after his trauma, they don't "deserve" to be happy, even if they're objectively making society a better place.