Because I Can

I does what I wants.

It’s been a few weeks since the Steven Universe movie came out, and a shorter few weeks since people read those interviews Sugar gave regarding Spinel’s characterization as toxic. And I’ve had mixed feelings about the whole thing. And I’ve been trying to figure out why. And I think I finally have it.

I don’t mind the idea that Spinel is toxic to Steven. I don’t mind the idea that Steven has to curb his desire to assist her in order to protect himself. I like the idea that he’s trying to live his own life instead of constantly cleaning up his mother’s mess. I think those are all good messages.

What bothered me about Sugar’s interview responses was the apparent idea that the Spinel of 6,000 years ago was somehow at fault. That she was toxic. That she didn’t change while Pink did, and she was this flawed person even back then. And that that flaw extended to today, and her refusal to change makes her toxic.

This concept irks me because it honestly makes me feel like Sugar screwed her own lore.

See, it would work fine if the characters in question were human: two friends, one really clingy, the other changing and growing up. The clingy one just being too much, too emotionally draining and thus being toxic from the get go. It makes sense in human terms… but these are gems.

Gems, as we learned in like, the whole first half of the series, find change and growth difficult. They are born into a specific role and are meant to fulfill that role forever. Add to that the gem power dynamic: all gems serving their Diamonds without question, and this concept of Spinel being “too much” for Pink just sort of falls flat.

Spinel was made to be Pink’s toy. She wasn’t meant to change or grow or switch vocation when Pink got bored of her. She couldn’t. Gems couldn’t do that. Not only because change is unnatural for them, but because Diamond society literally didn’t allow it.

It’s just really weird to be told that Spinel was meant to come off as toxic from the beginning, because for pity’s sake, it’s not like she actually had a choice. It’s not like she could consciously decide to be someone different 6,000 years ago. Gems didn’t do that. That was like, the entire point of why Pink loved humans and loved Earth and loved organic life: because it changed easily while her kind could not.

Honestly, I feel like Sugar forgets her own lore sometimes, and it makes characters and situations come off as weird and awkward. Like, was Spinel kind of annoying, in her original form? Sure, I guess. But she was also made as a weird friend-pet-slave to what was essentially a goddess and was part of a race of beings that found growth and change difficult and unnatural. Expecting her to alter herself because Pink was tired of her is just… human thinking. And these are gems. Not humans. And that seemed to matter once upon a time, but now, all that lore appears awkwardly shoved aside.

It’s not just the Spinel thing; lots of aspects of the show suffer from gems, once very alien and morally odd and culturally different, basically being hand-waved as pretty much human now. I mean, how did an ancient culture mired in strict hierarchy, wholly unaccustomed to change, just revamp their entire million year old society at the whim of some kid? Suddenly their emotions and internal concepts are completely human and comprehensible and easily worked with. Voila.

And I get that all of it has to do with the show’s message, and don’t get me wrong: I love the message. But sometimes, as someone who really enjoys the conflicts that come from well written alien cultures, I wish Sugar had just used humans for the story. It would make the whole thing less of a weird, uncomfortable plot hole.