Does Steven Universe Future Fix The Steven Universe Problems?

If one thing is clear about Steven Universe, it’s one hell of a controversial show. I’ve written about it before and there are a litany of videos about the Rebecca Sugar created show. After the Steven Universe Movie, they did a short follow-up series called Steven Universe Future. And that’s what we’re here to talk about today.

Poor storytelling

Steven Universe has always suffered from poor and inconsistent storytelling due to the fact that the storyboard artists also write the scripts. I have to say that Steven Universe Future does a little bit of a better job but many of the storylines are still a hit hackneyed and some things are just shoved in without any natural progression.

The animation issues are still part of the show. Characters are drawn off models, aren’t drawn consistently, and when they do change characters, the changes often don’t stick. They also break their own rules (like when Steven brings back Jasper using magic/chemicals/healing powers) and to top it all off, the plot about Steven not understanding himself or the world anymore is often derailed by other content that just isn’t necessary. However, let’s think about what we do have.

There are two central questions in the show, “Can evil be redeemed?” and “Can love to solve all your problems?” Steven Universe tries to show that these things are true but one thing that it fails to do is to hold anyone accountable for their actions, chiefly Steven himself.

However, in the new show, the world has changed. The Gems are living happily in both their world and on earth. Gems are going to school and learning new ways of being outside of the old order that had dominated their lives. And while this all seems positive, Steven feels like he is out of place. As much as he worked to change the old order he can’t seem to find his place in the new order. This is the issue on which Steven Universe Futures turns.

The complicated outcome of Steven Universe is rather indicative of what goes on for the young people of today. Those feelings of being out of place in a world that doesn’t seem to need you or value you anymore are very real. The feeling that all your old tricks don’t seem to work anymore and everything seems to backfire. There is also the intimidating factor of trying to exist in a world far larger than yourself, even if you’ve saved that very world. Steven Universe Future is no longer just about Steven and that realization is a difficult pill for him to swallow.

Steven Universe future plays heavenly into a long-running idea in the series that Steven can fix anything and everything; or can he? In Steven Universe Future, this whole idea begins to break down.

The Steven Problem

When I first saw Steven Universe the first question I asked was fairly simple, Why is Steven so dumb? One of the problems is that he doesn’t go to school, at least not any traditional education, and this leaves him bereft of proper social interaction with other children and other teens. The other big issue is that he has no self-awareness of any kind and doesn’t seem to understand what he is doing or why he is doing it. He also doesn’t think through his actions or considers any consequences.

Throughout the show, consequences are lacking. If anything, Steven Universe Future is a refreshing take on the situation because he actually suffers social consequences for his lack of self-awareness. That is a nice development. It seems like Rebecca Sugar and the company realized that Steven was the problem all along and that those chickens were going to come home to roost at some point. However, rather than dealing with finding a new place in the new social reality, he ends up leaving Beach City instead.

The Diamonds

Can every problem be solved through love? Can all problems be solved with some plucky attitude and logical reasoning? The interesting about Steven Universe Future is the answer is an unequivocal no. One of the biggest arguments against the story is that you cannot reform or redeem fascists without any consequences for their actions. It is quite jarring to see the Diamonds go from fascist dictators to sort of loving motherly types.

In most types of storytelling, the great villains don’t get this kind of turnaround. I’m not as vehemently against the idea as others but it is not the best storytelling. That would be like if Captain Ahab took in the great white whale as a pet and took long swims along the beach with it. If Steven could convince the Diamonds to reform so easily, how much of a threat were they really?

The storyline of the Diamonds seems to be working out someone’s issues with their mother. It is hard to have an austere mother and I think many children who have an austere mother wish that there was a loving, gooey, smothering mother below that harsh surface. I get that but these are fascist dictators, not Demeter-esque mothers who just needed some therapy to open up.

Almost There

Steven Universe Future nearly solves all the problems from the original show. We’ll likely never know what happens to Steven outside of Beach City has the show ended (this was sort of an encore season) but the glaring storytelling issues tend to remain, with a few edits. The Diamonds still don’t make any sense, and Steven is still a rube. The only difference now is that Steven can drive, is supposed to be a teenager, and realizes that he has a problem; indeed that he is the problem.

This is where Steven actually being around other children, going to school, and learning to be a person would have been helpful. I fear that for Steven it is far too late. I imagine a future for Steven where he moves to the big city, gets a job as a line cook at a popular eatery, and starts smoking a lot of weed, drinking heavily, and doing a lot of cocaine. He lives with a bunch of roommates in a large house and his room is always a disaster dominated by a single bed in a corner. Eventually, he will go to rehab, possibly join AA, and then eventually drift back to Beach City in his late 20s a changed man.