By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

In 2016, I was asked to create a presentation introducing the idea of Cultural Studies and applying it to a piece of media in one of my classes. I thought it might be fun to revisit and update that presentation for you all here now that it’s been close to 10 years (wow) as an example of how more generalized analysis can be applied to entertainment. I hope you enjoy!

For those of you that don’t know, Steven Universe is a sci-fi children’s show featuring three organic alien gems and the half-human/half-gem child of their former leader as they make a life for themselves on Earth and protect it from harm. There is less focus on the alien aspect than one might think as the show tends to focus more on humanity, its people, lifestyle, and culture, which will be (in a way) the focus of this post.

What is the difference between Historicism & Cultural Studies?

Cultural Studies are contemporary, focused on popular culture like television, music, comics, sports and such, and are optimistic about resistance to dominant ideologies.

Historicism studies are, as the name implies, historical, focused on elite literary culture, basically works written with noted influence on and by culture like Shakespeare, and primarily pessimistic about resistance to dominant ideologies.

An easier way of stating this might be that Cultural Studies is a broader topic, covering a variety of issues past and present that are shown in contemporary works and culture while historicism covers the specific culture of the time around when a work was written or produced.

Parker, in How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies, helps define this topic further, stating that “[b]y taking the people and pleasures of popular culture seriously rather than scornfully, cultural studies scholars shifted the study of popular culture from the study of how its fans are dupes of the broader cultural hegemony to studying how they use popular culture to speak back to and perhaps even resist or begin to resist the expectations of dominant ideologies, such as consumerism, sexism, racism, capitalism, class elitism, and so on.”

An example of a contemporary work that fits this topic is Steven Universe.

How does this show fit?
1. It is a contemporary show – it first came out on Cartoon Network in 2013 and, at the time of this presentation in 2016, was still going on.
2.  It is a part of Popular Culture – the show has a wide following of children, young adults, and various outlying individuals from different groups.
3. The show features resistance to dominant ideologies

Resistance to Dominant Ideologies

Gender Ideologies

Except for the main character, who is half-human, the gems are sexless and their gender is self-identified.

Class Elitism / Racism

Pearl’s character resists the dominant ideology of her homeworld declaring that she is more than property and capable of more intelligent work and so on. Her story examines issues of classism and racism within the society the gem characters originate from and how, even away from their homeworld, where they have been free for a long while, there are still prejudices that remain based on class and kind.

Diversity and Friends

The show features a diverse cast of characters from different backgrounds, situations, and problems working through their issues, making friends, and forming relationships. Usually as a result of the main character’s involvement. The main character, Steven, is blind to many issues—not understanding problems based on background and such—allowing characters to go deeper into the subject to explain how they really feel about the situation they are in because of dominant ideologies. An example is the episode “Joy Ride,” in which each of the characters seen in this picture reveals a part of their lives that resists the stereotypes of their personality. Buck, far right, a laid-back character, reveals the stress of being the mayor’s son explaining that he always wants him to behave due to image. Jenny, second from the right, reveals trouble with her sister about lifestyle choices. Realistic at-home issues are not usually seen with characters in a children’s show.

Escaping Oppression and Immigration to a New Society

In the episode “The Answer,” audiences witnessed key characters escaping an oppressive society and immigrating to a new world where they were allowed to be themselves rather than suffering the dominant ideology of the society (fusion as bad, especially between different gems). This episode reflects current immigration issues and resistance to various other cultural expectations including class elitism and racism.

These examples are some of the multitude of ways in which we can apply cultural studies to this piece of media. There are, of course, many other ways to approach this subject as well using other forms of criticism or by focusing on a different theme.

The Show’s Presence in Popular Culture 

Many articles and stories have been written about the show over the last few years. For example, FEM, UCLA’s Feminist News magazine, published an article two years ago praising the show’s overall quality in regards to a fair and accurate representation of females, gender issues, and people. Social media sites like Tumblr host a variety of in-depth analyses by audiences in regards to the social issues, both obvious and subtle, present by the show. An example of this is an in-depth analysis of the character’s behavior, written by a fan, detailing the possibility of abuse in the character’s life. Each episode shows multiple aspects of popular and contemporary culture giving this sci-fi children’s show identifiable, relatable, and realistic characters and role models. The show has a wide range of followers as well. Therefore, this show is a perfect example of a contemporary work that fits for a narrative discussion within the Cultural Studies field.

After reviewing this broad overview, I hope that it helps you all understand how we can better engage with the media we consume by applying analysis to our various texts. If you enjoy this kind of broad overview of how we can apply different analytical forms to entertainment media, let me know in the comments or make a suggestion. It was really fun to revisit this topic and I can think of a number of other series in which we could apply broad terms (such as historicism) to various works.

Works References

Beach City Map. http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Beach_City.

Flores, Rebeca. “FEM – Rebecca Sugar: Creating Her Own Kind of Her Own.” FEM. UCLA, 5 Mar. 2014. Web.

Group image. http://io9.gizmodo.com/why-i-fell-in-love-with-the-brilliant-steven-universe-1711666770.

Joy Ride. http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Joy_Ride.

Mauraderswhatmauraders. “B/c I Feel like We Need to Talk about This.” Fandom Lore. Web.

Parker, Robert Dale. How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.

Steven Universe Crossover. http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Say_Uncle

Steven University logo. http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/steven-universe/images/e/e0/Steven_Universe_logo.png/revision/latest?cb=20131006122342.

The Answer. http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/The_Answer.

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Copyedited by: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee