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This book assembles ten scholarly examinations of the politics of representation in the groundbreaking animated children's television series Steven Universe. These analyses address a range of representational sites and subjects, including queerness, race, fandom, colonialism, and the environment, and provide an accessible foundation for further scholarship. The introduction contextualizes Steven Universe in the children's science-fiction and anime traditions and discusses the series' crucial mechanic of fusion. Subsequent chapters probe the fandom's expressions of queer identity, approach the series' queer force through the political potential of the animated body, consider the unequal privilege of different female characters, and trace the influence of anime director Kunihiko Ikuhara. Further chapters argue that Ronaldo allows satire of multiple media forms, focus on Onion as a surrealist trickster, and contemplate cross-species hybridity and consent. The final chapters concentrate on background art in connection with ecological and geological narratives, adopt a decolonial perspective on the Gems' legacy, and interrogate how the tension between personal and cultural narratives constantly recreates memory.
List of contents
Introduction; John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards.- 1. Drawing Queerness Forward: Fusion, Futurity, and Steven Universe; Kevin Cooley.- 2. "I am a Conversation": Gem Fusion, Representation, and Privilege; Olivia Zolciak.- 3. Queer Transformation and Fluid Fandom; Jake Pitre.- 4. Globalizing Fandoms: Envisioning Queer Futures from Kunihiko Ikuhara to Rebecca Sugar; Jacqueline Ristola.- 5. Contact Zone Earth: Power and Consent in Steven Universe and Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood; Emrys Donaldson.- 6. "Truth is a feeling in your gut": Ronaldo Fryman, Conspiracy Theories, and Media Satire; John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards.- (Two additional chapters forthcoming following peer review recommendations).
About the author
John R. Ziegler (Bronx Community College, CUNY, USA), an Assistant Professor of English, has published on early modern English literature, ghosts, and zombies.
Leah Richards (LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, USA), an Associate Professor of English, has published on
Dracula and
Land of the Dead. Together, they review theater for
thinking Theater NYC and
Culture Catch and edit the journal
Supernatural Studies.
