“It’s funny. For all the time I spent on Earth, I barely saw any of it.”
Episodes mentioned (in order of appearance):
S03 E20 Greg the Babysitter
S03 E07 Same Old World
S02 E19 When it Rains
S01 E35 Lion 3: Straight to Video
S03 E04 Log Date 7 15 2
S05 E08 Back to the Kindergarten
S04 E08 Gem Harvest
S05 E23 Reunited
S03 E02 It Could Have Been Great
In Same Old World (all Lapis Lazuli scenes), Steven shows the Earth off to Lapis. For one thing, it’s fun to see how an alien responds to what Earth and humanity has to show her. He tries to explain it to her in the best way he can, but Lapis still doesn’t necessarily understand. Eventually, he does get through to her, and she proclaims, “It’s alright - I guess I can see why you like it.”
In the last scene, Lapis confesses to Steven that she feels trapped on Earth. Steven says, “But nothing is still on Earth. Everything’s always changing - the leaves, the cities, even Jersey changes.” This theme of change is constant throughout Steven Universe. As humans, we are afraid of change and to take chances. We are creatures of habit. We are creatures that do not like venturing from our comfort zones. From this perspective, we can see that the world is this beautiful thing that we live on, that is constantly going through the cycles of war and tribulations, to peace and love. This is the theme of “Love and Death (On Planet Earth)”, as well as Rose’s consistent talk that the Earth and its beings are extremely unique and different thanks to change.
In Log Date 7 15 2, Peridot pushes Greg off of the roof to see if every being on the planet can fly, after looking at a ladybug fly away. Luckily, Garnet catches Greg and says, “Peridot! You can’t just shove someone off of a roof... this is a human; he’s isn’t like us… you could have seriously hurt him,” to which Peridot replies: “Well, how was I supposed to know that?” and she learns that “not all of the organic beings here can fly.” This was particularly striking to me, not only because of its comicality, but because Peridot literally does not know that humans can’t fly. It’s interesting to think about how humans and ladybugs developed differently, or why humans can’t fly, or if humans could fly, and think of reasons as to why we are the way that we are. In this instance, we get to look through Peridot’s eyes and see things that we don’t usually think about on a daily basis - like why humans can’t fly.
In Back to the Kindergarten, Peridot, Amethyst, and Steven fail to grow flowers in the Kindergarten. Steven states, “Even if there was nothing we could do [for the kindergarten], there’s still a whole Earth blooming around us.” Not only is this an obvious message about not giving up, but it’s important to understand that there are other things out there for us. You could fail at something a million times, but you could also pick up something new and excel at that.
I included the three marriage scenes (one from Gem Harvest, and the other two from Reunited), because it just shows how awkward and weird human celebrations are. Bismuth is wearing something totally unconventional for a wedding, but Steven and the other gems just accept this. Imagine for a moment if someone in real life wore a suit of armor to a real life, actual wedding. That wouldn’t go over very well. But it’s what makes Bismuth happy, and that makes Steven and the other gems happy, too. In life, we get too focused on rules that we are supposed to follow, even to the detriment of our health. It is the happiness of yourself and others that makes living worthwhile. This goes to show how uptight humans can be about something that only subjectively matters, but as Garnet says, “Humans found a way to make a moment’s decision last forever,” and it’s beautiful. It’s this pointless, dumb, usually uptight ceremony between two people, and it represents something unique to the human experience (even if not everyone experiences it themselves). Humans love to live their lives symbolically (I mean, what a ring really is is a piece of metal, but it resembles something so much more), and even aliens can appreciate that.
Steven Universe is a reminder to celebrate the life that you’re given, and to take in all the beauty that the world has to offer. The Earth is a beautiful place to live. Enjoy your stay!
I do not own Steven Universe. Steven Universe is owned by Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network.