So, recently two new episodes of "Steven Universe" were released in France (you can watch them here). They have yet to be released in the United States, so spoiler warnings below.
The second episode, "Hit the Diamond", may be one of my favorite's so far. Because it's a big, giant "screw you" to those who try and claim that (and there are a surprisingly large amount of people who think this!) Ruby and Sapphire are "just friends".
Yet again, I'm going to talk about why LGBTQ+ representation is so important in media, especially children's media. Hopefully, you know the gist of it: kids everywhere want to be represented in TV, movies, and books. Seeing characters you can relate to can be incredibly important for children. It gives you the sense that you're not so different, and that there are other people that are like you.
As a kid growing up during the late 90s, there was sadly a lack of characters that I could relate to in terms of sexual orientation. It simply did not happen! Sexuality was "taboo" and "adult", unless it was about straight romance. Now that I'm older and no longer a target audience for cartoons, it makes me incredibly happy to see that creators have started to be more open minded about that topic. Even if I didn't get characters I could relate to, the next generation will.
In this episode, we see the reappearance of unfused Ruby and Sapphire. For those unfamiliar with the show, the alien "gems" (like Ruby and Sapphire) can fuse to create a stronger, more powerful gem (in their case, Garnet). For most of the show, Garnet stays fused. There have only been a few instances where we've seen Ruby and Sapphire unfused with each other, and it's strongly implied that the two are in a romantic relationship.
However, there are those that disagree. I've heard theories ranging from "They're just good friends!" to "Well, it's not gay, since Ruby is a boy!" (This is despite the fact that Ruby has been referred to as "her" and is voiced by a cis woman. Not to mention that all of the gems we have seen so far present as female, despite being aliens who don't have the same concept of gender as us humans). It seems like some people just refuse to believe that they're in love without explicit confirmation from the show (they really need it spelled out for them, apparently). Even Ianto Jones-Quartley, who works on the show says that they are in a romantic relationship, but also comments that "fans can headcanon whatever they want."
"The answer," Garnet says, "is love." Can't get more clear than that.
If those people need some kind of confirmation from the show that the two are together, here it is. Ruby and Sapphire spend the entire episode flirting. And yes, it is explicitly mentioned by a character that they are flirting. Not teasing, not making fun of each other. The show comes upfront and says "flirt". You can see that clip and the rest of their interactions here.
So, why is this so important? We pretty much already knew they were together. There's nothing revolutionary about that. There will always be people that are skeptical of gay couples shown on television, especially children's television. Even an episode like this probably won't be enough to change every bigoted mind.
To me, what's so important about this episode is that, in retrospect, it isn't very special. In the previous episodes in which we saw Ruby and Sapphire, them being unfused was either an important plot point (like in Jailbreak or the Answer) or they were going through rough time (like in Keystone Motel). This episode is nothing like that. It's simply a fun filler episode in which we get to see Ruby and Sapphire interacting as they would in any regular situation. It's so normalized and fun. Mostly importantly though, they are happy.
Sad stories can be fun, but when every single love story shown in media between women is tragic, it gets a little boring. Not only boring, but it could make one think that there aren't any happy love stories between women. But this episode breaks that trope. We see Ruby and Sapphire flirting (and nobody makes a single comment about how it's weird that those two are flirting, only that it's distracting them from baseball), and they're normal. This show is showing that girls who love girls can be happy too. It's as normal as any other relationship. That is such an important lesson to teach to kids, especially young sapphic girls (sapphic being anyone women aligned that has romantic/sexual feelings towards other women).
You can be happy in a relationship with a girl. It doesn't always have to end in heartbreak and sadness. And it's normal. I'm so thrilled that girls who grow up watching this show will realize that.
