everyone who said rebecca and the crew would redeem the diamonds owes me ten dollars each
Something worth noticing is that, by the end of Change Your Mind, even after everything that’s happened, Steven and the Diamonds aren’t buddy buddy with each other. But they’re not the enemies they were before either.
I think this is more of a reconciliation than an actual redemption. It’s them making peace after thousands of years of silence and hurt feelings and resentment.
The Diamonds aren’t exactly good guys by the end of the episode. They’ve still got a long way to go before that happens, if it even happens at all. But the key difference here is that Steven helped them realize that there needs to be a change in their relationship. They need to talk, and they realized that bottling all their anger up because of the unfair standards set by White was not healthy.
White realized that all the “imperfections” she used to shame and corrupt Gems over was wrong.
Now you might be thinking “hey that sounds like a redemption”, but to me it isn’t. Realizing the error of their ways doesnt automatically equal a redemption to me.
Why? Because Steven himself is okay with the idea of not being fully connected with the diamonds like he is with the CG’s. Like he sang at the end of the episode:
I don’t need you to respect me, I respect me
I don’t need you to love me, I love me
But I want you to know you could know me
If you change your miiiiiiiind
He doesnt care if they respect and love him or not, he’s made peace with that. But he does want them to get to know him. He wants them to come to a further understanding.
And that, to me, is better than a full redemption.
not saying steven universe doesnt havs its faults but i personally find comfort in the idea of a fantasy universe where abusers can change and acknowledge how they’ve hurt you. fiction has always been a form of escapism and while its perfectly fine and good to be critical of the media you consume i feel that a lot of people miss the integral part of steven universe in that it doesn’t play by our rules. its nice to envision and be a part of a world where violence can be met with love and kindness.
its nice to see media that handles being gritty and difficult topics with the right mix of positivity and love. you can yell all you want about how it doesnt make sense, how it wouldn’t go that way, how some things are unforgivable, but at the same time, sometimes escaping into a world where things do work out and hurt doesn’t have to keep happening is nice.
I think this ties into something Rebecca outright said in an interview once, that the show is more or less a wish fulfillment fantasy, where the worst, most rigid people can be shown the light and everything can work out for the best. And there is something to be said for that message, however naive you may think it, that kindness can ultimately win the day, even in the face of the impossible.
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