Growing up in the Crystallocene: How Steven Universe Teaches Compassion for Broken Worlds

Abstract

Ramiel investigates the Cartoon Network children’s show Steven Universe and the way that its animated landscapes are critical to its message of care and empathy. Simultaneously, the chapter explores the relevance of environmental questions to queer readings of animation, the discussions of animation layering and image production, and the representations of the Anthropocene in animated media. Beyond these three contexts, the chapter delves into the construction and meanings of specific background art and storyboards in Steven Universe to demonstrate the interrelation between production strategies, images in motion, and the way that ethics of care and empathy inhere in both character animation and landscape.