Poshumanismo y creación de identidades y sexualidades queer y racializadas: un análisis de Steven Universe

Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 48 ISSN: 1989-6972 D.O.I.: http://dx.doi.org/10.12795/AdMIRA.2019.07.03 Poshumanismo y creación de identidades y sexualidades queer y racializadas: un análisis de ‘Steven Universe’ Posthumanism and the creation of racialised, queer identities and sexualities: An analysis of ‘Steven Universe’ Marta Roqueta Fernández Investigadora independiente School of Oriental and African Studies E-mail: [email protected] ORCID Pp.: 48- 84 Fecha de recepción del artículo: 22/02/2019 Fecha de aceptación definitiva: 13/05/2019 RESUMEN El artículo analiza cómo la serie de animación Steven Universe refuerza y desafía concepciones actuales sobre racialización, género y cuerpo capacitado. Usando teorías feministas, poshumanistas, queer, sobre diversidad funcional y raza, estos conceptos son considerados tecnologías cuyos componentes pueden ser estudiados, deconstruidos y reconstruidos por el objeto técnico que es el dibujo animado, una herramienta cuyo significado es coestablecido por el público. Utilizando este marco conceptual para analizar la narrativa de la serie y para crear encuestas orientadas a entender cómo las nociones del público sobre género y raza pueden influir en la narrativa de la serie, el artículo concluye que Steven Universe crea un relato queer que pretende desmantelar nociones contemporáneas sobre género, raza y diversidad funcional. Sin embargo, al utilizar los componentes que forman estas tecnologías, la serie puede reproducir representaciones estereotípicas si no tiene en cuenta los imaginarios adscritos a ellos. Palabras clave: animación, ciencia-ficción, poshumanismo, racialización, género, sexualidad, diversidad funcional, Steven Universe. ABSTRACT This article analyses how the cartoon show Steven Universe both underpins and defies normative understandings of race, gender and able-bodiedness. By referencing theories from feminist, posthumanist, queer, critical race thinking and crip studies, these concepts are considered technologies whose components can be examined, disassembled and reassembled by the technical object that is the cartoon, which is considered a tool whose meaning is co-established by the audience. By using this conceptual framework to analyse the show’s narrative, as well as to create several surveys that seek to comprehend how people’s notions of gender and race may influence the narrative of the show, the article concludes that Steven Universe creates a queer narrative aimed at dismantling contemporary notions of gender, race and able-bodiedness. However, because the show relies on the components that form these technologies to trouble them, it may fall on stereotypical representations if it overlooks the imaginaries embedded on them. Keywords: animation, science fiction, posthumanism, race, gender, sexuality, able-bodiedness, Steven Universe. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 49 1. Introduction Contemporary popular culture has been seen as a site for both reinforcing and challenging current notions of race, gender and able-bodiedness. For instance, science fiction and animation are regarded as amenable for envisioning new conceptions of the body and subjectivity (Dunn, 2016; Eshun, 2003; Halberstam, 2008; Halberstam, 2011; Womack, 2013) due to their drive to rewrite reality, their capacity to toy with plausibility and, in the case of animation, its ability to distort human form. However, Halberstam (2008) has proved that animation can be used to naturalise heteronormative visions of love and family. And McRuer (2005) has warned about the incorporation of dissident subcultures in mass media via depictions that trivialise, naturalise and domesticate their potential threat to the dominant culture. Following these concerns, my aim is to reflect on how science fiction cartoon shows can underpin and defy current politics of embodiment at the same time. I will do so by arguing that race, gender and able-bodiedness are technologies whose components can be examined, disassembled and reassembled by the cartoon, a technical object. My understanding of these categories as technologies is reminiscent of Foucault’s notion of the device (1985, in Torrents, 2017). I seek to highlight their utilitarian and artificial facet: they are created to produce bodies that are disciplined and controlled according to the needs of one social structure. By arguing that cartoons have the ability to manipulate their components, I conceive the cartoon as a tool: it can alter or reinforce human’s conceptions of the body. Due to the interaction between the body and the object, I regard the cartoon as an object in the process of becoming. It is conceived season after season by the author, and its meaning is established as it is interpreted by the audience, who has their own understandings of gender, race and able-bodiedness, which have been shaped by other systems of signification. To explore this, I will analyse the U.S. show Steven Universe (SU). Its main character is Steven Universe, a boy who lives on Earth and is raised by three gems. The gems belong to an alien species that use female pronouns to refer to themselves and have the ability to shape their bodies at will and make weapons emerge from them. The show Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 50 uses the concept of fusion, the temporary union of two or more gems to create a superindividual with enhanced powers, to explore the affects between them. Consequently, SU has been praised for its positive depiction of queer characters, (Brammer, 2017; Dunn, 2016; Mey, 2015; Smith, 2016). Despite the good reviews, it has been criticised for its representation of those gems who have been perceived by the audience as black (Kingston, 2016; Riley, 2016). Therefore, the show can be a good example of the dual nature of animation in its relation to current representations of the body. Since the connection between body and technology, fusion and the emphasis on sharing relationships between different kinds of living creatures are key elements for the plot, I examine how a posthumanist vision of the show allows for the understanding of the queer narrative of SU. The second topic that concerns me is how the notion of race influences the creation of these queer identities. It was precisely by asking how posthumanism and, more specifically, how queer and feminist authors theorised the relationship between the human and the technological, that I decided to regard gender, race and able-bodiedness as technologies and to see the cartoon as an object in conversation with other non-human and human entities. These two ideas are the common thread in the analysis section, and they will be explained in more detail in the literature review. The literature review has two parts. Firstly, I discuss how technology influences the vision we have about our corporeality and subjectivity, as well as our understanding of the world. Secondly, I examine how we can think about race, gender, and ablebodiedness as technologies. I have included able-bodiedness in the analysis due to its relevance in the show. Before the literature review, I explain the methodology of the research. I have analysed 21 episodes of the show in which fusion is performed. To understand how preestablished conceptions of race and gender may influence the interpretation of these episodes, I surveyed seven people from different races and genders. The article ends with some concluding remarks. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 51 2. Methodology 2.1. Episode analysis The research is based on the analysis of 21 episodes in which the act of fusion between gems of a different kind is performed. When the fusion appears in several episodes, the episode selection includes the fusion’s debut and other episodes relevant for the plot. The election of fusion as the centre of the analysis is due to its importance for the queer, anti-racist and posthuman narrative of the show. The analysis focuses on the gems that perform the act and the resulting fusion. How the gems are racially coded, the role they adopt when fusing, and their original weapons are taken into account, to establish how all of these aspects influenced the resulting superindividual. Why these gems fuse is also studied. Fusion Gems Season Episode Title Opal Amethyst and Pearl 1 12 “Giant Woman” Sugilite Amethyst and Garnet 1 20 “Coach Steven” Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 52 Alexandrite Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl 1 3 32 1 “Fusion Cuisine” “Super Watermelon Island” Stevonnie Connie Maheswaran and Steven Universe 1 2 3 3 4 37 9 11 18 4 “Alone Together” “We Need to Talk” “Beach City Drift” “Crack the Whip” “Mindful education” Garnet Ruby and Sapphire Garnet remains fused during most part of the show. The episodes selected depict the love relationship between her two gems, Ruby and Sapphire. 1 2 2 3 4 4 52 12 22 5 13 15 “Jail Break” “Keystone Motel” “The Answer” “Hit the Diamond” “Gem Heist” “That Will Be All” Malachite Jasper and Lapis Lazuli 1 2 3 52 10 1 “Jail Break” “Chile Tid” “Super Watermelon Island” Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 53 Rainbow Quartz Pearl and Rose Quartz 2 9 “We Need to Talk” Sardonyx Garnet and Pearl 2 2 3 4 11 15 24 2 “Cry for Help” “Friend Ship” “Back to the Moon” “Know Your Fusion” Smoky Quartz Amethyst and Steven Universe 3 4 23 2 “Earthlings” “Know Your Fusion” Table 1. List of characters and episodes analysed For the references of the images, please see 7. References 2.2. Surveys The surveys’ aim is to understand how individuals perceive notions of race and gender in cartoon characters, in order to assess possible ways in which these notions would influence the interpretation of the plot. Therefore, the survey adopts a qualitative approach. Due to time limitations and the extension of the article, seven people –three men, three women, and one person who does not identify as either– have been surveyed. Since the gems have been mostly coded as either Asian, black, or white, five people selected belong to these groups, one did not regard themselves as having a race and one Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 54 did not want to disclose theirs. However, this article does not intend to explore how people understand the characters according to their own race or gender. The respondents had to watch nine short clips, each of them depicting an act of fusion, and answer a few questions concerning the race and gender of the fusions as well as of the individuals involved. The questions were decided using the second part of the literature review as a reference. The first question asked to identify the character as either Asian, black, white, belonging to a race that is neither the previous three or belonging to no race. Because Asian encompasses many races, the question left space for the respondents to reflect on this category if they wanted to. The second question asked which characteristics made them choose one option of the first question: the physical characteristics of the character, its accent or way of speaking, its clothes, its role in the clip, the soundtrack used to depict it, or other factors. The third question asked the participants to consider if each character was either a woman, a man or a non-binary character. Secondly, they were asked to elaborate it, by stating whether the use of pronouns to refer to that character, their physical traits, their clothes, their role in the clip or if another factor helped them to come to that decision. For an example of one survey, please see section 6. Appendix. To give a more complete understanding of the relationship between the human and the cartoon, I use articles published in blogs and online media when it is important to notice the reaction of the audience towards certain characters or narratives in the show. 3. Literature review 3.1. The posthuman and the cartoon as a technology “Thinking about technology is inseparable from thinking through technology”. Torrents uses this quote of Lamarre (2009, in Torrents, 2016:149) to highlight the need to analyse not only the content of Japanese cartoons (anime) but also the cartoon show in itself, as a technical object. Torrents, via Lamarre, argues that, to understand anime, we need to analyse how its materiality, the fact that it is moving image, determines the way its message is transmitted to the audience. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 55 What both authors hold is a vision of the technological as something connected to the human in multidirectional ways, which influence the technical, the biological and the social. When Rebecca Sugar, the creator of SU, argues that one of the reasons she created this cartoon show is because talking about queer identities is fundamental for kid’s development (Tremeer, 2016), she is referencing one of the ways in which technology influences how humans see themselves. Braidotti (2013), Kember (2011) and Preciado (2008) sustain that, in contemporary societies, our bodies and subjectivities are highly mediated by technology. For Kember, this is one more chapter of the ongoing relationship between humans and technologies. The author affirms that technology is constitutive of the human, and argues that human affectivity has always been maintained, regulated and governed by traffic with artificial objects. Due to this connection between the human and the technological, Kember, via her commentary of Haraway and Braditotti’s work, advocates for a feminist perspective that includes the technological. Feminists’ discourses about the technological have been of high concern in the last few decades. For instance, Schneider explains that one of the innovative aspects of Haraway’s thought is her vindication of the intimate physicality of our relations to nonhumans, in front of a standard feminist line on technology that has equated it with “abstract masculinist rationality, militarism and the rape of the Earth” (2012:294). Haraway’s feminist theories have the potential to unveil how some branches of feminist thought have relied on one of the sets of binaries, the female/nature equation in opposition to the male/technology one, that have underpinned women’s oppression in the West for centuries. As I will elaborate in the upcoming paragraphs, the challenges that current uses of technology pose for humanity’s subjectivity and corporeality urge for a more elaborated picture. For instance, in the same line of Haraway’s views on the technological, Wilson (Kirby and Wilson, 2011) has been engaged in analysing how human affects have been central to the building of computational devices and the imagining of computational worlds. Wilson regards affectivity as a feminist concern, due to the Western social hierarchy Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 56 that over-privileges cognition and reckoning and under-privileges feeling and bodily states. For Kember (2011), the feminist embrace of the technological can be an act of resistance. She cites Haraway and Braidotti, as both theorists reject the Cartesian myth that women, animals, machines and monsters were equivalent in their status as outsiders and inferiors –vis-à-vis an essentially white, male, cishetero and able-bodied subject perceived as the universal measure of all things. Braidotti herself has analysed how popular culture has represented the relationship with women and the non-human, through the depictions of the monstrous mother-machine that can be seen in films like Alien (1994, in Kember, 2011) and of the techno-eves (Braidotti, 2013), which portrayed women’s sexuality as both threatening and irresistibly attractive. As a response to the humanist understanding of the world that classifies it through binaries, Braidotti (2013) articulates a vision of human subjectivity (a posthuman one), based on its interconnectedness with both our species and non-anthropomorphic elements. For her, we inhabit a nature-culture continuum that is both technologically mediated and globally enforced. Her understanding of this continuum is influenced by her assertion that we have become biomediated bodies, and that technologies have a strong bio-political effect upon the embodied subject they intersect with. Braidotti articulates her posthuman philosophy, based on a recomposition of both subjectivity and community in conversation with non-human bodies (both biological and technological), as a response to the fact that humans have become geological agents. For her, we have to become posthumans because the global economy is already a post-anthropocentric one: it ultimately unifies all species under the imperative of the market. Its excesses, Braidotti argues, threaten Earth’s sustainability. This is possible, the author continues, because advanced capitalism both invests and profits from the scientific and economic control and the commodification of all that lives. In that structure, contemporary embodied subjects “have to be accounted for in terms of their surplus value as bio-genetic containers on the one hand, and as visual commodities circulating in a global media circuit of cash flow on the other” (2013:119). In this neo-capitalist structure, Braidotti explains, entire populations are re-classified on Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 63 simultaneously experience the queer community’s ableism and the disabled community’s homophobia. For Sandahl, gender identity is already difficult to embrace by disabled subjects, since some of its mannerisms are based upon how able people move. Like race and queerness, disability is incorporated into mainstream narratives in ways that either commodify it or dilute its potential for subversion (McRuer, 2005). Sandhal (2003) and McRuer (2005) account for the coexistence of images that either depict the disabled as a completely impaired subject, or as a person whose impairment is inconsequential, insofar as it does not deprive them from achieving amazing goals. McRuer identifies two more images, an exotic one that makes disability strange and a realistic one, which minimises the difference between the viewers and viewed. 4. Analysis My stand on the mutual influence between the human and the technological makes me adopt a two-sided approach when understanding how SU is capable of creating queer identities. It is not enough to analyse how the story inside the cartoon show enables their creation. It is also important to note how people understand what they see and hear. Therefore, following Torrents (2016), the cartoon show must be thought not only as a product with a meaning in itself –its main narratives, universe and characters–, but also as a technical object always in the process of becoming, since its meaning is established as it is interpreted, always in conversation with other systems of signification. This is why I will firstly reflect on how the respondents of the survey regard gender in the characters that participate in the fusions. As I have argued, gender is a technology formed by different components that have been previously signified. My purpose is to understand what they are and how they may interact with each other, in order to identify how they might influence the narrative of the show. 4.1. The human and the cartoon Many respondents of the survey rely on discourse to assign a gender to the characters of the show. The fusions Opal and Sardonyx are regarded as women because Steven calls them so. Steven is considered a man, among other characteristics, because of his name, Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 64 whereas some respondents doubted of Alexandrite or Jasper’s gender identity because their names do not sound feminine, an interesting statement since the gems are named after real-life stones with no sex or gender. The show uses feminine pronouns to refer to all gems but Steven, and the respondents acknowledge this as a defining factor when gendering a character. This is highly important for the reading of the show. Gems are outside human conceptualisations of sex and gender: they do not reproduce through sexual intercourse, and they are basically made of the gem and a mutable body form made of light. Yet the show does not identify them using the neutral they, but rather chooses pronouns that mobilise certain imaginings about gender and sex. Despite this, only one respondent regards discourse as the only factor that matters in the gendering process. As Edelman and Zimman (2014) argued, certain body parts are gendered. Having long hair –or a bob cut–, a defined bust, full lips or a tight waist helped to define one character as a woman. Having a muscular complexion, a square jaw or a body with no defined waist were considered as masculine traits. The materiality of the cartoon character defined specific gendered physical characteristics. Voice was relevant to define if somebody was a man or a woman. And because the cartoon is moving image, it was easier to attach mannerisms to body parts: Sapphire, coded as a woman, carries her hands and arms delicately; Pearl, also considered a woman, is light on foot and elegant, and Amethyst moves her hips and long hair in a sexy way while she dances. Clothes and objects were also signs of gender. Wearing a pink sword and a shield was considered a sign of being a woman. One of the main reasons to code characters like Rose and Sapphire as women was because they wore a dress. Rainbow Quartz (RQ) was coded as such because she wore what it resembled a typical sport outfit that U.S. women wore during the eighties. In fact, RQ is coded as a woman also because, in the clip, her moves are not only sensual, but also directed towards a male character, Steven’s father Greg. This fact points at an idea of gender conflated with heterosexual desire. In a similar way like the ones described by Moore (2006) and Sinnot (2004), desire is relevant to trouble Ruby’s gender identity. Some respondents argued that she was difficult to classify because of Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 65 her relationship with Sapphire, a character that has been mostly coded as a very feminine woman. One respondent even answers that Ruby can be either a homosexual woman-alien or a non-binary alien. Another person considers that this connection is relevant to define Sapphire, but not Ruby. Ruby, Jasper, Stevonnie and Smoky Quartz (SQ) are the characters with less consensus regarding their gender. Ruby and Jasper are perceived as performing a female masculinity (Halberstam, 1998), since the respondents tend to argue that even when these characters are recognised using female pronouns and may have physical characteristics associated with femininity, they have other physical characteristics, wear clothes or perform attitudes that are traditionally associated with masculinity. Stevonnie and SQ are the only fusions so far in which Steven, the only gem perceived both by the show and the respondents as a man, participates. The fact that they have Steven’s physical characteristics or wear some of Steven’s clothes is what makes their gender ambiguous, especially because these traits are combined with the ones of Connie and Amethyst, coded as women by the participants. This trend, also used to define Sardonyx, Sugilite or Malachite’s gender, could be interpreted as regarding the body as a process, because respondents acknowledge the individuals’ influence on the resulting fusion. The ambiguity of Stevonnie and SQ is emphasised because no character uses gendered pronouns to refer to them. These results suggest that that SU is able to mobilise the components that create the notion of gender in ways that complicate it or even dilute it. However, even when the show uses them in ways that adhere to conventional notions of gender, the posthumanist narrative of the show in general, and how fusion operates in it in particular, enable the show to create narratives that queer its characters. 4.2. A posthuman narrative Identifying gems as female puts its associated gender, women, in the middle of a posthuman narrative. Gems are an example of the perils of an era in which one species subsumes all that lives under the claws of its production system (Braidotti, 2013). Because gems colonise planets and extinguish its organic life, Crystal Gems rebelled against Homeworld, the original planet of the gems, who wanted to colonise the Earth. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 66 In fact, the rulers of Homeworld, the Diamonds, placed a geo-weapon in the centre of the planet, which would destroy it if activated. The militarised gem society is highly hierarchised according to each gem’s functions, which are directed towards achieving the goal of expanding the empire. Their reproduction is controlled according to the needs of the Diamonds, and their role is determined by their powers and the utensils that emerge from their bodies. Gems have totally integrated body and technology, leading to a scenario similar to the one of the pharmaco-pornographic societies described by Preciado (2008): technologies melted with the body are used for the political management of life. Thus, the female/woman subject in SU is both the cause of regimes of exploitation and commodification of all that lives and the source of alternative understandings of the relationship between the body, the technology and other forms of life. With this understanding, the show destabilises the man/woman binary associated with the nature/culture one. However, Steven is the centre of the action, and due to his condition as the son of a male human and a gem who was the leader of the rebellion, he has the potential to destabilise Homeworld. Because of that, the show has the risk to antagonize most of the gems in a way that resembles the humanist system in which the male figure is the universal measure of all things. In this sense, the way the Diamonds rule their empire can have similarities with the image of the monstrous mother-machine. Due to the characteristics of the gems and how they are produced, their society is not structured by a sex/gender system. In fact, Homeworld gems refer to Steven as Rose. Rose Quartz gave up her physical form and her conscience to give birth to Steven, who has her gem in his navel. Since the stone is what constitutes the core of the gem being, Homeworld gems do not see Steven as an human individual –with a sex and a gender adscription–, but just as Rose with another appearance. Despite the non-existence of sex and gender inside the cartoon in itself –and its subsequent understandings about sexuality–, the show has been praised for its depiction of (human) LGTBI identities. As I have argued, it is because viewers interpret the cartoon show applying to its characters those imaginaries that conform human ideas of sex, gender and sexuality. This leads to the creation of gender ambiguous characters, Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 67 and also to the construction of gems as subjects that transcend conventional femininity: Rose Quartz, represented as a very sensual alien wearing a princess-like dress, is a powerful and charismatic warrior and leader. This interaction also enables the consideration of the love relationships between gems as lesbian ones and fusion as the ultimate queer act in the show. 4.3. Fusion as a queering act From the viewers’ perspective, fusion is highly queering. On the one hand, gems fuse to face threatening situations, and the result is a super-individual with enhanced powers and new weapons. However, this quasi-militarist act, traditionally connected to the masculine realm, is only possible if the gems who perform it share an affective bond, a domain traditionally associated to the feminine (Kirby and Wilson, 2011). On the other, fusion is performed through a dance between the gems accompanied with music, and its moves tend to have a highly erotic subtext. In the case of the fusion between Steven and his human best friend Connie, the queerness of the dance lays on the fact that, the first time they fuse, she adopts the male role, grabbing Steven by his waist and leaning her body towards Steven’s. Fusion inside the gem society can be a queering act too. Fusions between gems of the same kind (homogem fusions) –which lead to a bigger individual– are allowed as long as they help to accomplish the mission those individuals have. Just like the Western notions of homosexuality and heterosexuality have been used to discipline individuals in order to underpin a certain kind of power, fusions between gems of different kinds (heterogem fusions) are forbidden, since they lead to new types of gems that do not adjust to the utilitarian social stratification of Homeworld. Just like queering, heterogem fusions are an act that questions normative states of being. Two fusions show the consequences of this narrative. Garnet is the fusion of Ruby, a soldier, and Sapphire, an aristocrat. They had to escape to Earth because Homeworld saw the fusion as highly inappropriate and sentenced Ruby to be shattered. On Earth, they realised that being fused is what they wanted to do the rest of their existence and joined the rebellion. Thus, the show connects the struggle for self-realisation with a sense of community that transcends the boundaries of one’s own species: to fight for the right to be as one wants to be is to fight for a system that accepts every form of life. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 68 The opposite of this narrative is Malachite, the fusion between Jasper and Lapis. The latter fuses with Jasper to prevent her from harming Steven. While fused, Lapis creates giant chains that keep Malachite in the bottom of the ocean. This act unravels a highly queer narrative. Like Garnet, Malachite is the fusion between a gem with a feminine appearance and another with a masculine one. As Halberstam argued (1998), masculinity can be performed using extensions. Through her uniform, her mannerisms, her physical complexion and her aggressive attitude, Jasper performs masculinity in a convincing way. However, the ability of the femme Lapis to create weapons to control Jasper shows that, in the same way that prostheses can be used to perform masculinity, they can ultimately subdue it. Once unfused, Jasper will chase Lapis and ask her to refuse. With this plot, Jasper exemplifies the influence on self-perception of those narratives aimed at controlling the body. Following Homeworld’s narrative, she conceived heterogem fusion as a trick to make weak gems strong and felt superior for not using it. After fusing with Lapis, she admits that by being Malachite she was more powerful than ever. The fusion that mostly troubles the show’s narratives is Stevonnie. Their racial ambiguity and androgynous look creates a queer subject similar to the ones envisioned by Bhanji (2011) and Spade (2006). Steven and Connie –who have a biological sex and an associated gender– transition to another being that does not adhere to normative notions of either womanhood or manhood. Like Garnet, who is the love between gems, Stevonnie is an experience, the living relationship between Steven and Connie (Woerner, 2015). Consequently, Garnet and Stevonnie confirm the importance of the body in the posthuman narrative of SU: no matter if a fusion is made to express a moment or a feeling, or to create a super-individual with more powerful weapons, its motives cannot escape the materiality of the flesh. Fusion is the most eloquent expression of the notion that the body is a process: in “Know Your Fusion”, it is presented as a journey to discover the possibilities of the new body. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 69 It is because every act emerges from the body and ends in it, that affect becomes key when structuring a community whose members not only reject to adhere to conventional norms and classifications established by their original society, but are also in relationships with entities with a different corporeality and understanding of the universe (humans vis-à-vis the alien gems). For instance, Connie’s parents end up letting Connie hang out with Steven because they realise that, despite the many differences they may have with Greg and the Crystal gems when it comes to parenting skills, all of them love their children. Another example is the relationship between Steven’s parents. They tried to fuse while they were dating, but it was impossible. Despite that, by talking and sharing moments together they established a solid love relationship. 4.4. Disability and the posthuman Ability is problematised in the show through the antagonism between Jasper, the perfect soldier, and Amethyst, who is supposed to be a soldier but is very small. Jasper notes that since every gem is made for a purpose, those who cannot fit inside this order must be purged. Amethyst embraces this narrative, considering herself as coming out wrong and Jasper as coming out right. Since the categories are established by one’s ability to fulfil a previously assigned duty, this notion of ability is similar to McRuer and Bérube’s (2006) conceptualisations of able-bodiedness. Amethyst will beat Jasper once she fuses with Steven, creating Smoky Quartz (SQ). This victory exposes ability as a technological construction. Steven is troubled because he is the only hybrid between a gem and a human, and he uses this difference to establish a connection with Amethyst. In “Earthlings”, right before fusing while confronting Jasper, Amethyst says: “Us worst gems stick together”. Steven answers: “That’s why we’re the best”. Since Jasper has systematically failed at establishing affective connections with other gems, she is less able than Amethyst to live within Earth’s gem community, and also to fuse and become more powerful. SQ is the only fusion so far who seems to possess one defect. Two of their three arms emerge from the same place. Therefore, we could understand SQ as embracing a concept of cripping that is not only similar to the one formulated by Sandahl (2003) Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 70 when it comes to its potential to represent a sense of community that also questions normativity, but that is also integrated with queerness, just like the author claimed, because SQ is one of the fusions that most succeeds at troubling gender. The show reinforces the connection between queerness and disability by establishing that a gem can be shattered in Homeworld because she has either come out misshapen or has engaged in a heterogem fusion. In functional terms, SQ is not less able-bodied than any other fusion. SQ saves Sardonyx, the fusion between Garnet and Pearl, using a yo-yo weapon. By making SQ as able to save the day as Sardonyx, the show displays a relationship between technology and disability similar to the one described by Mussies and Maliepaard (2017). SQ is an overcomer (Sandahl, 2003) who is as strong as any other fusion, thus offering a realistic image (McRuer, 2005) of the disabled. Even when SQ brings disability close in relation to other gems, they are gems nevertheless. They do not age, bear babies or die unless shattered. Crip theorists use age to dismiss ability as a state permanently attached to certain bodies. The non-existence of it in the gem society may create a sense of disidentification when the gem is positioned vis-à-vis the aging human audience, which neither has any ability to summon weapons from their bodies at will to solve their impairments. In the end, the representation of SQ risks to be perceived as a wondrous one (McRuer, 2005), a fact that may dilute this fusion’s potential for subversion of normative states.4.5. Race and queerness Race in SU is fundamentally technological and has a class component. Each type of gem is created for a purpose, which also establishes their position in the hierarchy of the gem society. The discourses and punishments that seek to prevent the fusion between gems of a different kind, in order to maintain this structure, resemble the mechanisms that control sexuality in human societies structured around race (Hill Collins, 2000; Stoler, 1995). Consequently, the narrative of SU intertwines the racial struggle with the sexual one. Those gems who refuse to develop the duties they were born to perform have more chances to engage in fusions with gems of a different kind. By presenting Earth, a former colony, as the place where gems engage in affective relationships that subvert Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 71 these norms, the show highlights the utilitarian facet of race in the gem society and its importance for the colonial order. Despite this clear anti-colonialist and anti-racist background, the show has received several criticisms for recurring to negative stereotypes when depicting gems coded as black (Kingston, 2016; Riley, 2016). Due to the episodes’ sample, I will focus on three of them: Garnet, Sardonyx and Sugilite. After my analysis, I agree with some of the points made by the two authors concerning the plot involving these characters. However, my study differs from their opinions in significant ways, due to my review of the surveys’ results. 4.5. Racial coding of the cartoon characters From the 18 characters analysed by the respondents, in five cases there seems to be a relatively wide agreement concerning their race: five or more people code them in the same way. Garnet is mostly coded as black, Connie as Asian, and Pearl, Rose and Lapis, as white. Two participants argued that maybe the absence of any clear racial feature indicates whiteness as the normative race (Delgado and Stefancic, 2001). However, by looking at the overall results, it is not possible to confirm that: for another respondent, the absence of racial traits means that the character in question has no race at all. It is also worth noticing that even when two respondents consider that thinking about gems as having a human race is not accurate, each of them has coded at least one gem as black. This may hint at the prosthetic nature of race: rather than being a concept that emerges from the body, it is formed by a set of components that adhere to it. Physical characteristics emerge as a defining factor for race, especially the skin colour. Other relevant characteristics are the hair’s colour, composition and style, as well as the physical complexion. Clothes and the soundtrack used to introduce each character can have a racial component for some respondents. Precisely, the race ambiguity of some characters, like the gem Ruby and the fusion Opal, is due to an apparent mismatch between their physical characteristics and their clothes. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 72 Accent seems a determining factor for three respondents to define Garnet’s blackness, who is the only one who has a British one. Some respondents have tended to mark accent to define the whiteness of some gems. However, in most of these cases, the actress voicing them is not white. Nobody noticed that Nicki Minaj was voicing Sugilite. This is relevant, since the singer’s voice was one criteria used by some critics of the show for coding Sugilite as black and, thus, to argue that through the representation of this character the show reinforced some of the controlling images used to portray Black women. None of the respondents coded Sugilite as black, and three participants regarded Sardonyx as such. Another criticism made to Sugilite is that she looks like a monster (Kingston, 2016). However, the survey indicates that Malachite is perceived as the lesshuman fusion by some respondents, due to her body constitution –she has four legs– and her green skin, associated with stereotypical depictions of aliens. The analysis of the answers seems to suggest that the person’s life experiences and their cultural background influence their ideas of race. In fact, even when two people look at the same traits to racialise one character, they may read them differently. The survey shows that the concept of race (and gender) in cartoons seems mediated by human and non-human factors alike, pointing at the possibility of a transbiological (Halberstam, 2008) framework: people can resort to human entities –how friends or famous people talk, think, move or dress– and non-human ones –how other cartoons represent aliens, (East Asian) martial artists or (white) princesses– to decipher the race and gender of the character. In fact, some respondents’ answers showed that through their analysis of the characters they were reflecting on their own notions of race and gender. Because of that, the show has the potential to engage its audience in processes aimed at denaturalising previously established notions of race. However, this does not mean that those who have criticised the depiction of some gems are completely wrong. This is because both Sardonyx and Sugilite’s tropes involve two characters that have been mainly coded using two races traditionally casted as oppositional: Garnet (black) and Pearl (white). Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 79 7. References 7.1. Books and journal articles Bhanji, N. (2011). TRANS/SCRIPTIONS: Homing Desires, (Trans)sexual Citizenship and Racialized Bodies, in Cotton, T. (Ed.). Transgender Migrations: The Bodies, Borders, and Politics of Transition. London: Routledge, 157-175. Boellstorff, T. (2006). Queer Studies Under Ethnography’s Sign. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, volume 12, number 4, 627-639. Braidotti, R. (2013). The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity Press. Breckenridge, C. A. & Vogler, C. (2001). The Critical Limits of Embodiment: Disability’s Criticism. Public Culture, volume 13, number 3 (Fall 2001), 349-357. Butler, J. (2007). Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge. Delgado, R. & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical Race Theory. An Introduction. New York and London: New York University Press. Dunn, E. (2016). Steven Universe, Fusion Magic, and the Queer Cartoon Carnivalesque. Gender Forum. An Internet Journal for Gender Studies, issue 56, 44-57. Edelman, E. & Zimman, L. (2014). Boycunts and Bonus Holes: Trans Men’s Bodies, Neoliberalism, and the Sexual Productivity of Genitals. Journal of Homosexuality, volume 61, issue 5, 673-690. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 80 Eshun, K. (2003). Further Considerations of Afrofuturism. The New Centennial Review, volume 3, number 2 (Summer 2003), 287-302. Feinberg, L. (1998). TransLiberation beyond pink and blue. Boston: Beacon. Foucault, M. (1981). The history of sexuality /Vol.1, An Introduction. London: Penguin Books. Halberstam, J. (1998). Female masculinity. Durham: Duke University Press. Halberstam, J. (2008). Animating Revolt/Revolting Animation: Penguin Love, Doll Sex and the Spectacle of the Queer Nonhuman, in Hird, M. & Giffney, N. (Eds.). Queering the Non/Human. Taylor and Francis, 265-281. Halberstam, J. (2011). The queer art of failure. Durham: Duke University Press. Hill Collins, P. (2000). Black Feminist Thought. Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. London and New York: Routledge. Kember, S. (2011). No humans allowed? The alien in/as feminist theory. Feminist Theory, volume 12, issue 2, 183-199. Kirby, V. & Wilson, E. (2011). Feminist conversations with Vicki Kirby and Elizabeth A. Wilson. Feminist Theory, volume 12, issue 2, 227-234. Kulick, D. (1998). Travesti: Sex, Gender and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Lewis, G. (2013). Unsafe travel: experiencing intersectionality and feminist displacements. Signs: a journal of women in culture and society, volume 38 issue 4, 869-892. McRuer, R. (2005). Crip Eye for the Normate Guy: Queer Theory and the Disciplining of Disability Studies. PMLA, volume 120, number 2 (Mar. 2005), 586-592. McRuer, R. & Bérubé, M. (2006). Introduction. Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and Queer/Disabled Existence, in McRuer, R. & Bérubé, M. (Eds.). Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability. New York: New York University Press, 1-32. Moore, M. (2006). Lipstick or Timberlands? Meanings of Gender Presentation in Black Lesbian Communities. Signs, volume 32, number 1 (Autumn 2006), 113-139. Mussies, M. & Maliepaard, E. (2017). The Cyborg Mermaid (or: How Technè Can Help the Misfits Fit In. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, issue 1, article number 4. (http://www.mdpi.com/2414-4088/1/1/4) (5-04-17). O’Rourke, M. (2005). On the Eve of a Queer-Straight Future: Notes Toward an Antinormative Heteroerotic. Feminism & Psychology, volume 15, issue 1, 111-116. Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 81 Preciado, B. (2008). Pharmaco-pornographic Politics: Towards a New Gender Ecology. Parallax, volume 14, issue 1, 105-117. Rubin, G. (1975). The Traffic in Women: Notes on the “Political Economy” of Sex, in Reiter, R.R. (Ed.). Towards an Anthropology of Women. New York: Monthly Review Press, 157-210. Sandahl, C. (2003). Queering the Crip or Cripping the Queer?: Intersections of Queer and Crip Identities in Solo Autobiographical Performance. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, volume 9, number 1-2, 25-56. Schneider, J. (2012). Haraway’s Viral Cyborg. Women’s Studies Quarterly, volume 40, number 1/2, VIRAL (Spring/Summer 2012), 294-300. Sinnott, M. (2004). Toms and Dees: transgender identity and female same-sex relationships in Thailand. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Spade, D. (2006). Mutilating Gender, in Stryker, S. & Whittle, S. (Eds.). The Transgender Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 315-332. Stoler, A. L. (1995). Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault’s History Of Sexuality And The Colonial Order Of Things. Durham: Duke. Stryker, S., Currah, P. & Moore, L.J. (2008). Introduction: Trans-, Trans, or Transgender?. Women’s Studies Quarterly, volume 36, number 3/4, Trans- (Fall- Winter, 2008) 11-22. Torrents, A. (2016). Cuerpos sin límite: tecnología e identidad en el anime de ciencia ficción, in Lozano-Méndez, A. (Ed.). El Japón contemporáneo. Una aproximación desde los estudios culturales. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, 149-170. Torrents, A. (2017). El anime como dispositivo pensante: Cuerpo, tecnología e identidad. PhD. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Valocchi, S. (1999). The Class-Inflected Nature of Gay Identity. Social Problems, volume 46, number 2 (May, 1999), 207-224. Womack, Y. (2013). Afrofuturism: the world of black sci-fi and fantasy culture. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books. 7.2. Online media articles Brammer, J.P. (2017). Steven Universe Is the Queerest Animated Show on TV. Vulture. (http://www.vulture.com/2017/01/steven-universe-the-queerest-cartoon-on-tv.html) (14- 04-17). Bullock, L. (2015). Steven Universe And The Necessity Of POC-coded Pearl. Black Nerd Problems. (http://blacknerdproblems.com/steven-universe-and-the-necessity-of- poc-coded-pearl/) (15-08-17). Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 82 Glass, J. (2017). Rebecca Sugar Apologises For Steven Universe Racism Controversy. Bleeding Cool. (https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/07/16/rebecca-sugar-apologises- steven-universe-racism-controversy/) (15-08-17). Kingston, J. (2016). “Bismuth” and Steven Universe’s Racial Coding Problem. Women Write About Comics. (http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2016/08/30/steven-universe- 100-bismuth-undermined-by-racial-coding/) (14-04-17). Mey (2015). “Steven Universe” and the Importance of All-Ages Queer Representation. Autostraddle. (https://www.autostraddle.com/steven-universe-and-the-importance-of- all-ages-queer-representation-281482/) (14-04-17). Nguyen, C. (2015). An Attempted Suicide Forced a Tumblr Community to Open Its Eyes About Bullying. Motherboard. (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/3da838/an-attempted-suicide-forced-a- tumblr-community-to-open-its-eyes-about-bullying) (4-11-17). Riley H. (2016). All These Black Characters and 0 Done Right – How Steven Universe Fails Its Black Fanbase, Part I.. Medium (https://medium.com/@dtwps/all-these-black- characters-and-0-done-right-how-steven-universe-fails-its-black-fanbase-part-i- 81e0b0b8c3fe) (6-02-17). Romano, A. (2015). ‘Steven Universe’ fandom is melting down after bullied fanartist attempts suicide. Daily Dot. (https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/steven-universe- fanartist-bullied-controversy/) (15-08-17). Tremeer, E. (2016). Rebecca Sugar Explains Why LGTB Representation Is So Important In ‘Steven Universe’. Movie Pilot. (https://moviepilot.com/posts/3954346) (6-02-17). Smith, L. (2016). ‘Steven Universe’ Made Me Gay. The Establishment (https://theestablishment.co/steven-universe-made-me-gay-45747214eb9c) (14-04-17) Woerner, M. (2015). Steven Universe Guidebook Spills the Secrets of the Crystal Gems. io9. (http://io9.gizmodo.com/steven-universe-guidebook-spills-the-secrets-of-the-cry- 1704470546) (24-08-17). 7.3. ‘Steven Universe’ episodes Coach Steven (2014). Steven Universe. Season 1, episode 20. Cartoon Network. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00G23JXNY?ref_=aiv_dp_season_select) Cry for Help (2015). Steven Universe. Season 2, episode 11. Cartoon Network. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00VU3MT8M?ref_=aiv_dp_season_select) Earthlings (2016). Steven Universe. Season 3, episode 23. Cartoon Network. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B01J8XUZCC?ref_=aiv_dp_season_select) Fusion Cuisine (2014). Steven Universe. Season 1, episode 32. Cartoon Network. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00OD2WORS?ref_=aiv_dp_season_select) Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 83 Jail Break (2015). Steven Universe. Season 1, episode 52. Cartoon Network. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00OD2WORS?ref_=aiv_dp_season_select) Know Your Fusion (2016). Steven Universe. Season 4, episode 2. Cartoon Network. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B01J8XUZCC?ref_=aiv_dp_season_select) 7.4 Images of Table 1 Alexandrite Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Alexandrite by King. (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Alexandrite?file=Alexandrite%20By%20King.png) (21-04- 17) Amethyst Steven Universe Wiki (2016). Jfek New Gen (http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Amethyst?file=Jfek%20New%20Gen.png) (13- 06-17) Connie Maheswaran Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Connie New Intro (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Connie_Maheswaran?file=ConnieNewIntro.png) (13-06-17) Garnet Steven Universe Wiki (2016). Garnet by Kmes (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Garnet?file=GarnetByKmes.png) (21-04-17) Jasper Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Helmet Jasper DP (http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Jasper?file=HelmetJasperDP.png) (13-02-17) Lapis Lazuli Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Look Betty Its Lapis (http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Lapis_Lazuli?file=LookBeckyItsLapis.png) (13- 02-17) Malachite Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Malachite Lehni (http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Malachite?file=Malachite_Lenhi.png) (21-04- 17) Opal Steven Universe Wiki (2016). Opal Gen by Lenhi (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Opal?file=Opal%20Gen%201%20by%20Lenhi.png> (21-04- 17) Pearl Monográfico: Nuevas Amazonas Nº 7 - 2019 Revista Admira - ISSN: 1989-6972 84 Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Current Pearl Request (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Pearl?file=Current%20Pearl%20Request.png) (13-06-17) Rainbow Quartz Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Rainbow Quartz by Lenhi (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Quartz?file=Rainbow_Quartz_by_Lenhi.png) (21- 04-17) Rose Quartz Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Rose Quartz – With Weapon (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Rose_Quartz?file=Rose%20Quartz%20- %20With%20Weapon.png) (13-06-17) Ruby Steven Universe Wiki (2016). Ruby - Weaponized (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Ruby?file=Ruby_-_Weaponized.png) (13-06-17) Sapphire Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Dan Sapphy ur Freezies with Gem (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Sapphire?file=Dan_Sapphy_ur_Freezies_with_Gem.png) (13- 06-17) Sardonyx Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Sardonyx by Lehni (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Sardonyx?file=Sardonyx_by_Lenhi.png) (21-04-17) Smoky Quartz Steven Universe Wiki (2016). Smoky Quartz by Cocoa (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Smoky_Quartz?file=Smoky_Quartz_2_by_Cocoa.png) (21- 04-17) Steven Universe Steven Universe Wiki (2016). Steven Shield WP (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Steven_Universe_(character)?file=Steven_Shield_WD.png) (13-06-17) Stevonnie Steven Universe Wiki (2016). Stevonnie with Sword and Shield by Lehni (http://stevenuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Stevonnie?file=Stevonnie_with_Sword_and_Shield_by_Lenhi .png) (13-06-17) Sugilite Steven Universe Wiki (2015). Debut Sugilite – Cry for Help with Flail (http://steven-universe.wikia.com/wiki/Sugilite?file=Debut%20Sugilite%20- %20Cry%20for%20Help%20with%20Flail.png) (21-04-17)