The animated offerings that are available to children are vast and growing every day. Providers such as Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Instant Video stream countless hours of content complete with action and adventure for all ages. But, in an age when issues of female representation within popular culture are connected to everything from Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow, to a woman’s role within video game journalism, to game developer Barbie, it is important that there are animated programs that convey particular, positive, feminist messages. In this paper I will look to Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe, the story of a young boy raised by three genderless, powerful beings that are presented as female, as a program that not only foregrounds important messages of sisterhood, and respect for powerless peers, but also highlights the potential value of non-traditional family structures. By doing this not only will I explore creator Rebecca Sugar’s upturning of the “semiotics of gender in cartoons for children” (Lachenal), but I will examine the ways in which the powerful feminist messages of love and tolerance offered by Steven Universe makes it one of the most important shows available to children of all ages.
About the presenterQuincy Thomas
Dr. Quincy Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Kalamazoo College, Chair of the Cartoons, Comic Books, and Video Gaming area, and President of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. His research focuses on the presence of the underrepresented and marginalized within Popular Culture performance.