Love Like You - Grade: A PDF

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Towards the end of the semester you may have an essay assignment. The assignment will be to research a topic you learned in class. and research the topic as well as using a movie or tv show as an example. For this example I took the concept of Love and the subjects of eros, agape, and others that fe...

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2 Love Like You: Steven Universe Essay on The Concept of Love Ariana Perez Dr. Edwards COM 211

Love Like You: Steven Universe Essay on The Concept of Love In our notes Love is defined as “an individual having the goal of preserving and promoting the well-being of another person.”. I define Love as being able to accept a person, warts and all, and despite everything and everyone you would still choose that person to be by your side. Love is a universal feeling that can be interpreted in many ways but still comes down to wanting the best for the person you love, even if it means that the love is unrequited love. The show Steven Universe, created by Rebecca Sugar, expresses many different forms and interpretations of love. It is a show targeted towards children but due to social media and its popularity in pop culture many people, are familiar with the show. The show is about a boy, Steven, who has magical powers. In this show gems are personified. Steven saves the world with Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst. A long time ago the Diamonds, who are four rulers of Home-World (Home world is a planet in space for gems) came to Earth to colonize it. Rose quartz and the Crystal Gems, who are rebel gems against the Diamond authority, fought against Home-World in order to protect all life on earth. Rose quartz had to kill Pink Diamond in order to save Earth and it led to a huge war that killed hundreds of gems. The Crystal Gems won and 5,000 years later Rose quartz met a human, Greg, and they fell in love and created Steven. But Rose used her gem powers to create Steven and, in the end, it causes her to cease to exist. Home-World returns to gain control of Earth again after learning Rose quartz was gone. Now it is up to Steven to live up to his mother’s legacy as the leader of the crystal gems and save the world from the destruction of the Diamonds. The show shows love in straight relationships while also showing love in a LGBT+ types of relationships. Jeremy De Chavez, Author of Reading Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving, or Why Loving Means Giving Nothing, said “Love is a sincere way of establishing relations with the other and a

2 Love Like You: Steven Universe Essay on The Concept of Love Ariana Perez Dr. Edwards COM 211

basis on which a meaningful and ethical life could be lived.” (De Chavez pg.153). De Chavez discusses what it means to love someone as well as using reference from a book they have studied on. On the show Steven Universe there is a gem named Garnet. Garnet is a fusion of two female gems, Sapphire and Ruby. They fused together to form Garnet because they loved each other. On Home-World their love if forbidden because only gems from the same group can fuse together, for example: only rubies can fuse with rubies. On Home-World fusions are only created for war. Garnet was fused for love and it angered the Diamonds. Ruby and Sapphire ran away from Home-World and became rebels for love on Earth. Rose quartz found the and assured them that on Earth you can love whoever you want and that they shouldn't be ashamed for their love. On Earth they fight for the place where they can exist together, and they encourage all gems to express their love for one another. They became Crystal Gems and went to war for equality of love. Their love is based on establishing a meaningful relationship with one another and being content with one another. De Chavez describes love as “The desire to love then is fueled by the belief that by loving another, you will get to a truth about yourself.” (De Chaves pg.155) Sapphire and Ruby need each other. In the episode Keystone Motel Ruby and Sapphire unfused because they had a fight. Ruby is mad at Sapphire and vice versa. Throughout the episode it is seen that the two can’t function without the other. Sapphire has always been the one to calm Ruby down when she gets angry at people and Ruby was the one to help Sapphire through her anxiety/ panic attacks. Now that the two are fighting Sapphire is showing signs of over thinking and is starting to panic while Ruby’s anger is starting to take a toll because she starts to break things and ruins everyone’s mood. At the end of the episode they express why they were upset and talk about ways they can fix things. They see in each other things that they alone can’t fix in

2 Love Like You: Steven Universe Essay on The Concept of Love Ariana Perez Dr. Edwards COM 211

themselves. They then fuse to create Garnet again, symbolizing that they still love each other and are committed to one another. Another form of love in the show is unrequited love and mania love as seen in the relationship with Pearl and Rose. Authors Laurie L. Couch, Kiersten R. Baughman and Melissa R. Dero explain in their research study The Aftermath of Romantic Betrayal: What’s Love Got to Do with It? “Mania has been conceptualized as a highly invested, obsessive or dependent style of loving, and those who possess it to a high degree are thought to be jealous, overprotective, intense, and preoccupied with their partners” (Couch, Baughman and Dero pg. 505). The authors research talks about diverse ways we see love and different ways we cope when things don’t go as planned. The authors describe the love of mania as becoming obsessive and, in the end, it will hurt the person that is expressing mania love. They talk about how the person wants to control everything and it will lead people to not want to be with them. Pearl was the best friend of Rose. They started the Crystal gems and convinced many gems that life on Earth, to be free and to love freely, was better than having the Diamonds control every aspect of their lives. Pearl would have done everything for Rose. She loved her. But Rose only saw Pearl as a friend. While their past is vague in the show, due to Rose dying while creating Steven, in the few episodes like A story for Steven and Mr. Greg Pearl is shown in a flashback to be very passionate for her love of Rose. In A story for Steven Greg and Rose are in the beginning stages of dating. Pearl is obviously jealous and lashes out at Greg every time he gets close to Rose, but she is very sweet to Rose. She will follow rose and will verbally express her idolization for Rose. In the episode Mr. Greg Greg, Steven, and Pearl go to a hotel for a mini vacation. 15 years have passed since Rose died but there is still an air of hostility between Greg and Pearl. Pearl expresses her love for Rose in a song It's over isn't it. She talks about how she was always there for Rose and

2 Love Like You: Steven Universe Essay on The Concept of Love Ariana Perez Dr. Edwards COM 211

even though she knew Rose didn't love her in that way it still hurts that she chose Greg and how even though Rose is gone Pearl still isn't over her sadness. Later in the episode Pearl and Greg talk to each other. Pearl talks about how she doesn't hate Greg she just hates how Rose chose a human over her. Greg talks about how he didn’t mean to take Rose from Pearl, he just knew he loved her and didn't know he was hurting Pearl. At the end of the episode they both grieve over the loss of Rose but also became friends. Lastly, I will talk about the love between Rose and Greg. Their love started out as Ludis, which according to our class notes is “game playing love based on the enjoyment of another.” and ended at Agape. When they first met Greg came to the town of Beach City as a new artist. He was trying to become a famous singer and went by the stage name Mr. Universe. Rose happened to go to one of his shows and he was so interested in her that he cancelled his lowincome tour and stayed in the town to be with Rose. They spent their days laughing and joking around. Couch, Baughman and Dero describe this style of love in that “the ludus style of love as a game-playing approach to romantic relationships, with gaining power over one’s partner(s) as a key goal or thrill surrounding connections with others.” (Couch, Baughman and Dero pg.505). It wasn’t until Greg wanted to get serious with Rose did the relationship turn into agape. Rose has only been in relationships with humans for fun. Greg expressed to her in A story for Steven that he loved her and wanted to take this relationship seriously. Eventually they grew to love each other and attempt to revolve their life around the other person. Couch, Baughman and Dero talk about in their research that Agape is for “those who endorse this style often put the needs and wants of their partners ahead of their own, as the joy in love is associated with doing for others.” (Couch, Baughman and Dero pg. 506). Greg quit trying to be a musician and went to get a real job to earn money, so he could take care of Rose. Rose started to learn more about

2 Love Like You: Steven Universe Essay on The Concept of Love Ariana Perez Dr. Edwards COM 211

Greg and catered to his needs as well. Eventually they both wanted to have children, but they knew it was going to be impossible for a Gem and a human to have a child. Rose loved Greg and decided to give up her life to create Steven. Steven is a part of Rose. Rose had to give up her physical form in order for her to have him. All Gems have an actual gem to show what they are. Rose looked human but with a rose quartz gem on her belly button. In short, gem magic creates gem life. Her gem created Steven out of love but in the end, she could never come back, leaving Greg, Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst to care for Steven. In every episode the ending credits is Rose singing. The song is called Rose’s farewell in which she sings about how she wanted to love and to express the same love that was given to her. “If I could begin to be half of what you think of me, I could do about anything. Maybe I could learn how to love like you.” It also expresses her love for Steven, the child she wanted with Greg to show how much she loved him. “If I could have stayed to be half of what you thought of me, could have done about anything but I think I learned how to love like you.” In conclusion, love can be thought of and expressed in many ways. Love can be expressed by fighting for your right to love like Garnet. It can be expressed through understanding of lost loved one like Pearl and Greg. It can also be expressed as giving yourself up in the name of love like Rose. Love can be shown to be unconditionally accepting as they all accepted who they loved, loved them with no strings attached. Yes, this is a kid’s show, but it shows strong emotions and storylines. It shows diverse types of love in a beautiful light that is meaningful and can be understood by anybody. It helps to express to people the LGBT+ love is also just love at it’s core in a way child can understand. It shows unrequited love and the passing of time to heal the wounds that even some adults can’t fully understand. It teaches people love in unique ways and to look at someone and think “maybe I could learn how to love like you”.

2 Love Like You: Steven Universe Essay on The Concept of Love Ariana Perez Dr. Edwards COM 211

Resources Chavez, J. D. (2015, December 01). Reading Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving, or Why Loving Means Giving Nothing. Retrieved May 1, 2018, from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=25&sid=e06e560e-763d-4eea-88c7401d077d36db@sessionmgr102 COM 211 notes Couch, L. L., Baughman, K. R., & Derow, M. R. (2016). The Aftermath of Romantic Betrayal: What’s Love Got to Do with It? Current Psychology,36(3), 504-515. doi:10.1007/s12144-016-9438-y...