#they are menaces to eachother and rightfully so | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

billyggruff · 6 years

Note

I see that a lot of people don't see the diamonds as evil.

I wish I could find the blog that said it, but they really answered why this is the case. They basically said that the reason why this is the case is because the framing is confused. Specifically in regard to how they frame characters emotions. Characters like Bismuth received the framing of a villain with everything from the dark shadows to the harsh red lighting of her fight scene with Steven. Her eyes were frequently cast in deep shadow or shown to be dilated, which are both popular animation techniques to make a character seem menacing and scary.

Yet in the context of the narrative when you look at it without the crude framing techniques it’s plain to see that Bismuth’s rage is warranted and justified in many respects. The fight should have felt much more conflicted and should have raised doubts and questions within Steven. Yet thanks to this framing a lot of people walk away from the episode thinking that Bismuth is just a bad person and is wrong.

Meanwhile Blue Diamond is framed in this mournful grieving tone with everything from her weak voice to her expression and posture. She’s given these quiet moments next to PD’s palanquin and they really hammer home just how long she’s been grieving. Even YD’s framing has been confused lately.

The framing treats her like she’s supposed to be empathized with. Like she “isn’t that bad of a person really guys”

However we know for a fact that the Diamonds worked together to corrupt all the gems on Earth, authorized those gem experiments, and intends on a planet filled with life to be destroyed for no other reasons than for a weapon comprised of millions of shattered gems and to get rid of a bad memory. Despite the framing attempting to make them sympathetic, their actions are utterly reprehensible. BD almost had Garnet shattered just for fusing on accident in front of her. These are not good people, yet they are framed as such while on screen.

Lawyers use this technique with their clients in order to lower their sentence. They show their clients in their best light. They show pictures of them when they are at their friendliest looking. They talk about their hopes and dreams and how this case that has been put against them has ruined their lives, and isn’t that punishment enough your honor? They work their hardest to paint the most empathetic picture of their client as possible, even when in actuality they could be the worst monster you can think of.

That is what the framing with the Diamonds feel like. It feels like the writers are trying to paint them in as empathetic a light as possible so when they introduce their “happy ending,” where everyone forgives eachother and it was all just a big misunderstanding, the audience will buy it.

Basically, the reason why a lot of people do not see the Diamonds as evil is because the writers are actively working to make them seem empathetic. While characters who rightfully want to fight against them (a la Bismuth) are framed as bad, antagonistic, and unreasonable. The writers are almost the Diamonds defense attorneys at this point, which really confuses the narrative about a rebellion against a tyrannical regime.

#su critical #steven universe #story framing #confused narrative #the diamonds #bismuth #bismuth did nothing wrong

235 notes · View notes