The season five finale of Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe: Change Your Mind,” reveals a transgender narrative and has been praised by fans online.
“Steven Universe,” whose producer Rebecca Sugar came out as nonbinary in July, is a coming-of-age animated television series that first aired in 2013.
The show has told countless stories about the LGBTQ community including depicting a lesbian marriage between show characters Ruby and Sapphire in the episode “The Question.”
The season finale focused on the titular character trying to convince his family of who he is and that he is in fact a boy named Steven.
In the episode, Steven is experiencing body dysphoria and struggling to be accepted by his family. It begins with his family demanding that he should “go back to the way he was before” and “stop pretending.” As the episode goes on, Steven is able to get through to his family with one member of his family explaining “she prefers to be called Steven.”
The episode focuses on what transgender youth can experience trying when rejected for who you are by your family, something 58 percent of transgender respondents in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey say they have experienced.
Fans took to Twitter to show their excitement at having a narrative that focused on transgender representation.
https://twitter.com/pocketpauling/status/1087556335577780227?s=20
steven universe has been about a trans kid struggling with dysphoria this whole time and we never even realized
— aidan (@aimawish) January 22, 2019
the season finale of steven universe is absolutely an allegory for trans people in unsupportive biological families seeking solace in found families and you can’t convince me otherwise
— ᴍɪᴋᴀɴ ♪ (@softseokiee) January 27, 2019
The season five finale of “Steven Universe: Change Your Mind” is available on Cartoon Network’s website.
