Rebecca Sugar on The1A

love-takes-work:

Rebecca Sugar was interviewed on the radio show 1A! You can listen to the entire thing here:

https://the1a.org/audio/#/shows/2018-07-09/the-mind-behind-americas-most-empathetic-cartoon/114886/

I thought some folks who won’t be listening to the interview might appreciate an outline, so here is an overview and highlights. Please note that there are some descriptions of racism and violence, and other potentially disturbing situations for some folks.

Highlights:

• The show is something Rebecca thinks of as “reverse escapism.”
• Beach City is based on a blend of Dewey Beach and Rehoboth Beach, with an east-coast beach feel.
• The Gems are explicitly described as nonbinary and as not thinking of themselves as “women” whatsoever, but do not mind that humans interpret them as such.
• Rebecca Sugar is a nonbinary woman herself, and likes that she can express being so through these characters.
• She considers her show a “gender expansive” show that is in part a reaction to the unnecessary gendering of shows during her childhood, which was alienating for her.
• Doing this show and bumping up against expectations laid by other successful shows has made Rebecca determined to bring many important and historically ignored messages to kids.
• Being compassionate is heroic.
• The theory behind Fusions on the show was a desire to show how a healthy relationship can also be something cool and exciting.
• Rebecca loves having an opportunity to have her characters express really intense, complex emotions that are so challenging to draw and so unusual to see on a cartoon character.
• In response to mocking and sneering comments about how the show advocates “feminizing men,” Rebecca says it’s deeply sad that someone would feel that femininity is negative or that being able to communicate about emotions is weak. She wants kids to learn that it’s good to be honest about feelings, and that many of the symbols we associate with power or weakness are arbitrary.
• Garnet represents Rebecca’s relationship with Ian Jones-Quartey, how they ran the show together like a pillar of strength even though separately they’re more like Ruby and Sapphire. They wanted her to have natural hair, and to represent their own interracial relationship.
• Rebecca and Ian were once physically attacked by racists who disapproved of their interracial relationship. That incident was influential in her desire to normalize the kind of interracial, gender-expansive relationship that’s part of her own everyday life. “Stronger Than You” is about surviving those kinds of awful incidents.
• In a way, making Garnet’s relationship so cool is one thing Rebecca is doing for people who might otherwise grow up to think like those men. If she provides an opportunity to make relationships like hers seem cool and beautiful, maybe fewer adults will be motivated to attack them in disgust without even thinking about it.
• Rebecca Sugar identifies as bisexual and learned to be more confident in talking about it openly through her work on the show and meeting people through it.
• Rebecca worried that she couldn’t talk about being bi because she’d be thought less trustworthy or as looking for attention. These are worries she thinks she picked up through media.
• In response to a question about whether the show really is for everyone even though some identifying as conservative are put off by it, Rebecca claims that her show is honest and that’s for everyone; that said, you can’t make someone listen if they refuse to hear.
• Rebecca mentions growing up on Disney weddings and wanting to show that a relationship like Garnet’s could be just as wonderful.
• We as a society focus too much on what victims of bullying should do and not enough on how to process feelings associated with hurting someone else. Bullies can be created out of people who make mistakes and don’t know how to handle anger or poor decisions.
• “Here Comes a Thought” is sort of a sequel to “Stronger Than You”–not just an affirmation of strength, but a peek into how Garnet became and stays strong.
• Rebecca originally wanted “Mindful Education” to just be Steven giving kids a mindfulness meditation exercise because it’s so vital to have these tools. She and her writers figured out how to instead show a resolution that used the tool.

Overview:

Please read the detailed description below.

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