Even if you’ve never heard of Revolutionary Girl Utena (Ikuhara, 1997), you’ll absolutely know something that’s referenced it, if not taken direct influence from it. From Steven Universe (Sugar, 2013-2019), The Owl House (Terrace, 2020-present) and She-Ra and The Princesses of Power (Stevenson, 2018-2020), to Pokémon (Yuyama and Tomiyasu, 1997–Present), Scott Pilgrim (O'Malley, 2004-2010) and My … Continue reading The Sapphic 90s anime that inspired Steven Universe and She-ra: a discourse-focused analysis of Revolutionary Girl Utena
Tag: Steven Universe
From Cinderella to Steven Universe: How language has shaped Trans+ and Genderqueer representation in animation across the last century
The Timeline From famous Disney villains inspired by drag queens, to the openly non-binary characters of new fantasy cartoons, the way that trans and genderqueer characters are described, voiced and treated has shifted massively over the years. This post will cover several canonical transgender and non-binary characters, as well as those who are genderqueer-coded, to … Continue reading From Cinderella to Steven Universe: How language has shaped Trans+ and Genderqueer representation in animation across the last century
Mohd Najib (2019) Queer representations in Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe
Looks at queer representation and gender performativity encoded in visual and verbal signs in the cartoon animation, Steven Universe, using semiotic analysis. Uses qualitative data that looks at salient extracts from different scenes across the series, incorporating both visual and linguistic analysis alongside one another. This thesis would be useful for those who are interested … Continue reading Mohd Najib (2019) Queer representations in Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe
Vogt (2022) A Critical Discourse Analysis of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Characters in Children’s Animated Series
Uses Critical Discourse Analysis and an overview of critical theory, in general, to analyse and understand Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Characters in popular modern children’s cartoon series. Takes a qualitative approach and samples episodes from 20 different cartoons and looks at five major themes these characters represent. As well as discussing the language used around … Continue reading Vogt (2022) A Critical Discourse Analysis of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Characters in Children’s Animated Series