Steven Universe continues to prove itself an effective series that relays important messages and provides characters that allow its fans to speak to wider cultural issues. As a children’s fantasy story, it has the space to put social commentary in plain sight while passing it off as world-building. This is one of the great things… Continue reading Wholeness Through Defectiveness: Reversing Homeworld’s -isms in Steven Universe
Category: Essays, Criticism, and Analyses
On Advent and the Secularization of Christmas
It’s that time of year when Christianity makes headlines by decrying the lack of Jesus on things like coffee cups and resenting anyone who says, “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” The secularization of Christmas is, for many, yet another sign of the declining importance of church in the United States. With membership and participation… Continue reading On Advent and the Secularization of Christmas
Holy Barbie Dolls, Batman!
When sacred beliefs meet pop culture, someone’s bound to get offended, especially when the particular pop culture piece is so intricately tied with consumerism and globalization. That’s the issue at hand regarding an art show exhibit in Argentina which displays Barbie and Ken dolls dressed as various sacred figures from numerous religious traditions, including Christianity,… Continue reading Holy Barbie Dolls, Batman!
Cutie Marks and Calling Redux: Finding Purpose in Loving the Enemy
About four years ago, I wrote my first analytical blog series about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Up until that point, I had almost exclusively written reviews because they were relatively easy to churn out and I could never think of any compelling analytical angle I could use to talk about what I watched… Continue reading Cutie Marks and Calling Redux: Finding Purpose in Loving the Enemy
Loving Anthy and Loving the Other
In my last post about Revolutionary Girl Utena, I compared Utena to Jesus Christ on the basis of her being an unexpected revolutionary who does, in a sense, break the system she challenges, but not in the way that the other characters (or the audience) expects. After reflecting on the series a bit more, I… Continue reading Loving Anthy and Loving the Other
Someday, Together: Revolutionary Girl Utena’s Already/Not Yet
I don’t know what it is with me and all these eschatological/shifting eras themes I keep running into, but they come at me harder than Nanami at Touga. Revolutionary Girl Utena is a classic anime series for a reason–actually many reasons because it’s so layered in symbolism that it swings the door wide open for… Continue reading Someday, Together: Revolutionary Girl Utena’s Already/Not Yet
Kill la Eschaton: Partings and New Eras in Kill la Kill
This might be my last Kill la Kill post for a while, but who knows? I may catch even more things once I get the DVDs and rewatch it for the third time. I’ve found multiple examples of characters and plot elements in Kill la Kill aligning nicely with Christian theology or presenting interesting, perhaps… Continue reading Kill la Eschaton: Partings and New Eras in Kill la Kill
The Garnet #BlackLivesMatter Mural and the Power of Fictional Characters
During the Baltimore uprising, I made this post with some brief reactions I had at the time as well as a collection of articles for more in-depth reading. I reflected on how the kind of criticism I do on this blog is easy, in a sense, because narrowing down the broad topic of intersectionality to… Continue reading The Garnet #BlackLivesMatter Mural and the Power of Fictional Characters
Finding God Imprisoning: Religious Identity and Exclusion in Orange is the New Black
Regular readers know by now that any time I see Christian iconography mixed with pop culture, I immediately want to pick out some grand meaning which ultimately suggests that said icons aren’t as sacrilegious as they seem. In the weeks leading up to season 3 of Orange is the New Black, these new promotional images… Continue reading Finding God Imprisoning: Religious Identity and Exclusion in Orange is the New Black
Madonnas of Ooo: Adventure Time Meets Christian Iconography
Given that I’ve cosplayed Marceline twice now, it’s surprising that I haven’t written much about Adventure Time. It’s certainly a much smarter show than people give it credit for, and as I’ve pointed out in the past, one can glean some interesting theology by looking past its often weird surface. I thought that crossover between… Continue reading Madonnas of Ooo: Adventure Time Meets Christian Iconography