Jon,,,Jonathan Sims,,,,,

'Morning Sea at Shiribeshi'. Hasui Kawase.

I was thinking about why Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond is so hated.

The obvious answer is because of the horrible things she did.

But the other diamonds did horrible things too…worse things even.

Pink abandoned Spinel, which is wrong, but Spinel was planning to kill every living thing on Earth to spite the son of a person who was no longer even alive. Yet, no one talks about what a monster Spinel is.

So many Steven Universe characters have hurt people, but we forgive them and are happy to see them redeemed.

So why not Rose?

Then, it hit me: because Rose’s redemption arc is told to us in reverse.

The first time we see Rose is toward the end of her life when she is pregnant with Steven. We see her appreciation for life and how full of love she is for Greg and her future child. She’s willingly sacrificing herself to bring a new life into the world.

But then, we start learning who Rose used to be, all her mistakes, all the people she hurt.

The loving mother in Steven’s video becomes a distant memory.

For those of you who hate Rose, imagine her backstory unfolded a little differently for us.

We’re introduced to Pink Diamond: she’s spoiled, bratty, immature, irresponsible, and inconsiderate.

She throws temper tantrums when she doesn’t get her way.

Not exactly an endearing character, right?

But one day, her tantrum injure Pink Pearl, her best friend. From that day on, she keeps everything to herself. Now we see her dealing with a consequence of her bad behavior.

Then we see how she’s abused by the other diamonds. We start to sympathize with her.

We see her try to save Earth. We see her trying to do the right thing for once.

But it backfires horribly.

She spends the rest of her life trying to fix it, but she can’t.

She meets Greg. Here is where Rose has the most emotional growth as a character. She learns what is truly means to be a “real person.”

Finally, she grows such an appreciation for human life, that she decides to sacrifice her form to bring her son into the world.

The reason Rose is so much more controversial than other characters who have done problematic things is because her story is told in reverse, her redemption comes across as a fall from grace.

But there are plenty of characters who have a fall from grace who are still not as controversial as Rose. The reason why many people are less sympathetic to Rose is because we never see how Rose reacts to her mistakes. We never get much insight into how Rose feels about herself and the things she’s done. We get small hints:

For everyone who hates Rose, I get why. But I think we need to remember who she became instead of who she was.

not even JRR Tolkien, who famously developed the concept of the Secondary World and firmly believed that no trace of the Real World should be evoked in the fictional world, was able to remove potatoes from his literature. this is a man who developed whole languages and mythologies for his literary world, who justified its existence in English as a translation* simply because he was so miffed he couldn't get away with making the story fully alien to the real world. and not even he, in extremis, was so cruel as to deny his characters the heavenly potato. could not even conceive a universe devoid of the potato. such is its impact. everyone please take a moment to say thank you to South Americans for developing and cultivating one of earth's finest vegetables. the potato IS all that. literally world-changing food. bless.

Franz Kafka, letter to his father

[ID: for me you were the measure of all things. End ID]

Ceaseless Watcher.

where you go, i go. that's the deal.

lyrics from "work song" by hozier

click for higher resolution. close ups and progress shots under the cut!

horse photography via sasha elage (@sashaelage on instagram)

Tumblr Tuesday: The Mouse Is Free!

With his gloveless hands and that delightful hat, the earliest iteration of Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie, is now free to sail the seas of your creative endeavors. Unless you're in Spain or Germany. Sorry, Spain and Germany! Please enjoy these Mickey Mouse…s (Mickey Mice?) as your local Artists on Tumblr celebrate this momentous occasion.

@artofdiana:

@llamadraws:

@nellucnhoj:

@nonagalleryart:

@depodraws:

@hpkomic:

@knuckles-junior:

@artsywriter25:

@sunshinelui:

@undibujomanco:

@synn0005:

@sleuth-hounds:

@yesthefandomfreakblr:

@pyrasterran:

@nickrowler:

@slightlycreative:

some foggy jmart in these post they died separately 20 years ago times