Personally I like Jaspis fucked up-ness but I also want to see them get better just because there is so much room for character development here.
I tend to think of myself as someone that prefers the lighter side of things, but I also find I really enjoy the gritty and the visceral and the dark when I engage with it. It reminds me of the attitude that, like, All Porn Is Exploitative, or Or Liking BDSM Makes You Evil And Fucked Up, and there's no way anyone could be creating or producing or performing sex work and finding some meaning or purpose or dignity in it. It feels like it comes from a place of shallow understanding about So What Do We Do About Problematic Media. Because obviously there's this stuff and it's Bad, so we gotta get rid of it, right? So it doesn't infect/create/encourage more Bad People. Art and media are also especially good at creating empathy. This is kind of invaluable if you...oh, let's pick something topical: want people to understand what it's like to, say, be in a coercive relationship, and feel like you have to stay there, for the sake of keeping somebody else safe. The point of identifying something as problematic and fucked up is so you can critically engage with it, not cordon it off. For sure! Because that's another great space to explore for SU: how do you deal with somebody that's hurt you? If anything is going to affirm the power of forgiveness and the potential for redemption (and I mean, like, between Lapis and Jasper, because we know Steven will forgive anyone but those two are going to take a lot longer to forgive eachother...or themselves.). I recently finished the 'Learning to Breathe Underwater' fic, (and I'm so hype about it), and it did a great job, I think, of exploring how those two could possibly reconcile.
yes! I for one am rooting for redemption arcs for Jasper and Lapis, even though for them I don't think that would end with joining the Crystal Gems. Both of them clearly have a very negative history with the group that isn't going to be solved with a few weeks of hanging out and singing songs. But at this point, neither of them can return to homeworld even if they wanted to. So really, there isn't much of a choice. They can grow and change, they can get shattered, they can get corrupted, or they can get bubbled. Basically the only option that allows them to stay as people means character development, at least to the point of holding back their animosity towards the earth and the crystal gems when they are out numbered and have nowhere to go. As much as I love angst, I also love happy endings, so I want them to have their own character arcs and be okay no matter what shitty stuff happens to them.
I think the thing that a lot of people who pull the Lapis-is-too-pure and Jasper-is-too-evil thing forget is like, SU is a very forgiving show. It's a show about people growing and changing and becoming better, and while yeah, I did have certain feeling re: who got their redemption arc first, I've always wanted to see Jasper become a better person because that's exactly what the show is about. And not gonna lie, a lot of the dialogue around Jasper and whether or not she's redeemable and/or whether or not you're allowed to find her attractive is pretty nasty! For a fandom that seems hell bent on defending "the lesbians" at all costs, they sure are throwing a pretty masculine and non-traditionally designed character under the bus pretty fast. If nothing else, the difference between Peridot now vs Peridot in Jail Break is enough example of how much (or little) we actually know about the homeworld gems with only a few episodes to work with.
I'm really looking forward to seeing any arc at all for Jasper because I don't feel like we know a whole lot about her in the first place. We barely know anything about her as a person other than, what, a pushy and aggressive outward persona? Really weirds me out people are making grand pronouncements on her not being redeemable based on what little we even know about her.
This is related to absolutely nothing we are currently discussing but I am listening to morning music and I just realized how badly I want Angel Haze to voice character on SU. I mean I've joked that they are a gem fusion (because they are agender and in an interview described themselves as "an experience") but they are also a survivor of abuse and depression, eating disorders, and Battle Cry gets me motivated to go and punch my bullshit in it's face.
sliiightly off topic? but i keep seeing posts where jasper plays the role of douchebag dudebro misogynist, and it's like ??? why, cause she butch? Some of the ways the fandom can characterize her seems to be more based off what they expect from a person with her looks than what she's actually like, and it's fucking weird.
man, at least the MLG Pro Peridot joke was funny, I hate douchebag dudebro Jasper. some sections of fandom have a really big problem with characterizing Jasper based on her being masc (or really, not even masc, just being muscular; it's not for nothing that she's the only one I think we've seen with dainty defined eyelashes, and I'd be interested in meta/aus with Fashion Forward Jasper) I've seen a little bit of it fall over onto Ruby too, but people don't take it quite to MRA fedora levels of mischaracterization, but it's definitely one of those things that twigs my radar. it seems to happen at about the same frequency as people insisting on male pronouns for either, despite the fact that both are referred to as 'she' repeatedly.
You know that´s another reason a redemption arc would be great. Not having the gender role nonconforming lady character be the villain.
I brought it up cause i just read a post that suggests that a blog run by Jasper would be anti-sjw, blah, blah, and that her icon would say something like "women logic", like that stupid meme thing I used to see when i was 14. And it's like, but she is a woman. (kiiiiinda?) I think people just have a habit of lumping all the traits they don't like together, and when a character hits a few of their nope buttons then they just vomit all their other stuff on them, regardless of how little sense it makes for the character.
Yeah for one thing... Where would a gem even get misogyny From? How would that even be a thing in gem society? I kind of feel people like to cast her as The Ultimate Evil so they just throw everything they consider evil on her.
yeah I saw that too and my response was like "what...???" I mean from what we see of Jasper she is: A bully/Controlling Can't admit to losing or being wrong, ever. seems more suited to running a call-out blog/drama or "discourse" blog. Trying to bully people into acting and thinking the way you want. Jasper has long hair, long eyelashes, and pretty eyebrows. I mean as long as we make our human AU's OOC, might as well have her give make-up tutorials and try to pressure her gym-buddy Ruby into getting a make-over because you gotta take pride in your appearance and look good. Probably more accurate than dudebro MRA Jasper tbh.
I would beg to differ. Saying Garnet only beat her because she is a fusion could be an very ungracious admission of having underestimated her. Jasper´s still not very good at it mind. Also I think if she had a blog it might focus on martial arts and or military history. She seems to admire Rose in an antagonistic kinda way, enough to dress up for a chance of meeting her. Possibly with some selfies thrown in. ETA: This is making me wanna make a Jasper askblog only on kintsugi.
Terrible enablers the lot of you! (Should note it would be mostly text. I donßt have the spoons for a pics askblog though any Jasper art I draw would certainly wind up on it.)
She probably read Art of War. Yeah, but before that she says "don't think you've won." and after that basically coerces Lapis because she thinks if she can fuse then she'll win. So I don't really interpret that line as any sort of admission of defeat. I read it as: she's clinging to the idea that she can somehow still win, because she can't tolerate that Garnet just kicked her ass. If it wasn't fusion then I'm pretty sure she'd just keep throwing out more and more excuses as to why any opponent would beat her in a fight. I don't think it's just being a sore loser, she can't admit to being weaker than someone else, or that she would ever lose a fair fight against an opponent. Which, psychologically is pretty messed up. But with the context that Jaspers are body guards to important gems, and big loyal soldiers, "losing" and being "weak" probably has severe consequences. So it also sorta makes sense as a form of self preservation. Maybe not practical, but they probably started cranking Jaspers out of the Kindergartens (which are pretty much tanks anyways) to adapt to Rose and her "tactics" so losing some of them for being too bull headed is probably not a huge deal, and the pay off is that self preservation and pride are really great motivators. idk where I was going with this.... when are new episodes coming back, I can only speculate on gem psychology for so long ;_;
Ah, I meant it as her admitting she was wrong about Garnet and possibly the other CGs fighting abilities, not an admission of defeat. I agree that she sure doesn´t like losing. Also I like where you went with that? Makes sense. All the way over in speculation territory: If Jaspers are common, I wonder if ours wanted to fight Rose so badly to distinguish herself, prove she´s more than just another tank.
It's amazing how much range there is in Fandom; I see a lot more defense of Jasper and focus on Jasper, rather than Lapis, and I think both of them have to be dealt with at this point to have either of their storylines resolved. I really want to say I am tickled pink at the thought of military-history-enthusiast Jasper who likes to look pretty. This is something that I can see and I like. I mean... the cape. Jasper is a fancy gem.
It feels appropriate for a gems to be multifaceted characters like that, wouldn't you say? I think I am now also on-board with 'Jasper likes to look fancy and polished,' and I kind of think 'military history enthusiast' was something I was already assuming without thinking about it. Now I'm imagining her, say, getting into detailed arguments onine or offline about the merits of a particular martial arts style or a weapon, etc.
