Oh hey, relevant https://finna-hallipinya.tumblr.com/post/173831010405/yunisverse-man-they-worded-this-perfectly-so
hihi, yeah, i'm about! still not much on the forum, but for this update i had to come in and go on an Agree spree at people. Spoiler it's not all my thoughts uniquely, but the hodgepodge i've come to from exposure to a lot. and while i don't know that i've seen all of these sorts of things together in one place where they could be easily reblogged, i have seen seen people commenting complaints at the overly simplistic takes that add up to this stuff. reblogged some of them, and some of it was conversations elsewhere. Spoiler ...you know, i just said this on tumblr, but. it's interesting how his wording there is so very, very ambiguous. it hides what greg knows, yeah... and it hides whether rose could say things. like, we know her command on pearl was strong enough that she literally could not say these things, not even to save steven's life. but we don't know if that's a pearl thing, or whether that kind of command works on other gems. like diamonds. whether rose was having only normal difficulties of a war veteran trying to confess her guilt to her younger civilian s.o., or whether young rose trapped herself into not being to say these things, too. that would detract a little from the awfulness of doing it to pearl, but it would be its own interesting kind of consequences for a mistake.
i'm glad you're still about. :D i was worried that you might not be anymore. and yeah, this was quite the update! :D:D:D Spoiler i haven't been looking at tumblr too much so that might explain why i haven't seen as many complaints about the overly simplistic takes there and elsewhere as you have. i went looking for stuff after this episode but i've stayed away from my tumblr dash 'cause, as a result of me following a lot of cartoon blogs when i used it more, i have a lot of antis on it that i don't want to go to the bother of identifying and unfollowing. so a lot of the discourse has passed me by.
Spoiler I’m still playing catch-up with my dash, I’m mostly reblogging art and memes for now. I’ve seen... a pretty varied mix of opinions in the tag though. Ranging from positivity to conflicted feelings to “ruined forever” and worse, plus comparisons to Vriscourse and one Buddhist historical figure.
Spoiler THE Buddhist historical figure, if I'm thinking of the same point, considering that's about the literal, titular Buddha. But yeah. Vriscourse comparisons seem accurate enough to me, though. There's no doubt in my mind that Rose/Pink is intended to be a polarizing figure, although probably not quite to the same extent. I think the crewniverse wants people to think about stuff like, if you find out more about a person does that mean the good outcomes of their actions, that they wanted to happen, are irrelevant? Do good outcomes trump bad methods? Is ignorance an excuse? What's the proper way for a person in a position of privilege to leverage their privilege to help people? Stuff like that, where it's messy and there's not a definite line.
Spoiler were they still the Buddha before they became the Buddha? More of a religious question, but still. I gotta say I like it when media goes into these kinds of questions, about intent and action, what it means to do right for the wrong reasons or do it the wrong way, etc. morality isn’t simple. People aren’t simple. I need to study the vriscourse comparison more, not just because I like Vriska but because I like these questions.
Spoiler Well, arguably, even when Vriska had good intentions she also had bad intentions, for Vriska it's more a question of the results she got. But she was absolutely written to be deliberately polarizing, and that's more the comparison I was making.
Spoiler: The Buddha being a Buddha Whether or not the Buddha was a Buddha before his Enlightenment event depends upon how we're even defining Buddhahood. In some traditions, yes, he would've been just as we are all ourselves Buddhas. However, going by Theravada orthodox he wouldn't have been a Buddha until the Enlightenment event. Prior to this he is referred to as the Enlightenment Being or Bodhisatta, a being that is going to become Enlightened. There's also the difference in how Buddhas are defined at all and what being one means. A Buddha in Theravada means an individual who has, without the help of an existing Buddha Sasana (Buddhist religion basically) attains Enlightenment.
Spoiler: Like The thing about being from space applies to Gems in general, but a lot of the rebellion seems to have been 'homegrown'. But more specifically, 'If you could only know what we really are' has always struck me as a weird line from Pearl, but it makes perfect sense now.
I just had a terrible, terrible thought. Spoiler What if Steven's gem had turned back to how Pink Diamond's was when he was born? What if someone made an AU fic based around that?
Spoiler Line I am thinking about: Why won’t you let me do this for you, Rose? Context: Sworn to the Sword, screamed by Pearl after she forgets who she’s talking to for a minute What I hope this means in retrospect: Rose REALLY toned down her demands on Pearl after she saw how badly the rebellion went for the Crystal Gems and how much the shattering hurt Pearl. Pearl may be recalling the frustration she felt when Rose backpedaled and stopping asking her to/ letting her do difficult jobs when she was able to do it before. Rose tried to be gentler with her and Pearl didn’t appreciate that, especially since her anxious paranoia demands she help Rose even/especially if it’s difficult Unfortunately, I am: a Rose stan and am playing into my own bias with my interpretations
Spoiler as A Pearl with severe self esteem issues- I think you may be onto something there. I think Rose was concerned for Pearl’s safety, and Pearl was concerned she wasn’t doing enough for Rose. I sincerely believe Rose and Pearl’s feelings for each other were real, but Pearl’s subservient relation to Pink Diamond makes things... tricky. Dedicating yourself to someone you love, giving your all for them, is good. But Pearl was sacrificing herself and coming to harm over and over to protect Rose, who was capable of defending herself just fine. Pearl had to try harder, do better, and win the next fight otherwise what if she isn’t good enough? What if Rose doesn’t need her? What if she gets replaced? Just let her do this, just LET her DO THIS, this is for YOU, Rose. Rose having Pearl stop protecting her would only be good for both of them. Pearl can focus on protecting herself for a change, and a little bit of that master and servant relation is whittled away. They should be equals- it’s better that way. And Rose gave up her Diamond status, so surely she would want it that way.
Spoiler: Cont. YES but then I ask myself... why didn’t Rose release Pearl from her silence too if she wants to be equal, which she does, and she wants to stop demanding so much of Pearl? Because, Sterne, I say to myself, Rose.... has issues. She really wanted to never be Pink Diamond again I suppose. “If I do really well in the rest of my classes but flunk ‘owning up to my past as Pink Diamond’ I still pass so fuck it” -Rose Quartz No for real after the Diamonds left and so many Gems were dead it’s easy to say ‘what the fuck do it matter anymore, we deserve to put it behind us and be happy if we can’
Spoiler Because while she's smart enough to figure that bit of the problem out she's not smart enough to figure out the problem behind making Pearl keep quiet about who she really is. It might not've registered as a problem like the whole PLEASE LET ME DIE FOR YOU ROSE tendencies were.
