★ Becoming Human

A Steven Universe Future Site

On Trauma in Steven Universe Future

I took a long hiatus from updating this website, and one of the things I coincidentally did during that time was start therapy for trauma. Coming back to these episodes, some things hit differently for me now than they had before. Steven Universe Future is more explicitly about trauma than I had thought when I first watched it and I want to draw out some of the important themes related to it.

The first thing I have noticed much more are Steven's cognitive and emotional distortions, which are common in people with post-traumatic symptoms. These distortions may be invisible to people around the person affected by trauma, but they have a pervasive influence on that person's life. Trauma changes our understanding of ourselves and the world. It can cause us to be less trusting of others, blaming them for things that aren't their fault or becoming angry at them for perceived failures. Steven's withdrawal from the Gems and Greg show that he's having a difficult time differentiating between places where they have actually failed him and where he just doesn't want to trust them because he can't trust anyone at the moment. "Prickly Pair" and "Mr. Universe" are the episodes where we see this most clearly.

Trauma can also cause intense shame, guilt, and self-blame. This is why people who survive traumatic events often blame themselves for aspects of those events that were totally out of their control, like the actions of other people or accidents. This might also look like a person feeling shame or blaming themselves for even becoming traumatized or experiencing trauma symptoms at all.

I have been careful to say "post-traumatic symptoms" instead of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because these symptoms can show up in people who do not qualify for a diagnosis of PTSD. That being said, I do believe the show portrays Steven as suffering from PTSD specifically. Someone diagnosed with PTSD exhibits symptoms in all four of the following ways:

Memories of Steven's disturbing experiences show up in his dreams ("In Dreams") and in at least one significant flashback ("Homeworld Bound") in the series. He starts avoiding things and people that remind him of his past negative experiences, like the Diamonds and Little Homeschool. He literally starts glowing pink and swelling in response to even minor emotional stress. And he has significant negative shifts in his thoughts and feelings that cause him to self-isolate and mistrust the people closest to him. Near the end of the series, he swings between aggression toward others, denial of how his actions impact others, and feeling severe guilt and shame. It's the latter--the belief that he is a monster--that corrupts his gem and turns him into a physical manifestation of what he thinks he is.

The tip-off that these are trauma symptoms is that they are in response to things happening in the present, but our body reacts as if something from the past is happening again. The symptoms make us feel out of control, frustrated, and scared that our body is having an outsized reaction to small, ordinary things. Steven explicitly says this out loud in "Growing Pains".

Steven Universe Future gives a more realistic portrayal of trauma than we often see in media. It doesn't need to be big, flashy nightmares and flashbacks. It can look like someone slowly withdrawing from daily activities and social groups, going through the motions of daily life and pretending to be fine for a long time before changes in their behavior become apparent to others. The show also portrays how someone can be surrounded by people who love them and how those people can still do the wrong thing. We see Steven's loved ones miss his bids for connection, try to argue with his irrational thoughts, fail to communicate with each other about what's happening with Steven, and get hung up on their own shortcomings when Steven needs them the most.

Part of the challenge here is that nobody expected Steven to be traumatized--himself included. The trauma of other characters like Lapis Lazuli or Pink Pearl is discussed openly during the series, but Steven has been in the role of helper and rescuer for so long that it's hard for others to recognize that he's struggling. Even as they're watching Steven's catastrophic meltdown in "I Am My Monster", Amethyst makes the point that normally the best person to help out in a situation like this would be...Steven himself. One of the show's main lessons, then, is that healers, leaders, and mentors need just as much support as anyone else.

The other important theme here is that of harm and accountability. Harm goes deep. The harm that we do to others sticks around as long as the harm that others do to us. We see Steven trying to convince himself that the harm he experienced as a child doesn't really matter because the war turned out "OK." And as he gets further into his breakdown, he tries to convince himself that doing harm to others doesn't matter as long as he has the power to "fix" it. He's wrong on both counts. A war that you win is still a war; harm followed by reparative action is still harm. We have to treat the harm done to us as thoughtfully and gently as the harm we do to others. Bot matter and need to be attended to.

Although the show portrays what trauma looks like, Steven Universe Future does not portray what healing from trauma looks like. That's hard work and a long road. Steven is hurting and the show puts him on the path toward healing by allowing him to accept his pain and allow others to help him for once.