This was a very interesting read! I'm not familiar with Steven Universe at all, so I can't speak to that part of it, but I totally get your frustration with the "sunshine and rainbows" trends. There's only so much fluff you can swallow before you start choking on it, amirite. :P
That said, we seem to have encountered very different definitions of what hopepunk is. Based on what I've seen, it's a direct challenge to the assumption that "The world is terrible and people are terrible, and there's no way to make a difference, so you might as well get yours while you can"--but more "There are terrible things in the world and people do terrible things, and making a difference is hard and painful and messy, but it's possible and necessary because we're all in this together" than "Love and light and self-care can solve everything uwu," if that makes sense. Like, I don't know if we share any fandoms, but for me the encounters I've had with hopepunk in media have been ones where I came away in tears because whatever I just watched/read touched on something fundamental about the highest potentials of human nature, even (or especially?) if the path there was paved with the absolute worst humanity has to offer. Cloud Atlas comes to mind, as well as Rogue One, The Lord of the Rings, certain Discworld novels, etc.
Not sure if any of that makes sense to you, but there's my $0.02. I can probably dig up links to the stuff on Tumblr I've seen addressing this topic if there's interest, since I'm getting over a cold and have no idea if I'm being coherent or just feelsing all over the place, LOL. In any case, this post really helped me sort through my own thoughts, so thank you for that. <3
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That said, we seem to have encountered very different definitions of what hopepunk is. Based on what I've seen, it's a direct challenge to the assumption that "The world is terrible and people are terrible, and there's no way to make a difference, so you might as well get yours while you can"--but more "There are terrible things in the world and people do terrible things, and making a difference is hard and painful and messy, but it's possible and necessary because we're all in this together" than "Love and light and self-care can solve everything uwu," if that makes sense. Like, I don't know if we share any fandoms, but for me the encounters I've had with hopepunk in media have been ones where I came away in tears because whatever I just watched/read touched on something fundamental about the highest potentials of human nature, even (or especially?) if the path there was paved with the absolute worst humanity has to offer. Cloud Atlas comes to mind, as well as Rogue One, The Lord of the Rings, certain Discworld novels, etc.
Not sure if any of that makes sense to you, but there's my $0.02. I can probably dig up links to the stuff on Tumblr I've seen addressing this topic if there's interest, since I'm getting over a cold and have no idea if I'm being coherent or just feelsing all over the place, LOL. In any case, this post really helped me sort through my own thoughts, so thank you for that. <3