4. Discussion The motivations behind the 18-25-year-old demographic watching SU are character identification, for entertainment, relaxation and comfort, the way the show deals with mature themes, minority representation, and inclusive fandom. Rice, in her study on Spongebob fandom, noted that a prominent reason behind the large adult fandom was due to character identification with the protagonist, Spongebob (2009, 1110*). Through the findings gathered on SU, this reason was the same within the adult SU fandom. However, instead of relating to the protagonist, Steven, 32.31% of survey respondents identified with Pearl. They described how they can relate to her struggles with anxiety, OCD and grief, and how they are similarly flawed, broken, and without a cause. One interview respondent related to Pearl’s attachment to Rose through his experiences as a gay man and the power dynamics between his earlier experiences with older men. The fandom’s self recognition with Pearl is reinforced through two of the most popular episodes chosen, as both “Rose’s …show more content…
However, while studies into bronies revealed that FiM helped them deal with clinical depression and anxiety (Harmon, as cited in Robertson 2013, 23), SU acts as more of a way to alleviate negative feelings. One interviewee described how watching SU is “relaxing and supportive” and how even though the characters aren’t real, she “feels like if they were they would support me”. An example of this can be seen in figure 1.8 and 1.9, where Steven is supportive both of Pearl and of the things she is dealing with. Another interviewee stated how it’s refreshing and comforting to see that even though Steven makes mistakes “it’s fine and people don’t hate him”. The responses here reveal that the SU fandom watches SU for not only entertainment and relaxation, but for comfort