"We wanted to define her to wrap her up as we did each other but we could not seem to
get past weird and strange and goofy her ways knocked us off balance a single word
seemed to hover in the cloudless sky over the school huh" "did you see her who could it be
a new student? A spectacular blonde from California or from back east where many of us
came from? Or one of those summer makeovers...and then in earth sciences I heard a name Stargirl"
on April 28th, 2021 during a live stream on Twitch where you should totally follow
me by the way I was asked an interesting question there we go I got to killing blow
right yeah you did you did so glad we gave you the sword buddy so glad cherrypicker
my friend do you have a favorite book book Austinfan asked uh
Stargirl um it's an old book that we read in grade six I love it it's a beautiful romance
and I've always thought that it should be turned into a show or a movie there's a Stargirl movie on
Disney plus don't lie to me bro don't lie to me is it based on the scholastic book
don't lie to me there's a Stargirl movie because like we're watching that now
is there really a Stargirl movie? I then proceeded to watch the movie and I didn't hate it in fact a
lot of it seemed pretty decent except for one really big problem the movie felt nothing like
the book I read all those years ago you see Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl is a coming of age
story that deals with themes of non-conformity and self-acceptance while questioning whether or
not our personal relationships should affect or be affected by our social relationships
pretty deep stuff for sixth graders but when I watched the movie I didn't quite get the same
feeling of discomfort or indecisiveness that the book gave me and I think I figured out why
for a story so deeply rooted in non-conformity boy oh boy does the movie conform to standard film
making techniques and tropes ironic considering that Stargirl herself is supposed to be a
deconstruction of the manic pixie dream girl what shocked me even more than the movie's mishandling
of its source material's central theme is the fact that a lot of Stargirl fans seem to think
this movie is an accurate representation of it and hey maybe it was to them that's what's so
amazing about reading books we can visualize and interpret things differently and what I visualized
in my grade 6 class while Miss White read parts of the book to us weekly isn't what I saw on screen
but why is this what sullied and stained my simple 6th grade idea of what seeing Spinelli's Stargirl
on the silver screen should have been surely I tell you something seemed suspiciously off
so shall we begin there's not enough people with originality so here I am to save the day Jayniac
have you ever done nothing Leo? My mom thinks I do it all the time. No like like really nothing?
despite what the title may suggest Stargirl isn't from Stargirl's perspective it's from
Leo's Stargirl's presented to the audience as this mysterious force of nature who Leo slowly develops
romantic feelings for you hear that it's a romance from the guy's perspective and because we never
hear what Stargirl is thinking when she picks out her weird clothing, feeds her pet rat cinnamon, or
randomly sings happy birthday to students around the school we're left with Leo's reaction to her
behavior and what attracts him to her Stargirl and Leo start dating and at first things seem
fine until the school begins to ostracize Leo for dating the weird girl now in the book Leo breaks
up with Stargirl because he values his social life in school more than his love life with her
ultimately he regrets this decision but by the time he realizes the error of his ways she's gone
Stargirl moves away before the two get any real closure but in the movie it's Stargirl that breaks
up with Leo but then they meet at the dance that Leo wasn't even there for in the book and then
Stargirl moves away after they get closure do you see the problem in the book Leo's kind of a jerk
who gets so caught up in his own issues that he misses the point of individuality that Stargirl
demonstrates so persistently only realizing it once it's too late to do anything about it you
know like in real life sometimes we're not going to have this fairytale-like closure with people
in our lives no matter how much we genuinely loved them and sometimes we won't understand
what that loved one was trying to teach us until years later when we've matured as a person
but in the movie eh kids will be kids am I right? Look I get it not every film adaptation of a book
is going to be accurate but when the changes made remove a critical part of the story's message
then why change it at all some changes don't even make sense in the book the students get mad at
star girl because she always cheers for both teams during school sports games and after the home team
loses they blame her for ruining their morale but in the movie the students get mad at her for
leaving the game to make sure the opposing team's football player recovers from his serious injury
gee sorry for caring about another human being she's a cheerleader it's not her fault you guys
suck at football and yes I know they saw her as their lucky charm but like come on is that
any reason to alienate her which brings me to what I think is the best thing about this movie
Stargirl herself a surprising number of things weren't changed about Stargirl and the few things
that were changed make a lot of sense when you consider that this movie takes place in 2020
unlike its source material that being said I couldn't help but feel as though Disney
glossed over what made Stargirl as a character resonates so much with me as a kid you see
the reason Stargirl is so much of a non-conformist isn't because she's trying to take a stand and
liberate her fellow students from the oppressive school staff no the reason Stargirl doesn't dress
or think or act the same way as everyone around her is because she doesn't know any better being
home schooled her entire life up until now prevented her from having a typical idea
of what social interactions would be like in a public school she doesn't realize that playing
the ukulele around the school every day would make her look childish she doesn't understand
why singing happy birthday to every student would be kind of creepy she doesn't get that cheering
for both teams during a sports game isn't normal so when she's asked to put aside all the things
that people find so off-putting about her not only does she lose her identity she loses everything
that made her so innocent and carefree her star is extinguished and though a new one takes its place
it'll never be the same she will never be the same this may be Leo's story but it's Stargirl that
goes through the identity crisis speaking of which today we'll be turning up the heat on hot seat
directing, editing, and cinematography all play a vital role in any film or TV show it's what makes
the story become much more than a bunch of scenes stitched together transforming it into a tangible
film with an identity the Stargirl movie is an interesting case because it does have an identity
but it lacks a consistent style and this becomes much more apparent in the second half of the movie
where the first half has excellent staging, dazzling visuals, and even some cool transitions
the second half just kind of stops trying for instance the movie begins with very little color
saturation until Stargirl arrives at the school but then later on when she stops being Stargirl
the color is still there as if nothing changed how much more interesting would
it have been if the movie played a bit more with colors and how Stargirl affects them
not literally just how the movie is shaped around her it would make sense too because
the film is from Leo's perspective so when the mysterious girl stops being a mystery
these optimistic colors of intrigue stop being so prominent maybe I'm asking for too much don't
get me wrong there are some really well shot and well directed scenes from small scenes like Leo
and Stargirl's encounter to big scenes like Stargirl's performance at the football game
wait how can anyone hear her singing and playing the ukulele if there's no microphone or amp
come to think of it the movie usually does a pretty good job at presenting what would
actually be heard when Stargirl and Leo sing won't you tell me what you're thinking of
would be an outlaw for my love
notice how there isn't an overabundance of post-production going on in their voices
it sounds much more natural than Disney's heavily auto-tuned vocals in their other works that
I am thankful for but what I'm not thankful for is the song choices
the movie presents Stargirl as this nostalgic music listener which isn't a bad thing though
I will say when she started singing We Got The Beat by The Go-Go's I couldn't help but think
what was Blondie's Atomic too expensive or was Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon too subtle though I
definitely feel like the song choices were intentional to create the movie's identity
I can't help but wonder are rock songs just not allowed in coming-of-age stories anymore
no seriously how many movies, TV shows, and even video games have fallen into the trap
of using poignant indie pop music or genre remixes of older music while our main character looks off
in the distance just once just once I'd like to see a coming-of-age movie do something ballsy like
uh Schoolyard Hero's what I am, you can't make me give a damn,
lazy kids with messed up hair, we're not dumb
we just don't care
and if I could change just two things about this movie the first would be removing the narration
because like stop it film adaptations of books can be a lot more interesting when they remove the
narration and the second and most important thing I would change is Stargirl and Leo's first kiss in
the movie it just happens but in the book it's my favorite scene throughout the book Stargirl puts
pebbles in this wagon she calls her happy wagon the more pebbles in the wagon the happier she is
there are 20 pebbles total but when Leo sees it there are only 17 in the wagon after talking to
Leo about her feelings she adds another pebble but then on Leo's way out she stood "you just
want me all to yourself don't you" she stepped into my space the tips of our noses were touching
"don't you Mr. Leo" her arms were around my neck we were on the sidewalk in front of her house in
full view "what are you doing" I said "I'm giving you some attention" she cooed "don't you want some
attention" I was losing my battle for balance "I don't know" I heard myself say "you're really
dumb" she whispered in my ear "yeah?" "yeah why do you think there are 18 pebbles in my wagon"
and then the last remaining space between our lips was gone and I was falling headlong into
her eyes right there on Palo Verde after dinner and I can tell you that was no saint kissing me
Stargirl is without a doubt my favorite book it's what got me into reading in the first place
I cannot say the same about the book sequel Love, Stargirl apparently the movie's getting a sequel
so maybe the movie sequel will be better than the book sequel special thanks to Evellyon Studios for
helping me film the atmospheric shots for this video's book segments fun fact Evellyon is also
the one responsible for making the JAYTORiOUS album cover as well as a few others be sure
to check out their custom art, clothing, and accessories the links are in the description below
and a big thank you to my 6th grade teacher Miss White who was actually a replacement for
my initial grade 6 teacher Miss Taini. Miss White picked Stargirl for us to read and she
would even read it in front of the classroom to us we all loved it and were sad when it was finished
so out of the kindness of her heart she bought the book's sequel just so we could keep reading that
right there is an unforgettable teacher and if you're out there Miss White remember that you're
not forgotten you left a huge impact on me as a reader and thank you for never doubting my
capabilities if I wasn't able to read or write then I couldn't say with confidence to follow
me on my social medias but especially twitch if you want to see me live stream while you're
at it be sure to follow the Jr. & Marcus Talk Podcast where we talk about movies, TV shows,
and whatever you want us to talk about if you're already subscribed to this channel please
subscribe to my backup channel Jayniac 2r. in case anything bad happens to this one and finally
please check out the merchandise every purchase supports this channel I thought the casting choice
for Stargirl was also a really good choice it's nice to analyze something that I hold dear instead
of just abiding by the usual Jayniac you should analyze Carly's mom for iCarly or this video is
nice but when are you going to analyze Nevel from iCarly I do read all the comments guys it's just
sometimes I want to talk about what I want to talk about but now's the part where you tell me
what you want me to talk about in the comments down below until then I'll leave you with this
what if the reason why she's not evil anymore is because she went into the enchanted lake?
comment and request your favorite show Jr. & Marcus