thinking about starlight glimmer
Mar. 6th, 2024 03:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leejooheon I find the way Starlight is such a divisive character kind of fascinating. I see why she would be, taking a villain as unhinged as her and making her somewhat of a main character was a bold move and I think a lot of people never got used to her.
But personally speaking, she has to be one of my top 5 characters in the show. She's such a breath of fresh air. Every other character on the show is so nice, and even when they act out of line it isn't usually particularly extreme. But because of Starlight's background she's allowed to be a bit more unhinged in her growth process. Her journey throughout season 6 revolves around her learning to be a good person but before she gets to that place she has to make mistakes, and her mistakes are generally pretty big in scale. Which I find so refreshing! Her awful attitude makes her so fascinating and realistic, and it makes her stand out so much compared to every other character.
I think there's this misconception that Starlight was redeemed too quickly because she agrees to become Twilight's student within one episode. But I don't see this as her actually redeeming herself, she's just making the choice to be a better person and change. The rest of season 6 is where her actual redemption arc takes place, and I like that she's allowed to be shitty and make questionable ethical choices.
In terms of her backstory, while it felt weird to me initially, I think I've grown to appreciate it for a few reasons. Firstly, I love Sunburst and I think his relationship with Starlight is interesting. But I also think it makes a lot more sense when you think of MLP as a show meant to represent childhood feelings and struggles. Starlight's backstory wouldn't make sense in a show that took itself more seriously, but considering the tone of this show and how central friendship is to it, Starlight is meant to be an exagerated representation of the bitterness children feel when they lose friends. I think an older audience that takes the show very seriously can forget that.
I will say, it still could have been written better. I think making it so that Starlight loses multiple friendships over her life probably would have made it easier to grasp and been more concise. You could either make it so that all those failed friendships are tied to her cutiemark aversion in some way or that as she grows older and she fails at making friends she looks back on her friendship with Sunburst with more bitterness and eventually misplaces that anger on cutiemarks because she views that as a catalyst. I dunno.
Either way, I adore Starlight and I wanted to ramble about her because she's on my brain. I think part of the reason a lot of people dislike her is because she is undeniably significantly more unstable compared to how the other characters act, and I think that can make her come across as frustrating. Obviously I don't agree because I find all of those flaws entertaining and compelling, but not everyone has my taste in characters.
But personally speaking, she has to be one of my top 5 characters in the show. She's such a breath of fresh air. Every other character on the show is so nice, and even when they act out of line it isn't usually particularly extreme. But because of Starlight's background she's allowed to be a bit more unhinged in her growth process. Her journey throughout season 6 revolves around her learning to be a good person but before she gets to that place she has to make mistakes, and her mistakes are generally pretty big in scale. Which I find so refreshing! Her awful attitude makes her so fascinating and realistic, and it makes her stand out so much compared to every other character.
I think there's this misconception that Starlight was redeemed too quickly because she agrees to become Twilight's student within one episode. But I don't see this as her actually redeeming herself, she's just making the choice to be a better person and change. The rest of season 6 is where her actual redemption arc takes place, and I like that she's allowed to be shitty and make questionable ethical choices.
In terms of her backstory, while it felt weird to me initially, I think I've grown to appreciate it for a few reasons. Firstly, I love Sunburst and I think his relationship with Starlight is interesting. But I also think it makes a lot more sense when you think of MLP as a show meant to represent childhood feelings and struggles. Starlight's backstory wouldn't make sense in a show that took itself more seriously, but considering the tone of this show and how central friendship is to it, Starlight is meant to be an exagerated representation of the bitterness children feel when they lose friends. I think an older audience that takes the show very seriously can forget that.
I will say, it still could have been written better. I think making it so that Starlight loses multiple friendships over her life probably would have made it easier to grasp and been more concise. You could either make it so that all those failed friendships are tied to her cutiemark aversion in some way or that as she grows older and she fails at making friends she looks back on her friendship with Sunburst with more bitterness and eventually misplaces that anger on cutiemarks because she views that as a catalyst. I dunno.
Either way, I adore Starlight and I wanted to ramble about her because she's on my brain. I think part of the reason a lot of people dislike her is because she is undeniably significantly more unstable compared to how the other characters act, and I think that can make her come across as frustrating. Obviously I don't agree because I find all of those flaws entertaining and compelling, but not everyone has my taste in characters.
