what the hell is your actual problem with Starboy???? Like I get not liking him but the whole "Starboy fans don't interact" thing seems like too much
Oh good, I get to rant! Incoming.
My problem is that 4 times out of 5 when I see art that involves Starboy it is almost always at least one of these three things:
Perpetuating the lie that Starboy was going to be a romantic love interest for Asha. He wasn't.
HE WAS HER GRANDFATHER. In the early version of this story that the most popular "Starboy" came from, Sabino had already passed away and Starboy's design is based on a younger version of Sabino!!!!
He wasn't a "tribute to Disney Princes!" or anything like that. He was a Peter Pan-type character, more like the Genie. The whole "Asha and Star are soulmates!" thing is referring to the current Star.
And that also reeks of "romantic love means more than family love" which is a whole other bag of worms. Like Asha's grandfather loved her so much he came down from the stars to help her realize her wish, to help others be free from Magnifico. Y'all wanna trade that for a twink that was ripped right out of Booktok?????
Also no, current Star's design wasn't for "marketable plushie" reasons. Current Star's design was based off cherubic stars that appeared in one concept ending for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, seen here, which were implied to be Snow White and the Prince's future children. So, souls - both unborn and deceased - are stars. "We are all made of Stardust" comes right back around, I suppose.
There's is also so much more dazzling Star concept art to regard but somehow, boring blonde boy is the one everyone obsesses over. Gee, I wonder why.
Everything about Starboy is usually used to perpetuate the idea that the movie was "supposed" to be wildly different and more in line with all the tropes of Booktok, often slamming the movie we got. This speaks for itself, unfortunately, and often disrespects the people who actually worked on the movie itself.
No, a romance wouldn't have made a damn thing different in the movie. "Oh, but all of Disney's animated classics involved romance!!!!" Oh really? Someone better tell Pinocchio, Fantasia, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Oliver and Company, Treasure Planet, Moana... the list goes on.
This is the worst one in my mind but I'll admit seems to be the least proliferous... but still so present that I come across it more often than I'd like. Starboy takes up the space that belongs to Asha as the main character of her own movie. And they made not even mean it, but it keeps happening.
Like, I saw an edit with Starboy in the At All Costs scene, where Asha finds Sabino's wish - except instead of Asha finding the wish on her own, Starboy found it and brought it to her. Because I guess it matters more somehow that the sparkly twink found the wish and got it for her than Asha sought it out on her own purely because she loves her grandfather so deeply?
There's also an underlying racism in it all. Why can't the brown-skinned girl be allowed to be her own protagonist and save her own people? Why does a random light-skinned sparkly magic boy have to be involved???????? Oh, because people are convinced it'll make the movie "better" somehow. Right. That sure makes so much sense /sar.
Misc. thoughts that I couldn't fit in this list:
I'm gonna betray myself here. I love the tropes of "magical being imprisoned and rescued by mortal love interest" and all the angst that can come with that. But I care about characters more, and so often the Starboy inclusion just cheapens Asha's character in order for it to happen. Also why the hell do we need a goofy Starboy? Aren't we tired enough of the "goofy/irresponsible white boy" trope? It's just Peter Pan all over again.
I've seen comments like "we could've had the next Rapunzel and Eugene!" or "the next Howl and Sophie!" and I just. Those couples are still right there???? Go watch their movies. They literally haven't gone anywhere. (Also calling any couple the next "Rapunzel and Eugene" is a wild insult, unless we're referring to the age gap...)
Please don't think for a moment that I'm saying romance weakens a girl's story. It doesn't. Romance is fine! It's just not everything that people say it is and this particular romance is (as a feature, not a bug) so often used to detract from the WOC that we already have as a protagonist just because people went "oooh those two look shippable!!!!" and never did any more research.
Also Simon and Dahlia are right there. Just saying.
I'd like to reiterate that I am not going looking for this stuff. Unfortunately as my "Realms of Wishes" manips get spread around in the fandom and I like to go glance at other blogs posting about Wish, I just keep finding this stuff. Ugh.
Also yes, out of spite, I did create that banner. Here, catch.
