Representation of minority groups in modern media, particularly the disabled or handicapped community, is a topic that is often heartily debated on. Those in that community often find themselves frustrated with how little they are portrayed in movies and books, while those with plenty of screen time tend not to notice how undiverse entertainment often is. Whenever I see this topic come up, I find that people are either extremely passionate or apathetic. Whichever side you might fall into, I think it is fascinating to dissect why diversity is - or more often is not - included in the media. As a young teen, I was eventually diagnosed with a developmental disability, and that diagnosis gave me answers to the many questions swirling around in my head. Why did I experience the world differently than my peers? Why was it so hard to make meaningful connections with others? Why did I feel so out of place? As I began to explore the media, I was able to find even more comfort, books like “Narnia” and movies like “The Last Unicorn” were especially reassuring to me as a child. But Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli stands out as a book that truly helped me understand more about my unique ways. The main character, Stargirl, is truly an amazing depiction of a young woman who also views the world through her own special rose-colored lense, and although the author has never confirmed nor denied anything, I believe she may be somewhere on the spectrum like me. However, when the 2020 movie adaptation was released, I found Stargirl to be too easily digestible. To me, it was a huge missed opportunity to reach out, in a more modern way to the autistic community. So today, we are going to dig into how that opportunity was missed and theorize why those decisive changes were made.
To start, we will take a look at some of the strongest differences between novella and film. The latter was directed by Julia Hart and starred the budding actress Grace VanderWaal. When I first heard about its release, I felt mostly anxious. I was hopeful that they would not change too much, but I had a sinking feeling that the Stargirl I connected so much with would not be the same once she stepped on screen. Unfortunately, after watching the film a few times, it seemed as if my suspicions were correct. While the movie still strives to reach out and support a particular community, the spotlight is definitely taken off the sometimes hard-to-watch struggles of someone living with a developmental disability. The depth of Stargirl’s turmoil seemed to be lost in the transition from book to movie. In the novella, Stargirl is undoubtedly the main character, despite it being narrated through one of her classmate’s eyes. In the movie, however, this narrator, Leo, shares that role with her. Not only was the attention intentionally shifted off of Stargirl, but her most distinctive traits were diluted or replaced entirely with more cute and quirky behaviors. Autism often does not fall into the same cookie-cutter patterns most people prefer to live by. To the normal eye, autism can appear unattractive or even uncomfortable, as it is hard to understand. Living with it in your life can be beautiful, but difficult. It can feel empowering or ostracizing. The original Stargirl did not understand social cues or appropriate boundaries. Whereas the " "newer" version appears to simply have a wild, daydreaming heart and a strong passion for music. I feel that by stripping away anything a viewer may find “discomforting,” the movie missed the opportunity to really teach people about the emotional battle her character goes through. Because all these changes seem so deliberate, I find myself compelled to understand why they were made and really ponder why her distinctive traits were diminished. Why would they purposely decide to miss the chance to connect with a large and relatively unrepresented community of people?
To fully understand the answers to these questions, it is important to take a look at the changes they made to Leo’s character, the narrator of the novella. At the start of the book, he is a young boy who is in love with his uncle’s porcupine necktie and is eventually given the necktie as a parting gift when he and his family move. It is a simple beginning to the story, setting the curiously odd tone that will follow the book to its final pages. The movie starts off on a similar, yet unexpectedly darker note. Leo’s father has just died, and the porcupine necktie he loves so much had belonged to him. He wears the necktie every day now; to the funeral, while running errands, and even to his first day of school. The movie then shows us that Leo is bullied on his first day, and his necktie is cut in half, ruining it. It seems to me that this is how they set up Leo’s character to feel insecure and afraid of standing out. He stops wearing neckties after that and makes a conscious effort to blend in. The Leo of the book never had such encounters. He simply kept the necktie safe in his closet, to wear on special occasions. This subtle difference may not seem significant at first, but I felt it was one of the biggest changes. Besides in Stargirl’s case, bullying is not prevalent in the novella. Leo only begins to become unpopular when he starts dating her, at which point his classmates treat him with the same disdain they treat Stargirl with. This one opening scene changes the pace of the whole story. I appreciate that they highlighted bullying in the film, as it is felt by countless people and is an important topic that deserves to be touched on. But it is unfortunate that it was at the expense of Stargirl’s character. Her own mental struggles were put on the backburner to make way for these new subplots and storylines. In modern media, there is no shortage of books and movies that depict bullying at its worst and demonstrate how to overcome it. However, there are far too few that really showcase the sometimes harsh reality that is navigating life with autism. For this reason, I feel this change in character was ultimately unnecessary and detrimental to the story itself.
Another important change to Leo’s character is his involvement in the peer pressure that ultimately convinces Stargirl to try and become normal. In the book, he is blatantly embarrassed by her behavior and is constantly pushing her to try and fit in. Especially after the two start dating, he does his best to change Stargirl, wishing she would become a typical everyday girl that he could show off and be proud of. For a time he succeeds. Stargirl becomes Susan, an ordinary teenager going to an ordinary high school.
“The point is, in a group everybody acts pretty much the same, that’s kind of how the group holds itself together. Everybody? She said. Well, mostly, I said. That’s what jails and mental hospitals are for, to keep it that way. You think I should be in jail? She said. I think you should try to be more like the rest of us, I said.”
Jerry Spinelli, pg 137
As you watch Stargirl undergo this transformation, it probably broke your heart like it broke mine. It is the catalyst of the novella. However, things play out a little differently in the movie. The decision to become Susan is mostly her own. She believed that becoming normal would be best, and Leo simply supported her decision. I feel that the producers may not have wanted to portray Leo as being manipulative as he had been in the book. Instead, they made him another lost soul that was struggling to find his way. I feel it would have been more powerful to have stuck with the book's depiction and shown how strong peer pressure can be, especially to someone who already has a hard time understanding social cues, like Stargirl. It also demonstrates how even the most well-intentioned individual, like Leo, can be manipulative when manipulated by peer pressure and can cause major distress to those close to them.
And then there is Stargirl. To fully understand this wonderful character we need to take a look at who she was before being watered down for the big screen. From the moment her character is introduced in the book you can immediately see that she is different. Not only can she not seem to fit in anywhere, but the very way she sees the world seems to be wholly unique. In most instances you see these eccentric traits garner her undesirable attention from her classmates. They lash out at her for the things they see as unusual, like her cheering for the opposing team at their sports games or involving herself in other’s personal business even when unwelcomed. The way in which she tries to reach out and connect with others ultimately pushes them away. Her inability to understand the social boundaries between her and strangers often leads to misunderstanding. In contrast, her character in the movie is introduced rather inconsequentially. She simply walks into class and sits down. A good example of how her behavior is de-escalated in the movie is during the school's first football game. In the book, the scene becomes quite chaotic. During halftime, Stargirl steals the ball and runs around the field, leaving scrambled referees and havoc in her wake. Her classmates are amused and entertained, but in a cynical way, one might be when watching a circus act. However, in the film, she simply surprises the audience with an improv musical performance, one that actually rewards her with affection and invitation to join the cheerleading squad. I recognize that these changes may seem justified, but they worked to undermine an important message. The book was not simply about learning to fit in, it was about a girl who shared the same hardships as many people with autism, learning to love, and embrace her uniqueness. I feel that is a critical message to convey, and it is shockingly absent in the media today. By shifting the focus to overcoming bullying, a very important issue often discussed in movies, the autistic community has lost one of its precious few mainstream representations.
“She constantly quizzed me about what other kids would do, would buy, would say, would think. She invented a fictitious person whom she called Evelyn Everybody. “Would Evelyn like this?” “Would Evelyn do that?” ...For several days she was on a laughing jab. She didn’t just laugh, she boomed. Heads turned in the lunchroom. I was trying to work up the nerve to say something when she looked at Kevin and me and said, “Would Evelyn laugh this much?” Kevin stared at his sandwich. I sheepishly shook my head. The laughing stopped."
Jerry Spinelli, pg 142.
Now that we have taken an in-depth look at the changes that were made and the effects they had, we are ready to start exploring why those alterations were made. What stands out as possibly the largest reason is that the creators of the movie felt uncomfortable displaying Stargirl as she was in the book. The many natures she displays that appear to be autistic may have been too controversial for the movie to include. Unfortunately, by purposely excluding that side of Stargirl because it makes certain people uncomfortable, it sends a message to individuals living with a mental disability that they make people uncomfortable. If they had decided to celebrate that side of her, it would have allowed the movie to extend its reach to a strongly underrepresented community. Stargirl is a character to love as she is, not to change for comfort’s sake. In addition, by lightening up Stargirl’s character, they were able to facilitate a more desirable romance. It was abundantly clear in the book that her relationship with Leo was toxic. It was unhealthy, largely due to Leo’s manipulative behaviors. However, in the movie, it is a much more agreeable and affectionate relationship. This change is shown most prominently during the final scene, the winter dance. In the book, Stargirl went alone after having broken up with Leo. She showed everyone once and for all that she could have fun and feel confident with who she was. She learned to love herself by herself. In the movie, Leo goes with her, and she manages to convince him to sing for the whole school, something he was also too shy to do, shifting the focus back to his own personal growth and straying away from Stargirl. It pains me to see changes made for the sake of audience enjoyment, especially when those alterations work against the message of a story. I strongly feel the discomfort of the producers and the need for a cute romance to be the leading reason for Stargirl’s unnecessary changes.
In the end, while I truly do not think the movie is bad, I feel strongly that the opportunity they missed to showcase a character with autism was a supremely disappointing decision. In the novella, we see a powerful mental struggle as Stargirl tries to grasp the world around her, especially once she realizes that she does not seem to fit in. When she first comes to school people treat her like an oddity. However, as she shows more of her true self, she is greeted with strong backlash and rejection from the other students, which begins to make her feel desperate. And then, when she starts dating Leo, who rejects her personality further, we see her try to suppress those qualities others fine dislikable and be like everyone else. But even during that time, you can tell she does not really know what that looks like. You can see her hopelessness as she cannot comprehend why everyone still dislikes her. These despairing feelings of loneliness are so relatable to people both with and without autism, and watching her triumph over them teaches people like her a really valuable lesson. It is truly a wondrous read, Jerry Spinelli captures the essence of autism so perfectly. I cannot imagine it was done unintentionally. So it pained me to see the movie take what would have been a perfect platform to showcase the struggles of autism and shift the tone to be a movie more about a young boy overcoming his past traumas surrounding bullying. I felt they lessened Stargirl’s role to be more of a support to Leo instead of the other way around. Representation for the autistic community is often cheapened. I could count on one hand the number of movies I have seen with a leading autistic character. I feel the movie took for granted the opportunity they had with this book; this wonderful, unique, amazing book that helped me tremendously as a kid with autism.
“Star people are rare. You’ll be lucky to meet another.”
Jerry Spinelli, pg 177