A Glimmer of Insight
The episode Rock Solid Friendship made me realize something about Starlight that I hadn't before.
When we first meet Starlight she is already the head of Our Town and dedicated to making everyone equal. However, what she is enforcing isn't so much equality as it is conformity. Her philosophy doesn't allow for her followers to seperate themselves by more than their name. Any deviation is an adoration to be quickly identified, ostracized, and rectified.
You can argue about whether Starlight's goal was really to create a utopia or just to make a safe space for herself, but at least initially she does seem to genuinely think that this is the best way to make everyone happy and to ultimately avoid all possible conflict.
It's only thanks to the more recent episode that I see now that this philosophy was indeed one internalized by Starlight, though not in a fashion one might expect. Starlight isn't interested in being treated equally, but she is painfully aware that she is not normal and really wants to be. Her every social gesture so far has been of one trying to fit in, and be normal, without having a good grasp on what that even means. When she doesn't use magic to try and smooth things over or distract from her social awkwardness, she is quick to look to others for approval of her actions.
Why this is an important insight has to do with her friendship with Maud. While Starlight made friends with Trixie based on their similar life experiences and shared grievances, Starlight befriends Maud exactly because she is different. "Weird, but in a good way" is how Starlight puts it, and this is actually a huge deal for someone who's life philosophy up to this point has been happiness through conformity.
That Starlight has come to the point where she can not only acknowledge but, also, value a uniquely different perspective on the world, like Maud's, is actually a big step in character development for her. More than any other episode so far, Rock Solid Friendship shows Starlight's personal philosophy changing in a subtle but very positive way. if Starlight can value what is uniquely 'weird' about Maud and admire her for it, she might be one step closer to realizing that her concept of 'normal' doesn't really exist.
It's going to be weird if Starlight ever stops being maladjusted entirely, but it's subtle insights into the characters thoughts and motivations (like this) that cause me to find her (and by extent episodes that focus on her) so entertaining.
Submitted May 02, 2017 at 01:17PM by TheKnackerman
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