Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Stargirl, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Individuality and Conformity
Human Nature
Seeing, Visibility, and Invisibility
Friendship, Love, and Social Pressure
Summary
Analysis
In the Hot Seat studio, there are two chairs—one with flames painted on the legs, for the interviewee, and a regular chair for Kevin, the host. Overlooking the stage are two rows of chairs, which the “jury” occupies. The 12 members of the jury are there to ask embarrassing and nosy questions. There are three cameras—one for the stage, one for the jury, and one nicknamed “Chico,” a close-up camera. Leo works in the control room, directing the camera shots, alongside the technical director and faculty advisor, Mr. Robineau.
The Hot Seat show provides a perfect arena for the novel’s theme of visibility and invisibility. Stargirl is intentionally placed front and center, at the mercy of her peers—a setup that reveals more about the lenses through which her peers see her, and how those reflect Mica High in turn, than it does about Stargirl herself.
Themes
Though the questions are meant to make the “victim” squirm, the overall atmosphere of Hot Seat is good-natured. The shows are filmed after school and broadcast that night on local cable. For this show, the crew is expecting especially high ratings. But Leo secretly wishes that nobody would watch. When they scheduled Stargirl’s appearance, she was still popular. Now that reactions to Stargirl have soured, however, Leo fears that things will turn ugly.
Leo still feels protective of Stargirl. He appreciates her, and he senses that the Hot Seat won’t show anyone in their best light. Unlike Kevin and the other members of the crew, Leo cares sees beyond superficial ratings to the human feelings involved.
Themes
Leo’s foreboding gets stronger as the grim-faced jurors—including Hillari Kimble—enter the studio. Only Stargirl seems to be in a good mood. She even makes Cinnamon the rat wave at Leo through the control room window, to his embarrassment—he didn’t realize Stargirl knew his name. He collects himself and begins calling the shots for the opening of the show. As the cameras roll, Kevin introduces Stargirl and good-naturedly greets Cinnamon, too.
The student jurors appear to be out for blood, but Stargirl is characteristically oblivious. Leo, true to form, is both embarrassed and charmed by her attentions. At first, it seems as if Kevin will steer the interview in a way that’s friendly to Stargirl.
Themes
Kevin tells Stargirl that they’ve been eager to put her on the Hot Seat. Stargirl turns to the camera, her “wonderstruck” eyes slowly getting wider and wider. Leo realizes that she’s milking the moment, pretending to take “hot seat” literally, so he orders a long shot, capturing Stargirl’s scream as she theatrically leaps from the flame-decorated chair and sticks her rear end directly in the camera, fanning it. Kevin laughs hysterically as Cinnamon the rat gets loose and dashes toward the startled jury. Leo continues frantically calling shots—it’s the best Hot Seat footage he’s ever gotten. But, as it turns out, nobody will ever see it.
Stargirl shows off her unique sense of comedy, in a typically unexpected move that might have won over many viewers, if it had been allowed to air—she’s not taking herself too seriously. But her timing is all wrong; as she hasn’t yet realized, the jury’s intentions are far from light-hearted.
Themes
Get the entire Stargirl LitChart as a printable PDF.
