Abstract
The wishing star is a prominent symbol featured throughout Disney media. By examining the studio’s most notable deployments of the icon in Pinocchio, The Princess and the Frog, and Wish, this article argues that the wishing star is not a generically normative trope, but in fact works on both a visual and narrative level, in isolated instances and within a broader corpus, to confound the idea of a clearly defined, unchangeable body. In doing so, Disney’s wishing star operates as a queer cinematic device that resonates in particular with the modes of embodiment and change experienced by transgender persons.
Recommended Citation
Hester, Jennessa. "We Are Star Stuff: Transgender Cinema and Disney’s Wishing Star." Marvels & Tales 40.1 (2026). Web. <https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol40/iss1/8>.
