Reflection and Analysis

Mary Sues Trample on The Female Characters of the Past (3/18/2020)

Rey from Star Wars is a Mary Sue. We've come to realize this is the case with the second and third movies – which my brother has purposefully not let me see. He'd much rather take me to see Rouge One again, rather than to have my expectations dashed. Yup, I'm going to admit I'm saying she's a Mary Sue without having seen the movies despite having been a staunch supporter of her in the first movie. My brother's actions – they're not the act of trying to censor me from a kick butt character – she's not, but shielding me from the disappointment of what her character ended up being.

Anyways, I was reading a topic on the matter on GameFAQs called "Daisy Ridley says her character is not a Mary Sue, and that the term is sexist." I'm going to address some of the points made by those who really doesn't understand what a Mary Sue is let alone what the problem is with the character, but in reading that – everything in the thread, I realized something majorly important. Mary Sues – they often step on the back of that which has come before. Mind you, they are definitely a part of the path one goes through to become a good writer, in which I say they're something to celebrate, but this attribute of the Mary Sue – honestly, you can't blame people for disliking these characters when they do this.

In this particular case, Rey, Daisy Ridley's character, steps on the back of a bunch of amazing female characters who came before her. Let's face the cold hard truth that SHE is the REASON the extended canon got thrown out BECAUSE if one thinks about IT, her character struggles even MORE if that's taken as CANON. We're talking an extended canon with dozens of female characters who are much better characters than her that CAN actually be labeled as STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS, yet we have the audacity to try and say that the term Mary Sue is sexist – even misogynist.

Which, one of her defenders TRIED bringing up Wonder Woman in this discussion, asking why she is never labeled as a Mary Sue, which – ultimately, the fact we NEVER call Wonder Woman a Mary Sue, yet so WILLINGLY call Superman and Batman the male equivalent tells me the idea that it is inherently sexist, if not used more for female characters. Maybe in fanfiction, where females are the dominant writer, but when we're talking about the discussion of the canon sue, I've seen this term doled out EQUALLY, so ultimately the real argument is that female character should be spared criticism because they are female.

Let's not even get into the fact that when people bring up Superman and Batman they don't realize that while most incarnations of Superman are Gary Stus, not all of them are, but in the same regard while a handful of Batman incarnations are Gary Stus, most are not. Let's not forget that in regards to DC comics there is a definite double standard, with female characters never getting called out for a lot of the stuff they do. I mean, the most sexually assaulted character isn't female, but male – Dick Grayson,

In fact, the way females treat him is treated as okay because he brushes a lot of what they say and do because the narrative forces him to do so. His daughter in Beyond doesn't get squat criticism, while Terry got a ton when he's introduced, neither deserving so, mind you, so let's stop pretending this is some kind of attack against female characters, the term, when it is not. It's about badly written characters.

Which, the other thing which stood out to me was the defender who kept going on and on about how Rey lost her temper at Luke. Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean she's not a Mary Sue. Often, Mary Sue characters have forced flaws forced upon them so the creator can scream the character isn't a Mary Sue, as a form of defense, yet if one looks at when these "flaws" show up, we find the flaws aren't treated as flaws narratively. Contrived background stories, skills they shouldn't feasibly have...

Oh, and let's talk about the self-insert argument and the fact a self-insert doesn't HAVE to be LIKE the writer, let alone FOR the writer. Some self-inserts are FOR the target audience, yet this is the real reason people don't want us to criticize Rey – she is their self-insert for power fantasy, nor do they like being called out for it – yet, it's not the power fantasy that is the issue. Wonder Woman, the first ever power fantasy aimed at women, after all, never gets called out as a Mary Sue, her incarnations often well written, the ones which are perhaps not forgotten.

So, let's stop this game.