Thoughts on Mary Sues
I missed the big Mary Sue party that took place on Metafandom a while ago - I'll just say this is a response to the ongoing gender debate, so I don't look completely behind of everyone else - mostly because I didn't know how to express my thoughts on the subjects. It was like I had a point to make, but hadn't quite figured out what this point actually was, I just knew there was one. So, while I was struggling with my post about gender roles today, suddenly my attitudes towards Mary Sues and why I had instinctively disagreed so much with this post by fairestcat just appeared in my brain. Thank you brain. Have a cookie.
So, no bashing intended and, as I have missed a lot of posts concerning this topic, maybe my thoughts have been stated elsewhere already; if that's the case, feel free to ignore, but it's just inceredibly exciting for me to have finally figured out where I stand on this subject.
The big problem I have with seeing Mary Sues as feminist icons is not that they save the universe and get laid by the hero (who, strictly speaking, isn't the hero anymore, but rather a heroish sidekick as soon as Mary Sue appears) and are incredibly powerful, intelligent and beautiful. My problem is the way those characterics are filled, expressed and embedded in the further personality traits of the character.
A woman can have all characteristics I described above, and still I would not deem her a Mary Sue. So, what exactly happens when a wonderful, strong, kick-ass women becomes a Mary Sue? To put it simply: She goes mainstream. She becomes "perfect" in a sense that strictly adhere's to the gender roles the mainstream media still conveys (there are notable exceptions, but I think the word "exception" is still appropriate) - and this is why I call so many female Movie/TV-show characters "Mary Sues". And I think, being a perfect woman in today's society, has got nothing to do with feminism.
Admittedly, the picture of the “ideal” woman has changed these days. They are allowed to get up and fight and don't just sit at home and pray, while their white knight saves the world (although it is still entirely acceptable to write such a character, see “Armageddon”). But this means, that just because an OFC does the same thing, she is not automatically revolting against the cultural norms ascribed to her.
Let me give you a few examples about what I mean with “cultural norms”:
- Beauty
It is a) an important thing about her, i.e. “gets a lot of room in the story”, and b) they are the kind of beauties one might see on the cover of a glamorous magazine. The authors sometimes try to give them attributes which are out of the ordinary, but their flaws are never “real” flaws. Authors of Sues never make her beautiful in a way that isn't mainstream-compatible (and this kind of beauty does exist. It's all around us).
- Popularity
The evil guys hate her. The good guys adore her. Who doesn't adore her is just envious and jealous of her beauty/intelligence/popularity. And most probably not one of the good guys. She might be a computer geek, a martial-arts geek, a language-geek - but she's never really a geek. People like to tell her about their problems, she's compassionate, funny, self-confident, intuitive, sympathetic, warm...
- Sexuality
She is either forced to have sex (directly or indirectly by the bad guys) or is in a completely monogamous relationship with her love-interest (usually the actual hero of the show). Or both, like she has to have sex with a bad guy, but actually always just longs for her True Love. If she has “wrong” sex, that isn't acceptable for the “perfect” woman, it's never her “fault”. She doesn't just has a drink too much and ends up in bed with a random guy. Or falls for the wrong guy. Or just doesn't feel like she wants to commit herself to only just one guy, but wants to live a little before she does (bearing in mind that most Sues are somewhere around the age of 20).
If I take all of this together, I get nothing but one of the girls I always hated back in high school - only a little cleverer and braver.
I don't want a heroine who gets everything she wants because she fits in. I want one who gets everything she wants despite not fitting in. Who smokes weed. Who is a slob. Who is promiscuous, insensitive or wears hideous clothes. If an OFC is just different, not perfect in the mainstream sense, if she has just one tiny thing about her that is odd (and not cool-odd, but really-really-geeky-odd), then I will not call her a Sue despite her having the brain of Albert Einstein, the body of Angelina Jolie and the Martial Arts skills of Jackie Chan.
Then she is a feminist icon.
Also, my theory is kinda perfect. Heh. 'Cause if someone points at a certain character and says "Hey! Look! Here's a Sue who is different from the way you describe her", I can just say: "Well. Then she's by definition not a Sue." It's brilliant, really.
So, no bashing intended and, as I have missed a lot of posts concerning this topic, maybe my thoughts have been stated elsewhere already; if that's the case, feel free to ignore, but it's just inceredibly exciting for me to have finally figured out where I stand on this subject.
The big problem I have with seeing Mary Sues as feminist icons is not that they save the universe and get laid by the hero (who, strictly speaking, isn't the hero anymore, but rather a heroish sidekick as soon as Mary Sue appears) and are incredibly powerful, intelligent and beautiful. My problem is the way those characterics are filled, expressed and embedded in the further personality traits of the character.
A woman can have all characteristics I described above, and still I would not deem her a Mary Sue. So, what exactly happens when a wonderful, strong, kick-ass women becomes a Mary Sue? To put it simply: She goes mainstream. She becomes "perfect" in a sense that strictly adhere's to the gender roles the mainstream media still conveys (there are notable exceptions, but I think the word "exception" is still appropriate) - and this is why I call so many female Movie/TV-show characters "Mary Sues". And I think, being a perfect woman in today's society, has got nothing to do with feminism.
Admittedly, the picture of the “ideal” woman has changed these days. They are allowed to get up and fight and don't just sit at home and pray, while their white knight saves the world (although it is still entirely acceptable to write such a character, see “Armageddon”). But this means, that just because an OFC does the same thing, she is not automatically revolting against the cultural norms ascribed to her.
Let me give you a few examples about what I mean with “cultural norms”:
- Beauty
It is a) an important thing about her, i.e. “gets a lot of room in the story”, and b) they are the kind of beauties one might see on the cover of a glamorous magazine. The authors sometimes try to give them attributes which are out of the ordinary, but their flaws are never “real” flaws. Authors of Sues never make her beautiful in a way that isn't mainstream-compatible (and this kind of beauty does exist. It's all around us).
- Popularity
The evil guys hate her. The good guys adore her. Who doesn't adore her is just envious and jealous of her beauty/intelligence/popularity. And most probably not one of the good guys. She might be a computer geek, a martial-arts geek, a language-geek - but she's never really a geek. People like to tell her about their problems, she's compassionate, funny, self-confident, intuitive, sympathetic, warm...
- Sexuality
She is either forced to have sex (directly or indirectly by the bad guys) or is in a completely monogamous relationship with her love-interest (usually the actual hero of the show). Or both, like she has to have sex with a bad guy, but actually always just longs for her True Love. If she has “wrong” sex, that isn't acceptable for the “perfect” woman, it's never her “fault”. She doesn't just has a drink too much and ends up in bed with a random guy. Or falls for the wrong guy. Or just doesn't feel like she wants to commit herself to only just one guy, but wants to live a little before she does (bearing in mind that most Sues are somewhere around the age of 20).
If I take all of this together, I get nothing but one of the girls I always hated back in high school - only a little cleverer and braver.
I don't want a heroine who gets everything she wants because she fits in. I want one who gets everything she wants despite not fitting in. Who smokes weed. Who is a slob. Who is promiscuous, insensitive or wears hideous clothes. If an OFC is just different, not perfect in the mainstream sense, if she has just one tiny thing about her that is odd (and not cool-odd, but really-really-geeky-odd), then I will not call her a Sue despite her having the brain of Albert Einstein, the body of Angelina Jolie and the Martial Arts skills of Jackie Chan.
Then she is a feminist icon.
Also, my theory is kinda perfect. Heh. 'Cause if someone points at a certain character and says "Hey! Look! Here's a Sue who is different from the way you describe her", I can just say: "Well. Then she's by definition not a Sue." It's brilliant, really.