(no subject)
mtgat talks about Mary and Me at FireFox News this week.
Continuing on that theme, the Voyager, Buffy, and Smallville litmus tests I wrote were mainly about identifying traits, explaining why they are significant markers and deadly when used in combination, and then offering suggestions on how to mitigate them (or eliminate them all together).
But the idea at the core of Missy's original Mary Sue Litmus test, and my versions was pretty much the same: it's the quantity of traits in combination that are really the defining factor, more than individual traits themselves.
Yet I still get emails of people arguing the validity of single traits as markers, rather than looking at the big picture--that if she's the captain's secret lovechild and psychic and has violet eyes and is charmingly clumsy and has a tragic past complete with ghosts that haunt her of her entire village/ship/squadron who were slaughtered before her eyes and has a beautiful singing voice and is a fantastic uber-spy who kicks ass in 5 inch heels and brightly coloured wigs, you have a problem. Whereas any single one of those might work just fine on their own, it's being presented in combination that screams "Sue".
Continuing on that theme, the Voyager, Buffy, and Smallville litmus tests I wrote were mainly about identifying traits, explaining why they are significant markers and deadly when used in combination, and then offering suggestions on how to mitigate them (or eliminate them all together).
But the idea at the core of Missy's original Mary Sue Litmus test, and my versions was pretty much the same: it's the quantity of traits in combination that are really the defining factor, more than individual traits themselves.
Yet I still get emails of people arguing the validity of single traits as markers, rather than looking at the big picture--that if she's the captain's secret lovechild and psychic and has violet eyes and is charmingly clumsy and has a tragic past complete with ghosts that haunt her of her entire village/ship/squadron who were slaughtered before her eyes and has a beautiful singing voice and is a fantastic uber-spy who kicks ass in 5 inch heels and brightly coloured wigs, you have a problem. Whereas any single one of those might work just fine on their own, it's being presented in combination that screams "Sue".