When the term "Mary Sue" loses its meaning...

[mistress_kizuna]

You know, I really worry about fandom. I'll admit that some fandoms aren't as bad as others when it comes to randomly declaring female characters Sues. But it still makes me worry. We're getting to this age of Internet fandom where the term Mary Sue is losing all meaning, and is now just a way of saying 'I hate this female character'.

Think about it

Comments

[sarajayechan]

*long, loud round of applause*

[appadil]

Agreed. I'd say that, properly used, the term has little to do with any particular trait or set of traits and more to do with the execution. If a character is unrealistically distorting the story's universe around themselves or is being shoved down the audience's throats as a model of perfection, then they may very well be a Sue or Stu- even if they're a canon character. Having a sense of proportion is what makes the difference, not purple eyes or cool powers. Any of the roles you listed above could easily belong to a Mary Sue or Gary Stu- or just as easily, to a well-executed character.

[aiffe]

I'm even hesitant to grant the "being shoved down the audience's throats as a model of perfection," because a lot of bashers SAY that when it simply isn't true.

[dropsofgleam]

Yes! =D I've come to think that the Mary Sue lavel is pretty much meaningless at this rate, since it doesn't matter anymore if a main girl chara is a Sue or jot - she'll get called Sue sooner or later anyway, no matter if she's girly or not. It only matters that she's female, so she's gotta be hated by the fangirls no matter what.

[shiegra]

YESSSSSSSSS.

[mistress_kizuna]

Sorry, my general inspiration was your old rant. I promise not to make it appear too close to something else of yours.

[ayasugi_san]

Do you mind please not posting things I've written with minor edits, please?

...most of the time, it wasn't even reworded, just edited to take out the references to MGS. That's pretty shameless.