(Untitled)

[lightlyfalling]

I started out this morning washing rocks, and using the flat ones to cobble the bottom of the trench - which I finished digging out. Rocks were washed and laid out in the trench, a spider was saved from drowning, and I hauled dirt to the end of the driveway and sang. A proper heave-away shanty would've been better, I s'pose, but I went for the

Comments

[mizbitch2you]

I was just noticing how mary-sue Buffy is. Ever noticed that?

[lightlyfalling]

Yeah, especially with all the later-season love interests/angst. **shudders** Eech. That whole people-I-thought-I-could-trust-ripped-me-out-of-heaven thing? *So* dark-past!Sue.

[mizbitch2you]

yeah. *worlds smallest violin plays a sad tune for the poor buffster*

omg. there's a guy who lives on my floor, i swear to god he looks just like xander. only, you know... cute. ^^

[miyadel]

Couple things on Inara-as-a-Sue: First of all, I think she's meant to be the, er, decorative type -- like Kate in Tombstone, if you have any idea what that is. Bear in mind that this is totally a western in space.

Also, I think that canon characters often have aspects of Mary-Sues (look at Harry's tragic past, or Alanna's, well, everything, or Rachel in Archangel). I mean, that's what main characters are, a lot of the time. It's only a problem when a fanfic author tries to invent another main character and shoehorn her into the story, 'cause it means that their fic is merely a story about Mary Sue that happens to be set in the Potterverse or Middle-Earth or whatever.

[lightlyfalling]

But Harry isn't all Sue-angst over it, not really. And all of Tamora Pierce's main characters are Sues. And Archangel was one big, long shipfic - of course they're going to be beautiful, and get all schmoopy, and use lots of adjectives. Psh

[miyadel]

No, Sue-angst goes into the "bad writing" section of Mary-Sueism. But Harry's still got the tragically dead parents, abusive family, Parseltongue, etc.

My point exactly. In the context of their own books, they're just the main character; in the context of a fanfic that's supposed to be about some other character, they'd be Sues.

Inara's on the Serenity because "beautiful working girl" is a classic western character, just like Jayne's there because "thug" is another one. I don't think the reason she's there is any more contrived than the reasons that the rest of them (besides Mal, Wash, and Kaylee) have for being on board.

[lightlyfalling]

Except Jayne can do useful smuggly things, like beat up snipers and take their positions, and Zoe is married to Wash and can shoot. They've got reasons to be crew members. Inara seems random, in comparison. At least, to me.