Heroism Is Not Gendered

[wyld_dandelyon]

It was at a fannish gathering--at my house, I think--that I first heard the term "Mary Sue". Some large person with a beard was using it to put down the work of a female writer. I protested. I didn't see anything wrong with the very competent female character he was taking exception to

Comments

[tuftears]

Personally I look at it this way: what are the threat levels the characters are fighting? Mary Sue/Marty Sue are what happen when the characters are *too* competent for the enemies to matter. Maybe they have psychic powers, maybe the enemies are incredibly stupid, whatever the case, it just drains away all drama when every conflict is resolved as soon as it happens.

Some people might think of Honor Harrington as a Mary Sue, but despite her 'ubercompetence' and the presence of a Special Psychic Friend (treecat), for most of her books she has *extreme opposition*. She's outnumbered, her ships are smaller than the enemies', she'd better be bringing something special to the table to be able to handle it.

[wyld_dandelyon]

I certainly agree that a story is poorly written when the protagonist is not meaningfully challenged by the threats in the story. Absolutely. It's hard to care if fixing things is too easy

[tuftears]

True enough. I don't myself favor the term 'Mary Sue', I prefer 'OP' or "overpowered".

[wyld_dandelyon]

"Ovepowered" or "Overpowered Protagonist" is so much more to the point, and doesn't require explanation. It's perfect.

It doesn't include the idea of author insertion or author daydream, but really, I'm not so sure it's inherently bad for an author to start with a daydream. Where an author starts is really beside the point. What matters is the story they tell when they're done.

[ex_hrj]

It's also fascinating to watch the verbal and logical gymnastics required to explain how a Luke Skywalker's talents and abilities make natural sense within the setting but a Rey's don't. I was just watching a gymnastic display of this sort over on another blog and kept thinking, "Do you have any idea what you look like when you do that?"

[wyld_dandelyon]

I've gotten to the point where I don't enjoy those calisthenics any more. When I was a kid, I thought video conference by wrist watch (a la Dick Tracy) was total fantasy and equal pay for equal work would be real by the time I finished growing up. Well, you know how that turned out!

[ex_hrj]

Yeah, absolutely. It's not enjoyable, just fascinating. (I'm still working on the self-restraint not to call people on it.)

[wyld_dandelyon]

While it's true that calling them on it is unlikely to change _their_ minds, there's young people lurking and watching. I'd like this crap to change, and that means letting it go unchallenged can lead to more people growing up thinking that way.

But still, we all deserve more from life than fighting sexism and the other isms.

[msstacy13]

FWIW,
when my war correspondent narrator urinated in Hemingway's face,
she squatted down to do it.

Wait, does that make me, as an author,
a pissy cunt?
:)

[wyld_dandelyon]

You are a unique snowflake.

[acmespaceship]

Amen.

[wyld_dandelyon]

*waves hi*

[wyld_dandelyon]

You know, I usually focus my thoughts on how to write well, rather than on good and bad critique techniques or the terminology said critique use. For this post, I was focused on that one term, and why I think it is not a valid critique