Distinguishing a Mary Sue · 10:40am Feb 23rd, 2017
Distinguishing a Mary Sue
Let me tell you what I've learned about characterization over the past few days. Firstly this composition will not be about 'what not to do when writing about characters,' but rather, this deals with our misconceptions concerning characters being identified as a Mary Sue in any medium of fiction genre.
The term Mary Sue is a mockery of perfect character that wouldn't work in real life, however the abbreviated meaning of Mary Sue is that of characters accused of being unrealistically perfect; this phrase is often used in describing an all-too omnipotent of a character, most commonly found in fan fiction or any type of medium concerning power fantasies. Nonetheless, due to that shortened term, misconceptions arise; as a result, characters who shouldn't be labeled as such will be persecuted by the ignorant masses. In essence the real definition of the term, "Mary Sue" is about characters being so impeccably faultless, that the plot narratives are moot to them, owing it to the fumblings in the prose of the writer. In other words, those are characters no longer challenged by the events of the plot .
Now with this definition explained, dynamic intellectual characters, like MLP's Twilight Sparkle, are often mistaken as "becoming a Mary Sue," as she ascends beyond her flaws. The thing is, you cannot become a Mary Sue unless you have what you call Character Development. Her weaknesses are not the only qualities that define her, those are simply factors to identify her to make her relatable. The trick is, characters need to be constantly challenged internally and externally. To have another character or epiphany, to get a better of themselves, to have the potential for growth for people to emphasize with them.
A Mary Sue is like an eidolon, which means: an idealized figure. I'm not just talking about the author's inept writing skills and wish-fulfillments. Instead, how the other stale characters react to the idol. When a character can breeze through acting like whatever the creator wants it to be and expect no realistic consequences, and then all of a sudden other characters address the reader how unconditionally loved they are. Then the Mary Sue becomes incredibly boring because the audience wants to be involved with the story; if they have no connection to other characters for being too good, then how can the audience appreciate them, if you keep shoving how awesome they are around everyone's throats?
Let's take an example, Superman, a character most commonly accused of being a Mary Sue
*Line art in Adobe Illustrator, preview in: http://cherry-lei.deviantart.com/art/Positively-Powerful-664273935
What do we have here: he's ethically flawless, magnanimous, incredibly powerful, an all around hero for the greater good and proudly idealistic. On the other hand, is he relatable? I recently read a quote on a website which I forgot to list down. To paraphrase, how many people around the world know about Jay Gatsby, William Shakespeare or Robinson Crusoe? The obvious answer, not many people are schooled in English literature, but if you say, Superman, now people will get the picture of a big blue guy wearing red underwear in their heads. So what does this mean? Superman symbolizes hope, he is a representation of our desire in its value.
We see his story as a power fantasy and judge it on the surface. And yet people tend to miss the entire point of his stories, and its central theme : It's not about having super powers as the greatest thing in the world; no, it's about the burden of being in control of that power, restraining it to be used for the forces of good. At the time I was reading the comics starring him, I actually felt his pain and his fears about being no better than the monsters he fights, that he can change anytime and destroy the people he's sworn to protect, and because of this his, interaction with other people with different moral principles can be heart-wrenching and yet, he refuses to wallow in self-pity and rise above it, with the help of his friends. Now is that a trait of a Mary Sue?
He is a positive idealistic person but not an irresponsible unrealistic character, similar to that of Twilight Sparkle. In other words, they're not sensationalized . Because they work enough insight to accept the reality they're in and work with what they can control, coupled with the strength of their virtue, and their willingness to accept help, knowing or realizing they can't do this on their own; with those factors, little by little, they change the world. And that's why we love them. They are not inflated by their optimistic traits, this is the crucial detail, that the films missed, it's not about darkening them up, because reality is apparently "gritty," wrong, we're pandering to our perception of a realistic character.
So how did it work??
The thing is, just because you're idealistic, doesn't mean you can't be pragmatic and guile. This is the folly of many animes I've watched, and noticed how emotionally manipulative they truly are, this includes grim dark fiction like Warhammer 40k. This is where ingenuity comes in, through character progression. Madoka Magica comes into mind as well, it started strong only for her narration to end weak. This will be another topic for later, as I still need to study it, in contrast to how Pixar and Studio Ghibli create their stories. Aren't these two different genres/stories for comparison? Yes, but in essence they are narratives with comparable qualities nonetheless.
The key to Superman's superb (pun intended) stories are that. The Villains are more powerful than he is, whether it's through their super genius that wraps him up in the knots of their scheming, or the confrontation of a warmongering planetary overlord, the parallels are in a matter of fact a representation of the opposing ideas Superman stands for. The tension of MLP and Superman lies in their ability to withstand and resist the corruption on the pillars of their virtue, moral realism helps as well, versus the forced inclusion of one, by making optimistic characters wrong for having such world view, while cynical characters tend to be viewed more maturely and are right. The comics expound on this concept a lot, more than any other mediums. I won't be going to much details on this, as this is a subject for a character study and wrongly creating your reality.
So now that we know what isn't a Mary Sue. What is an example of one?
As we established earlier a Mary Sue is an idealized, wish-fulfilled, and utterly faultless idol, internally and externally flawless, so much so that s/he's* awesome for the writer but boring to the reader. The phenomenon that s/he's too perfect for another person's help, accomplishing problem-solving with nothing but the attributes bestowed upon him/her by him/her creator. With those traits, there's no room for character development, thus remain stagnate and flat cut outs rather than engaging and relatable.
Now following those patterns, a good study would be a character named Lightning Dawn from the fan fic: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic.
*created in Adobe Photoshop, preview in: http://cherry-lei.deviantart.com/art/Lightning-Butt-compressed-665254107
Let's see what we have here: during the first chapter alone, Lightning Dawn has already been displaying negative features that wouldn't fly in the real world. But first let's check out his appearance:
- Strike one, during his introduction, we are already told that he is a white alicorn (a powerful pony with God-like powers).
- Strike two, the fact that he's already being described as a special person, for not being able to use magic. In reality this is a false flaw, as he is empowered by the author in the narrative for the past twenty six-chapters, with no consequence and tension on this supposed weakness.
- Strike three, four & five, he's the chosen one despite his lack of sorcery, his physical prowess is inconsistent or nonexistent in the narrative and dives head on to his foes, endangering himself and his comrades. In spite of all this, he is never called out by his friends and suffers no lasting harm that would pass in the real world.
- Strike six, he's so stagnant yet moralizes about his beliefs a lot, being a mouth piece of the author. Anybody who criticizes their ways are automatically wrong
- Strike seven, his personality consists of him being a bastard and judgmental to his friends and other races, with sexist and racist undertones, while his nice guy facade endorses a militaristic supremacist fascist society?! Think North Korea
- Strike eight, the supposed theme of the fanfic is that you don't need friendship, just faith in yourself. Even though his friends are the ones who solve his problems and he doesn't acknowledge them doing the work, in addition to never realizing his faults. His apparent friends never realize this flaw as well, absolutely loves him for it and fails to adhere to real conflicts.
- Strike nine, the only time he can truly help is when he's blasting his foes with a powerful thrust of magic from his "Uniforce" at the last minute, because he's obviously the chosen one and is only allowed to swing his [deus ex machina] at his enemies. Never in the fic has his friends shared the spotlight in defeating the powerful foe.
- Strike ten, in no way in the narrative did it foreshadow that he is a member of an extinct race that has godly powers. It's inclusion is practically forced to make him look great.
There are many more, but it's merely too tedious to list. I will confess one thing, I've only read the first season of this bad fan fiction, with bits and pieces of the different chapters in other seasons. The reason is, it's just too long and forgettable, on the grounds that its themes are dispiriting, with a boringly clichéd narrative, badly written philosophy, conjoining it with its advocacy of repulsive conducts, attitudes and values, which leaves your sane audience gapping at such way of life your characters support and live in.
The bottom line is, Lightning Dawn maybe weaker than Superman based on power levels, but from a literary stand point, he is basically untouchable. He can walk into conflicts, dive into obstacles and get exactly what he wanted, whereas Superman doesn't always succeed and pays for his mistakes, the fact that he has to work hell and back with the help of his friends to undo his fault. Throughout his story Lightning Dawn is never challenged by anything when battling the forces of evil, there's a repetitive template to each battle, to the point that it becomes predictable. This tells us, that there's no tension in the conflict and therefore uninteresting. Now this is a real Mary Sue, on the grounds that it bores the reader to death.
It is important for me to conclude that, simply being a standard middle-class character can still make it a Mary Sue if reality is not in control of your narrative and wish fulfillment takes over. Except that doesn't mean you can't make your own power fantasy. By simply giving your character the potential for growth, your character can flourish even if it starts out as a jerk and slowly climb his way into becoming a true hero. This will indeed endear him to your audience, so don't be afraid to leave your comfort zone and experiment on it. After all the purpose of fiction is to provide us and our audience with meaning; who knows, you may discover more about yourself when creating your characters.
Special Thanks:
To my Marketing and Advertising notes.
And Legend Bringer for informing me about characterization in his letter.
The numerous TED Talks I've watched
Reference:
http://www.springhole.net/writing/mary-sue-subtypes.htm
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/MarySue
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/Superman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnokGcoUOmE
* I'm having trouble with gender neutral pronouns
Allow me to untangle this web of BULLSHIT, by STRIKING YOU!
-REAL STRIKE ONE: Those are not God Powers, ya twit! Super Powers, yes... god Powers, no.
-REAL STRIKE TWO: Who says he HAS to? You? Congratulations, you have just re-written the LAW of how ANYTHING is possible.
-REAL STRIKES 3-4-5: Yeah, he's the chosen one. It's not like a plot like that's been done before in other things (Little guy... weakest of the lot... the one who lacks the most becomes the BIG HERO)
Endangering his friends? Wow, and when I thought you couldn't sink any lower. They are all FIGHTERS, it's THEIR JOB to rush into action like that, and why SHOULD he be called out, because YOU want it? You're pathetic!! and the reason they don't sustain much harm is because it's DIFFICULT for them to actually get HURT like that, and if they did then you'd just whine that they're fast healers. (Face it, you deserve these strike-backs)
-REAL STRIKE SIX: The more I read this, the more I see you never actual READ or cared about READING the actual plots.
-Starla's father disagreed with Starfleet's ways, he tried to reason and negotiate with the baddies, and got shot in the face. (Sometimes you CAN negotiate, but sometimes you CAN'T and that's reality. Got it?!)
-REAL STRIKE SEVEN: No, that's actually YOU just being a grumpy whiner as well as ignorant reader. There is no bad sexism, there is no racism, there is HARSH endorsement.
Ya know instead of just saying these things, why don't TRY to back it up, you understand "TRY" (That means for you to actually THINK for once)
-REAL STRIKE EIGHT: Ding-Dong, you're wrong! (though I'm not surprised) The REAL theme of the fanfic is that there are SOME THINGS that friendship cannot and will not save you from, either not alone, or not at all, and no, Lightning AND his friends work TOGETHER to solve problems, and the only flaw here is YOU...
-If I made Lightning do all the work, then you'd whine about why would he need his friends
-If I made his friends do all the work, then Lightning wouldn't be the main star anymore WOULD HE?
-But heck, I give them all as much equality as I can, and it doesn't make a difference to you either.
So... why don't you do everyone a favor and knock off the sap.
-REAL STRIKE NINE: Uh, was it or was it not ONLY Sailor Moon who could deliver finishing attacks to the monsters?
Also, in the first fic, did Lightnings friends NOT YET have the power to do finishing moves because they weren't ready yet? (You shouldn't have fallen asleep in class then)
-And usually, they ALL beat the foe together! Lightning may DELIVER the blast, but he got POWER from HIS FRIENDS who helped him, which means THEY ALL HELPED, and that's good enough for me (Too bad nothing's good enough for if you didn't make it yourself, Whiner)
-STRIKE TEN:
You are so pathetic it's hilarious. THAT'S BECAUSE IT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. Believe me, if it was I WOULD have written it in, but the fact is it's like this...
So you have a golden horn... you're no descendant, not a blood relative, not link in the chain. You're JUST YOU with special powers, that's it!
And, Lightning's Race, GOD-LIKE... wow, I already more than enough proof you were deluded and rude before this. All of Lightning's people (the Harmonians) were just like him... MAGICLESS ALICORNS, and you call them GOD LIKE POWERS?
Oh, and one last thing...
That's your STRIKE ELEVEN right there...
By simply giving your character the potential for growth, your character can flourish even if it starts out as a jerk and slowly climb his way into becoming a true hero. Sorry, but that's not MY thing, once a jerk ALWAYS a jerk (Even you act that way) and you and I have DIFFERENT ideas of what makes a hero.
This will indeed endear him to your audience, No it doesn't (I made Normal MLP fics, non Starfleet no-Friendship is failure and portayed the characters like the did in certain episodes of MLP, you still gave me grief for it)
After all the purpose of fiction is to provide us and our audience with meaning; Not really, no. The main purpose of fanfics (At least to me) is about RECTIFICATION, and SATISFACTION. You want things to go your way, WRITE IT YOURSELF instead of expecting SOMEONE ELSE to do it for you.
who knows, you may discover more about yourself when creating your characters. Yeah, um... I'll pass. I came on a Quest of satisfaction, not self-discovery.
4557343
I would love to answer you in a sound and rational manner, but then I remembered you're Mykan and those two concepts don't mix well in your head.
Do you remember the last note, i wrote to you in DA? Please read it again, You know the one, I called you out on your ego, self righteous mentality, which lead to you creating a dystopian society Kim Jong Ill, Lenin and possibly Aldous Huxley (author of: Brave New World) would be proud off. In fact scratch that first request, please go over all the notes I sent to you, all the words I said to you still stand.
You are a very hateful person Mykan, as you freely admit it to me numerous times, and I would greatly appreciate it if you go sulk in a corner while I criticize your works, cause honestly to put this discreetly, your fanfics suck beyond belief. So go keep writing, seeing your
ingenuity, er...creativity,vision? REALITY progressively gets worse within each chapter/episode/season or whatever, you were never making a point of what you believe is truth, but exposing yourself to a lifetime of torment due to backwards thinking.I want no part of your self-inflicted misery, you can keep blaming your haters, your family, and you can keep being critical to everyone, but know this, you are very forgiving of your own faults and unattainable desires, and from this point on wards you will never wake up to the reality you're missing, and the opportunities that passed you by.
Well that's all i gotta say, good luck with life, Mykan 😉
4573627
Then don't reference ME or My characters, Period.
4573687
Why shouldn't I it's called criticism, I'm not mocking you it's all in your head. Apparently you did not review my notes, or take the time to read what I just told you, you know my last reply???
4573700
Not the way you do it isn't...
MY Blogs of Season 7... THAT'S criticism, and it's more gentle than what you do, but what you do is downright uncalled-for, and when you top that off with the way you behave and force people to accept your views, not very enlightening.
4557343
\"Not the way you do it isn't...
MY Blogs of Season 7... THAT'S criticism, and it's more gentle than what you do, but what you do is downright uncalled-for, and when you top that off with the way you behave and force people to accept your views, not very enlightening. "
That's rich cause you are harassing right now to accept your idea of truth, When in reality all I've done is point out how backwards is your mindset, it's your choice to accept it. Your audience have the right to judge your works especially since you posted it all online. Just read the notes I sent to you, but apparently even you can't comprehend simple English, and I come from a country where English is a second language...
Talk about Epic Fail!!!!
4557343
So in your perspective,if your good once your always good and if your bad your always bad?
Really, I would argue that a true Mary Sue doesn't exist as all Mary Sues fit into one of its derivatives like Purity Sue, God Mode Sue, Black Hole Sue, Stupid Sue, etc.
4797973
Although true in technical terms there are conditions into sub-categorize a Mary Sue, however you can merge each category to one definition: A character that fails to live up to the standards of reality that affects the quality of the story. Don't wanna be too talkative, but I believe I misused the word "true," as I can't find a much adequate word for it.
A true, real, or objective definition of a Mary Sue is a character that emits the author's ulterior motives. How much of the author's ego bleeds will affect the story, because the similarities between the author's traits and character(s) will mash.
Take for example Lightning Dawn:
- always in the spotlight
- narrative wise he's untouchable and powerful
- doesn't see through his faults
- is a judgy person
- wields a deus ex machina
- a snowflake with an out of place dark past (the never introduced enticorn race)
- bland character that never grows
- a mouthpiece who's never wrong
There's more to the list, but this is gonna take too long
However contrast this to the accused Superman:
There are rules to his narrative, despite him being a physical God, it didn't make his story less, it made it more creative.
- Superman is powerful but he's burdened by the responsibilities
- Superman is stoic with charisma, but when no one is looking he breaks down
- Superman takes the blows to protect his team, and he can be stubborn about it, Batman has to protect him in turn.
Subjectivity is our preferences on what's good or what's labeled
Objectivity is a straight detachment to our emotions when looking at a piece
To me the subjectivity between what's a Mary Sue is just another way to categorize careless writing. Objectively characters that shouldn't be labeled as a Mary Sue should be defended, because narrative wise their stories are better than what people will describe about them. I hope that makes sense......