"Anti-Mary Sue" or "reverse Mary Sue" characters in movies and series *rant* · 6:29am Jun 2nd, 2020
Okay... This has been bugging me for a while now. Ever since the quarantine and stuff started, I have been watching a lot of movie and series. Usually, I watch some action movies, where a revenge or wiping out a criminal organization is pretty much the whole plot and I have usually liked them... Until the end.
You see, I noticed a very annoying pattern in these movies. In order to show that the protagonist is not a Mary Sue, he must lose something at the very end he had been trying to protect throughout the whole movie, or more annoyingly, even die himself/herself. The protagonist usually loses their wives and they almost always have a sweet little girl who's just about perfect.
At this point, it's starting to be a cliche, almost a rule instead of an exception. And that, that makes them even more Mary Sues because they must suffer or they would look like everything is going their way. And I truly hate it. No happy endings. I managed to watch five completely random movies in a row where this happened. Either the protagonist died or somebody very close to them, and in one movie, the protagonist even took his own life at the end for literally no reason! It's like a huge middle finger to the viewer! And the movies were all from different time periods and different genres. I think that's all there is in Netflix anymore...
And recently, I finished this one series I have been watching and I was really enjoying it, until... Yes. Somebody from the main cast got killed at the very end and that was that. Left so bad taste in my mouth I can't stand it. Just... Why!? That totally makes the protagonist some messed up reversed Mary Sue who simply must suffer a catastrophic loss or die just because they would otherwise be labeled as Mary Sues... yes, very well done indeed. To end the series, maybe? Idk...
Maybe this tells something about my horrible taste in movies too. I get too invested in these characters. They seem to have their hearts in the right place ans they are honest and so on. And then they let the bad guy get away because they are "merciful" and gets shot at the back... Yeah. Kinda saw that coming. And whenever the protagonist gets into a fight with the bad guy, he does literally nothing but take the beating for the first 15 minutes before starting to hit back, usually suffering a stab wound or a slash on the upper body in the process.
I need to watch something less predicable for a change. But try as I might, it's all the same. In war movies, it's much more understandable, but not too many of those left for me. I mean... Finnish Netflix is what it is. This problem even exists in Finnish movies and series. I would ask for recommendations for good movies or series, but I most likely won't find them on my Netflix.
But I will ask anyway. What would you recommend me to watch next? Note that I'm not too much into Sci-fi, horror or comedy. Mainly action, war, fight, revenge, driving movies and such. You know, nothing too boring.
That reminds me of those writers who try a bit too hard to avoid the Mary Sue thing, only to wind up into the “Sympathetic Sue” territory.
“Hey look, this guy isn’t perfect! He has flaws and he gets bullied for them! He gets abused by his parents, so you can’t say his life is perfect!”
So yeah, it becomes less like “This character ain’t perfect” and more like “FEEL SORRY FOR THEM.”
5273852
It really feels like it, yeah. It's not a plot twist but very lazy writing in my opinion. That really achieves nothing and only makes the viewer sad. What's the point in that? I don't feel sorry for the character at that point because it feels so forced, but I do wonder what the writers tried to achieve with the ending?
I don't usually mind Mary Sues in movies because it's so common and it just doesn't bother me. But trying to undo it at the very end like that? Yeah... Don't like it. There are better ways to do it. Too bad there's no star rating in Netflix anymore, just thumbs up or down. Can't really see what others thought about them.
Thanks for the comment btw, it's rare to see one here.
5273986
Anytime, buddy