Fanfiction: the definition of Mary-Sue

[Lérië]

They sound disgusting. How hard would it be to kill one, I wonder?

[Aganzir]

So, there’s this girl. She’s tragically orphaned and richer than anyone on the planet. Every guy she meets falls in love with her, but in between torrid romances she rejects them all because she dedicated to what is Pure and Good. She has genius level intellect, Olympic-athelete level athletic ability and incredible good looks. She is consumed by terrible angst, but this only makes guys want her more. She has no superhuman abilities, yet she is more competent than her superhuman friends and defeats superhumans with ease. She has unshakably loyal friends and allies, despite the fact she treats them pretty badly. They fear and respect her, and defer to her orders. Everyone is obsessed with her, even her enemies are attracted to her. She can plan ahead for anything and she’s generally right with any conclusion she makes. People who defy her are inevitably wrong.

God, what a Mary Sue.

I just described Batman.

(Courtesy of adventuresofcomicbookgirl.tumblr.com).

While I'm all in favour of well-written, round characters who have their faults, I'm a teeny bit tired of 'ideal' characters only being criticised if they're women.

[Nerwen]

Agan, I think this whole thread has been about fan-fiction Mary Sues- and a lot of the reason people complain about them is their habit of taking over from the actual characters, in a general "anything you can do, I can do better" way. They're more beautiful! More talented! They have bigger and better angst! They're the ones who really save the world!

When you start applying the same criteria to characters in original fiction... then, yes, it becomes problematic. Not that "canon Sues" don't exist, because of course they do, but the definition is often stretched so far that it becomes meaningless. Not only that, but some people definitely do seem to use a simple equation of "female protagonist = Mary Sue".

[Aganzir]

Yeah I got the impression, but I see no reason why serious literary criticism shouldn't be applied to fanfiction as well. I rarely read it myself but I'm quite aware of the rise and fall of the concept of Mary Sue over the years, and it baffles me because although there's talk of Gary Stu also, he doesn't seem to get nearly the same amount of hate.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Yeah I got the impression, but I see no reason why serious literary criticism shouldn't be applied to fanfiction as well. I rarely read it myself but I'm quite aware of the rise and fall of the concept of Mary Sue over the years, and it baffles me because although there's talk of Gary Stu also, he doesn't seem to get nearly the same amount of hate.

There are fewer male OCs in fan fiction, probably because most of the writers are female, so Gary Stu doesn't show up nearly as much. Also, I think he's generally considered to be a subset of Mary, if you see what I mean. In fact, some people refer to characters of either sex as "Mary Sue".

[Faramir Jones]

Would people here consider a lot of the above film to just be bad fanfiction, which happened to end up on the big screen because of PJ having power and money?

If so, what do people think of the character of Tauriel being something like a Mary-Sue? She (along with Legolas) slaughters a lot of orcs, and is involved in a love triangle...

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Faramir Jones

If so, what do people think of the character of Tauriel being something like a Mary-Sue? She (along with Legolas) slaughters a lot of orcs, and is involved in a love triangle...

They (Legolas and Tauriel) are the Neo and Trinity of Middle-earth, complete with an incredible use of weaponry and defying gravity. After all, Agent Smith is already in Rivendell.

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

I read a LOT of fanfiction. *don't judge me* The most annoying thing is finding fics that have a lot of ooc-ness. I also HATE OC's. However, once in a while, I come across a fic that's well-written and stays in character. Best feeling in the world.

Also, thought on female OCs, there aren't very many females in LOTR (Well, not in comparison to the male characters, anyway). So, when you get the OC's that aren't just the writers putting themselves in the story, it may be as an attempt to balance the characters' genders. After all, the only three PROMINENT characters in LOTR are Galadriel, Arwen, and Eowyn. All of whom are very good and complex characters, but the series still remains a sausagefest.