Post by Gilgamesh 無限 on Sept 29, 2009 20:23:47 GMT -5
(Please note that the Mary sue will be described as "her" for most of this article)
Jane Austen once said that she was going to write about a character, named Emma, that no one but her could like. The opening lines of the novel describe this character as pretty, intelligent, and clever. This is the origin of Mary Sue.
Mary Sue is a term in use primarily in Fan Fic circles to describe a particular type of character. This much everyone can agree on. What that character type is, exactly, differs wildly from circle to circle, and often from person to person.
I don't get to set what the term means; the best I can do is capture the way it is used. Since there's no consensus on a precise definition, the best way to describe the phenomenon is by example of the kind of character pretty much everyone could agree to be a Mary Sue. These traits usually reference the character's perceived importance in the story, their physical design and an irrelevantly over-skilled or over-idealized nature.
The name "Mary Sue" comes from the 1974 Star Trek fanfic "A Trekkie's Tale". Originally written as a parody of the standard Self Insert Fic of the time (as opposed to any particular traits), the name was quickly adopted by the Star Trek fanfiction community. Its original meaning mostly held that it was an Always Female Author Avatar, regardless of character role or perceived quality. Often, said characters would get in a relationship with either Kirk or Spock, turn out to have a familial bond with a crew member, be a Half Human Hybrid masquerading as a human, and/or die in a graceful, beautiful way to reinforce that the character was Too Good For This Sinful Earth. Even back then, there wasn't a total consensus on what was or wasn't Mary Sue, since it's not always immediately obvious which character is an Author Avatar. As this essay(www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.HTM) reveals, suspiciously Mary Sue-like characters were noted in subscriber-submitted articles for 19th-century childrens' magazines, making this trope Older Than You Think.
The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing. She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her into their nakama, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal. She has some sort of especially close relationship to the author's favorite canon character — their love interest, illegitimate child, never-before-mentioned sister, etc. Other than that, the canon characters are quickly reduced to awestruck cheerleaders, watching from the sidelines as Mary Sue outstrips them in their areas of expertise and solves problems that have stymied them for the entire series. In other words, the term "Mary Sue" is generally slapped on a character who is important in the story, possesses unusual physical traits, and has an irrelevantly over-skilled or over-idealized nature.
Over time, a male variant started to see use. Marty Stu (also known as Gary Stu or Marty Sam, depending on preference) wasn't really that much different from Mary. Also an Author Avatar, it usually had implications of being more of a male crew member that tended to completely outshine established canon members in their roles and often become the best starship captain ever. Since the female characters of Star Trek were all in secondary roles at best, the relationship angle was generally disregarded as being any sort of qualifier. Because of the not-entirely-unjustified perception that Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls, Marty Stu didn't really catch on for a long time.
Originally, the term used to apply exclusively to fanfiction. But the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the term "Canon Sue" started seeing use, applying Author Avatar standards to canon works (most likely inspired by the backlash against Wesley Crusher; even Wil Wheaton has decried the character's obnoxiousness). It was around this time that the term started to lose a concrete meaning, since the label started getting applied even to characters who weren't explicit self-inserts (such as the title character of the episode "The Empath"), but just happened to use similar tropes. It was also (most likely) around this time that the term started to gain its pejorative tone.
Finally, the advent of the Internet allowed the term to migrate out of the Star Trek community to most fandoms, losing pretty much any real meaning in the process. There are dozens upon dozens of essays that offer interpretations of what the term means, generally basing it off of some usages of it, but none of them are truly comprehensive or accepted. Using the term in most contexts isn't too far off from Flame Bait, generally provoking the defendant into rants. Much Internet Backdraft has resulted, especially if the term is applied to a canon character on a popular show.
These last two paragraphs are why it's so hard to really nail down a definition of "Mary Sue": the term has started to be used in a much wider context, and to mean much wider things, than it once did, and there's no way to figure out which of those characteristics are necessary and sufficient to define a Mary Sue. Do Sues appear only in fanfic, or are Canon Sues allowed? (Some say yes; others believe that a Sue must be a fanfic character.) Can you have a male Sue? (On this one, at least, there's agreement in theory — few people would actually say all Sues are female — but female characters still tend to face more scrutiny.) Are all Author Avatars Sues, even if they're well-written, realistic, and don't take over the story — and, on the other hand, are all Sues necessarily stand-ins for the author? Is the most important part how the author de-protagonizes every other character in the name of making the Sue seem even more awesome, or is there more to it than that? If you have an impossibly competent character with a cool back story and an idealized personality, and they manage to be likeable to most of the audience, are they still a Likeable Sue?—or does Suedom depend on the character being disliked because of their obnoxious perfection?
The closest thing to a widely agreed-on definition is a character who has too many positive characteristics, and too few genuine flaws to be believable or interesting. Of course, despite what many tongue-in-cheek litmus tests claim, there's no objective standard for what qualifies as "too many." In truth, the closest thing to a consensus on a definition is that it is bad.
A list of the different types of Mary Sue's. I left a note beneath ones that are actually possible on rp sites.
* Black Hole Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlackHoleSue) — Everything is about me!
* Purity Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PuritySue) — Love me!
* God Mode Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GodModeSue) — Power overwhelming!
(Note: On this site, it's reasonable to be forgiven for a God Mode Sue, as long as you listen to admins and nerf it into reasonable power. This is because on a site where the general power level hasn't really been set yet by a canon storyline, it can be hard to judge just what is "Too Powerful". I myself have had little troubles with this one.)
* Jerk Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkSue) — Your petty rules do not apply to me!
* Possession Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PossessionSue) — My favorite character is an even better version of me!
* Relationship Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RelationshipSue) — He's my boyfriend now!
* Sympathetic Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SympatheticSue)— Feel sorry for me!
* Anti Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiSue) — I'm genuinely useless, but everybody still loves me!
(Note: NOBODY likes those useless characters, so don't make one in an attempt to ward off suedom. Just look through approved characters for a reasonable amount usefulness.)
* Villain Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainSue) — I have you now, my beautiful slaves! Ahahahahahahaha! [cough]TheShadow[/cough]
(Note: This is basically what happens when you try to make a villain to replace The Shadow. But, since he's kind of one himself...
* Fixer Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FixerSue) — No, that's not how it's supposed to go!
* Parody Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ParodySue) — Why don't they fall for my buxom charms?
(Note: When done right, these can be HILARIOUS.)
Jane Austen once said that she was going to write about a character, named Emma, that no one but her could like. The opening lines of the novel describe this character as pretty, intelligent, and clever. This is the origin of Mary Sue.
Mary Sue is a term in use primarily in Fan Fic circles to describe a particular type of character. This much everyone can agree on. What that character type is, exactly, differs wildly from circle to circle, and often from person to person.
I don't get to set what the term means; the best I can do is capture the way it is used. Since there's no consensus on a precise definition, the best way to describe the phenomenon is by example of the kind of character pretty much everyone could agree to be a Mary Sue. These traits usually reference the character's perceived importance in the story, their physical design and an irrelevantly over-skilled or over-idealized nature.
The name "Mary Sue" comes from the 1974 Star Trek fanfic "A Trekkie's Tale". Originally written as a parody of the standard Self Insert Fic of the time (as opposed to any particular traits), the name was quickly adopted by the Star Trek fanfiction community. Its original meaning mostly held that it was an Always Female Author Avatar, regardless of character role or perceived quality. Often, said characters would get in a relationship with either Kirk or Spock, turn out to have a familial bond with a crew member, be a Half Human Hybrid masquerading as a human, and/or die in a graceful, beautiful way to reinforce that the character was Too Good For This Sinful Earth. Even back then, there wasn't a total consensus on what was or wasn't Mary Sue, since it's not always immediately obvious which character is an Author Avatar. As this essay(www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.HTM) reveals, suspiciously Mary Sue-like characters were noted in subscriber-submitted articles for 19th-century childrens' magazines, making this trope Older Than You Think.
The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing. She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her into their nakama, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal. She has some sort of especially close relationship to the author's favorite canon character — their love interest, illegitimate child, never-before-mentioned sister, etc. Other than that, the canon characters are quickly reduced to awestruck cheerleaders, watching from the sidelines as Mary Sue outstrips them in their areas of expertise and solves problems that have stymied them for the entire series. In other words, the term "Mary Sue" is generally slapped on a character who is important in the story, possesses unusual physical traits, and has an irrelevantly over-skilled or over-idealized nature.
Over time, a male variant started to see use. Marty Stu (also known as Gary Stu or Marty Sam, depending on preference) wasn't really that much different from Mary. Also an Author Avatar, it usually had implications of being more of a male crew member that tended to completely outshine established canon members in their roles and often become the best starship captain ever. Since the female characters of Star Trek were all in secondary roles at best, the relationship angle was generally disregarded as being any sort of qualifier. Because of the not-entirely-unjustified perception that Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls, Marty Stu didn't really catch on for a long time.
Originally, the term used to apply exclusively to fanfiction. But the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the term "Canon Sue" started seeing use, applying Author Avatar standards to canon works (most likely inspired by the backlash against Wesley Crusher; even Wil Wheaton has decried the character's obnoxiousness). It was around this time that the term started to lose a concrete meaning, since the label started getting applied even to characters who weren't explicit self-inserts (such as the title character of the episode "The Empath"), but just happened to use similar tropes. It was also (most likely) around this time that the term started to gain its pejorative tone.
Finally, the advent of the Internet allowed the term to migrate out of the Star Trek community to most fandoms, losing pretty much any real meaning in the process. There are dozens upon dozens of essays that offer interpretations of what the term means, generally basing it off of some usages of it, but none of them are truly comprehensive or accepted. Using the term in most contexts isn't too far off from Flame Bait, generally provoking the defendant into rants. Much Internet Backdraft has resulted, especially if the term is applied to a canon character on a popular show.
These last two paragraphs are why it's so hard to really nail down a definition of "Mary Sue": the term has started to be used in a much wider context, and to mean much wider things, than it once did, and there's no way to figure out which of those characteristics are necessary and sufficient to define a Mary Sue. Do Sues appear only in fanfic, or are Canon Sues allowed? (Some say yes; others believe that a Sue must be a fanfic character.) Can you have a male Sue? (On this one, at least, there's agreement in theory — few people would actually say all Sues are female — but female characters still tend to face more scrutiny.) Are all Author Avatars Sues, even if they're well-written, realistic, and don't take over the story — and, on the other hand, are all Sues necessarily stand-ins for the author? Is the most important part how the author de-protagonizes every other character in the name of making the Sue seem even more awesome, or is there more to it than that? If you have an impossibly competent character with a cool back story and an idealized personality, and they manage to be likeable to most of the audience, are they still a Likeable Sue?—or does Suedom depend on the character being disliked because of their obnoxious perfection?
The closest thing to a widely agreed-on definition is a character who has too many positive characteristics, and too few genuine flaws to be believable or interesting. Of course, despite what many tongue-in-cheek litmus tests claim, there's no objective standard for what qualifies as "too many." In truth, the closest thing to a consensus on a definition is that it is bad.
A list of the different types of Mary Sue's. I left a note beneath ones that are actually possible on rp sites.
* Black Hole Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlackHoleSue) — Everything is about me!
* Purity Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PuritySue) — Love me!
* God Mode Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GodModeSue) — Power overwhelming!
(Note: On this site, it's reasonable to be forgiven for a God Mode Sue, as long as you listen to admins and nerf it into reasonable power. This is because on a site where the general power level hasn't really been set yet by a canon storyline, it can be hard to judge just what is "Too Powerful". I myself have had little troubles with this one.)
* Jerk Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkSue) — Your petty rules do not apply to me!
* Possession Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PossessionSue) — My favorite character is an even better version of me!
* Relationship Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RelationshipSue) — He's my boyfriend now!
* Sympathetic Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SympatheticSue)— Feel sorry for me!
* Anti Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiSue) — I'm genuinely useless, but everybody still loves me!
(Note: NOBODY likes those useless characters, so don't make one in an attempt to ward off suedom. Just look through approved characters for a reasonable amount usefulness.)
* Villain Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainSue) — I have you now, my beautiful slaves! Ahahahahahahaha! [cough]TheShadow[/cough]
(Note: This is basically what happens when you try to make a villain to replace The Shadow. But, since he's kind of one himself...
* Fixer Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FixerSue) — No, that's not how it's supposed to go!
* Parody Sue (tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ParodySue) — Why don't they fall for my buxom charms?
(Note: When done right, these can be HILARIOUS.)
