Mary Sue and the Chamber of Trope Inequality

I was going to write an article today explaining Rogue One, where it fit into the Star Wars timeline, and what to expect from it in terms of tone and scale. But now I'm not, because the Internet. Thanks Internet. After the trailer dropped for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, people came out complaining that Jyn Arso was another "Mary Sue", with Rey from Force Awakens being the primary.

What's a "Mary Sue"? Mary Sue is a term for a female character whose entire personality is based on being the nicest, coolest, strongest, most perfect lady to ever exist. Generally, it seems as though the character was written by the author to be the author, or a self-insertion fantasy (which isn't as dirty as it sounds). There's a male equivalent, Gary Stu, that is almost never brought up, but exists mostly for posterity. However, the term Mary Sue is an inaccurate assessment of the role most "Mary Sue's" play in their particular stories. Here's why.

Protagonists are Interesting Because of the Audience

Quick exercise, think about your favorite Harry Potter character. Now think about your favorite Lord of the Rings character. Finally, think about your favorite Star Wars character. If you were thinking about Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, and Luke Sykwalker, congratulations! You're the only person who's ever been that boring. But if you didn't, there's a reason for it: Harry, Frodo, and Luke are boring characters... on paper at least.

In books, but more importantly movies, you don't want your lead character to be that much of a wild card. It's why Pirates of the Caribbean needs Will Turner to stand straight-faced next to the eccentric Jack Sparrow. Take boring Will out of the movie and focus all the attention on Jack, and you've got a mess of a movie that will barely gross a billion dollars worldwide.

But why? Shouldn't every character be the most interesting thing they can be? No. Not really. Movies are wish fulfillment for the audience. We want to ride on the speeding bus with Sandra Bullock, but we wouldn't dare go 15 over the speed limit on the highway. That's why main characters are kind of meh, so the audience is able to project themselves onto the lead. But inevitably there will be a side character that is more specifically like the individual that they'll latch onto them. It's why everyone has a different answer for their favorite character, but nobody ever picks the protagonist.

I call it the false face. False face leads always have the same characteristics. They're brave, somewhat clever, naturally gifted people. They almost always fall under the "chosen one" trope, (Neo, Harry Potter, Marty McFly) meaning they aren't skilled for any particular reason, they're just inherently the best because they were destined to be so. What ever flaws they have are generally small things like being headstrong, or kind of moody. Sound familiar?

Mary Sue's are Just Female Protagonists

Now let's look at some Mary Sues. Rey from The Force Awakens is perhaps the most recent example. Katniss has also gotten her fair share of Mary Sue criticism. And while I'm not particularly fond of her movies for other reasons, Bella from Twilight also falls into this category. Hold onto your hats folks, I'm about to defend Twilight.

Each of these characters is simply a female version of the false face. I would come up with a gender specific term for it, but I think that's reductionist. Don't think of them as females, just think of them as characters. Characters that want to save the galaxy, or destroy the capital, or kiss the vampire and the werewolf. Maybe I can't defend Twilight.

Is Rey's attachment to her home as big of a flaw as Luke's constant whining? Probably. Is Katniss's moodiness comparable to Frodo's moodiness? Directly so. Is Bella's complete lack of personality the same as Harry Potter's complete lack of personality? Absolutely yes. But the boys are never called Gary Stu, and get a free pass to be as awesome and criticism resistant. Now why is that.

Most Prominent People who Claim Mary Sue are Disinterested in Women

I'm not going to say hate, because it's a very strong word. But at the very least, these Mary Sue criticism's come from a lack of interest in watching a female story. Personally, I have a theory as to where this stems from, and it goes back to my previously lauded feminist article about the new Ghostbusters. Specifically, the idea that movies are segregated, and that segregation is bad.

When you've got decades of programming telling you (with very few exceptions) that movies with lead characters that aren't "you" aren't for you, it can lead to some confusion. The new Star Wars movies aren't just for white boys, and that's a new idea. While Leia is a good character, she's often regulated to a damsel role, or seen as a romantic interest for Han. And there's no other female character until Return of the Jedi, making Empire Strikes Back a sausage fest of epic proportion. Finally, an effort is being made to close the gender gap in these movies, but of course it's being met with opposition.

Namely, Max Landis. I really hate that guy. Whoops, broke my rule. Why do I hate him? To paraphrase Obi Wan, "Max Landis's Twitter feed: You will never find a more wretched hive of self-congratulation and condescension." Quick bio, Max Landis is the son of John Landis, very notable screenwriter/director from the 70s and 80s. Max wrote the movie Chronicle, and got really mad when nobody saw his other two movies, American Ultra (Jesse Eisenberg is a stoner spy) and Victor Frankenstein (the sexy Frankenstein reboot everyone asked for). Also, Landis is credited, much to his own pleasure, with calling out Rey's Mary Sue-ness.

The only one of his movies I've seen is Chronicle (much like everyone else), a movie about an introspective socially-awkward guy who gets super-powers and immediately develops a god-complex because he's inherently better than everyone else. Talk about self-insertion fantasy. I bring this movie up though because it characterizes Landis's idea of women. The tipping point for the main character is an embarrassing sexual experience with a girl, that he seduces with magic tricks, by the way... seriously this is clearly a fanfic. But that's the only influential thing a female does in the movie, sexually shames the Max Landis surrogate. From the trailer of American Ultra, it appears Kristen Stewart is a damsel in distress, and I don't know that there's a girl in Victor Frankenstein. Needless to say, Landis doesn't seem to have a vested interest in a female's story.

Final Thoughts

In the end, the Mary Sue trope is bad news. Women have been regulated to side roles, romantic subplots, and character motivations for decades of movie history. Finally, we are reaching a point where that divide is coming down, and I suppose some controversy is unavoidable. But in the future, if a female leads a movie and you want to scream "Mary Sue!" remember all the fantastic films you've enjoyed starring her brother Gary, then sit down, and shut up. The rest of us are trying to watch the movie.