momodot opened this issue on Mar 26, 2006 · 114 posts
dphoadley posted Fri, 14 April 2006 at 2:09 AM
Question: What's a Mary Sue?
For those of us who've been cut off from popular American idiom for the last thirty years, some of the terms and expressions used in these threads leave us rather mouth agape in wonder as to what exactly is beind said. Well, I looked up at-least one of those terms, and am posting the explanation here.
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A Mary Sue (or just Sue) is a fictional character, the term originating from fan fiction, who is an idealised stand-in for the author. It is also sometimes used to describe any stand-in for the author (whether idealized or not), any idealized character (whether a stand-in for the author or not), or any original character in fan-fiction.
Mary Sue may be used to describe a character of any gender but male Mary Sues may also be called "Marty Stus," "Murray Stus," "Harry Stus," or "Gary Stus." "Airy Ooh" is a rarely used unisex variant of the term. Authors of such characters (of either sex) are sometimes referred to as Suethors.
While Mary Sues are generally written unintentionally, some authors deliberately write Mary Sues as a form of parody.
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The term "Mary Sue" was coined because of the popularity of these names in the English-speaking population. Mary and Sue have become the symbol of every possible girl, which means the Mary Sue is usually replaceable by anyone inserted in fanfiction, because they aren't canon. The most frequently used male terms "Gary Stu" and "Harry Stu" may exist because of the optical and phonetic affinity.
Mary Sue (or simply Sue) is a pejorative expression for a fictional character who is an idealised stand-in for the author, or for a story with such a character. Originally, the Mary Sue concept came out of Star Trek fan fiction and described an original female character who had a romantic liaison with an established, canon character, particularly if she possessed unrealistic or unlikely traits above and beyond those expected of a character in that particular series, or a conventional author surrogate. However, in recent years the concept has developed a wider meaning, so that any author surrogate character can be defined as Mary Sue. Some believe the term to have originated in a Star Trek fan fiction parody published in 1973's Menagerie #2 written by Paula Smith. The story "A Trekkie's Tale" parodied some current fanfiction in the community which featured original female characters with whom Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock fell in love and who were able to save the day. The term gained mainstream use in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
A more recent definition, based on a misunderstanding of the term in its original context, states that Mary Sue is any original character who possesses unusual qualities, parentage, or appearance — particularly in, but not limited to, science fiction or fantasy, whether original or fan fiction. By this definition, Lessa of Anne McCaffrey's Pern stories, Vanyel of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, Rudyard Kipling's intrepid orphan Kim, Ayla of Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series, and Elminster from Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms novels and RPG setting, are all Mary Sues. Some have gone further, changing previously understood definitions, and have begun to define any original characters in fan fiction as Mary Sue.
In fan fiction, Mary Sue characters are usually the original creation of the author, but sometimes "canon Sues" are created by altering pre-existing canon characters. Conversely, such original or adapted characters are not necessarily Mary Sues. The Peter Jairus Frigate character of the Riverworld series, for instance, is deliberately based on his author but rarely the focus of the story (unlike Tom Sawyer, for instance — a Mary Sue by 2005 standards). However, there are a great number of what many fans think of as pre-existing Sues in canon.
Some fan critics believe that young writers tend to create "narcissistic" Sues and "unintentional" Sues -- characters that develop into Sues due to the author's supposed subconscious desires. Some authors now write Mary Sues deliberately as a form of parody.
Lately, however, Mary Sue in fanfiction is generally considered an original character written by the author into the universe of his/her choosing to upstage the canon characters, occupy the center stage, and take over the story entirely to satisfy the author's ego. Whether or not she exhibits all, none, or few of the classical Mary Sue traits is irrelevant. She has still taken over the established universe to the point that canonical characters are brought beneath her in all regards.
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Mary Sues are characterized by their unusual and dramatic traits and experiences, their similarity to their author, and, especially, their exaggerated superiority to other characters.
Mary Sues normally have exceptional physical and personal characteristics, unusual and (typically) tragic backgrounds. They may have uncommon eye or hair colors and come from a race or species which is uncommon or unknown in the story’s setting. They may have exotic names, pets, and possessions. As children, they experienced abuse or other hardships that were substantially worse than the abuse or hardship experienced by other characters and by the vast majority of people in the real world -- though they seldom if ever display any evidence in personality or behavior of having been traumatized. In adulthood, they are misunderstood or unfairly persecuted. They are abandoned as infants, from a famous or infamous family, or related to the author’s favorite character.
They almost always share hobbies, likes and dislikes, and opinions with the author. They may be of the same nationality or age as the author and have similar but more dramatic physical appearances or backgrounds. In fan-fic, they cause things to happen that the author wishes would happen in canon. They mock and humiliate characters the author dislikes; if these characters are well-liked in canon they reveal to the other characters that they are secretly evil. If a character is disliked by most canon characters but liked by the author, the Mary Sue realizes that they are not really bad but merely misunderstood and either explains this to the other characters or becomes the character's sole confidant and friend. Mary Sues bring together characters the author thinks should be romantically involved with one another or become romantically involved with characters to whom the author is attracted.
Mary Sues have more and better skills than other characters in the story and easily solve problems that stump other characters. Young Mary Sues often have skills or accomplishments that are substantially greater than those of other characters their age and of the vast majority of people their age in the real world. Mary Sues are presented as more moral than other characters and frequently sacrifice their lives or happiness for the sake of other characters. They often have moral ideas that are common in the Western world today but unusual for the setting of the story. They are normally exceptionally attractive.
Mary Sues are heavily praised by the author and other characters. If Mary Sues are criticized, the criticizer is evil or misinformed and the criticism is used to emphasize the misunderstanding and persecution that the Mary Sues face. If Mary Sues have flaws or limitations, they are either minor and endearing or yet another hardship for the Sue to overcome (e.g. paraplegia.)
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Canon-Sues are canon characters who are changed into idealized stand-ins for a fan-fic author. Canon-Sues learn or are suddenly revealed to have powers or skills which make them substantially and unprecedentedly superior to the other characters. They have hobbies, likes and dislikes, and opinions that are never shown in canon and are the same as the author's own. If Canon-Sues have flaws (especially physical unattractiveness) or opinions the author disagrees with, they will be overcome within the story or ignored entirely. Canon-Sues reveal tragic pasts never mentioned in canon, dwell on tragic pasts mentioned but not dwelt upon in canon, and are misunderstood or persecuted by other characters to a degree that they have never been in canon. Canon-Sues become friends with characters the author likes and enemies with characters the author dislikes, even if the reverse was true in canon. Changes to canon characters are made only to make the character more exceptional, pitiable, or similar to the author, and not as part of genuine character growth. Often Canon-Sues will befriend, date, or be mentored by an original character Mary Sue.
The process of creating a Canon-Sue is called “sueification.” Canon-Sues are often referred to as [Character’s name]-Sue. Authors of original fiction may also be accused of “sueifying” if they suddenly idealize in canon a previously average character.
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Romantic Sues are idealized versions of the author’s perfect lover, rather than of the author him or herself. Many female anime characters are criticized for being the (male) writer's Romantic Sues.
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In an effort to create a character who is not a Mary-Sue, an author will sometimes go to an extreme reversal of the typical 'Mary-Sue' traits. Anti-Sues will often be described with just as much detail as their Mary-Sue counterparts; however, the description will usually be one that tells the reader in extreme detail how unbeautiful (or how pretty-but-not-stunningly beautiful), unpopular, unrich, naive, unoptimistic, etc. the character is. However, these characters can be just as forced and as overbearing as their prettier Mary Sue counterparts.
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While female Mary Sues are often bright (literally and figuratively) and cheerful, Gary Stus are generally much darker, tending more toward brooding and violent behavior. They are very often apathetic and roguish, having no regard for authority or law. They will often get away with their transgressions again and again - or when they actually are punished, they are completely indifferent.
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The concept of the Mary Sue has been criticized on the grounds that:
Some critics agree with the basic Mary Sue concept but believe that it is (wrongly) applied to characters who are unusual in any way or to any original or changed character in fan-fic. Other critics argue that Mary Sue should be applied only to idealized author-surrogates, not to characters who are only idealized or only author-surrogates.
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[1] Verba, Joan Marie. BOLDLY WRITING: A Trekker Fan and Zine History 1967-1987. Mankato, MN: FTL Publications, 1996.