The new Star Wars movies have fans asking a lot of questions.
Who are Rey's parents?!
Is this a prequel?
And what's a Mary Sue?
That last one has led to a number of contentious arguments, as defends of Star Wars' honor
try to spread misinformation about the term.
First off, Max Landis did not create it when he famously - or infamously to some - labeled
Rey a Mary Sue.
The term was actually coined in 1973 by a woman, Paula Smith, when she decided to call
out the unrealsitic female characters popping up in Star Trek fan fiction.
Now to be fair, perhaps these strong characters were being created because Star Trek itself
created so few beyond fodder for Kirk's conquests - but in their efforts to represent, Smith
clearly felt this fan fiction was overcompensating.
A Trekkie's Tale - published in Menagerie #2 - told the short story of Mary Sue, a fifteen
and a half year old who was the youngest Lieutenant ever in Starfleet history.
And while A Trekkie's tale is a very short story - like half a page - it chronicled how
Lt Mary Sue was able to master everything she tried her hand at while Kirk, Spock AND
McCoy all fell in love with her.
Revealed to also be half Vulcan, Lt Mary Sue quickly became the captain of the Enterprise,
saved the day with her hairpin and while all the male characters were in the sick bay she
continued to command the Enterprise - an endeavor which on her every prize known to man.
Ultimately Lt Mary Sue perished from the same disease that had made the male characters
sick, dying young and beautiful with Kirk, Spock and McCoy cursing her death.
And of course, her birthday was made a national holiday on the Enterprise.
You can read the original story by clicking the link the video description, and author
Smith continued to use the term as she and her editor, Sharon Ferraro, continued to comment
on genre storytelling.
In fact, "Mary Sue" and The Bechdel Test - which was created ten years later by another woman,
cartoonist Alison Bechdel - have became the most influential terms regarding how women
are depicted in entertainment.
But interestingly, while The Bechdel Test is pretty cut and dry, Mary Sue has become
less clear - especially as the popular fem-centric website The Mary Sue has tried to take ownership
of the term and make it positive?
Fascinatingly, The Mary Sue was actually launched and is still owned by Abrams Media, which
stands for Dan Abrams, the MSNBC correspondent who has a child with his girlfriend - thirteen
years his junior - who he's never married.
Hmm, one imagines that such a man wasn't overly familiar with the term "Mary Sue", and certainly
not its importance...
But Landis reiterated how derogatory the term is.
A Mary Sue is never humanized by struggle and failure, and she's often the only woman
in a sea of men - which of course promotes women not supporting each other because they're
all competing for just one spot.
The term Mary Sue was NOT created to tear down female heroic characters.
Ellen Ripley isn't a Mary Sue because she takes a backseat to most of the action for
the first part of the movie, she's overruled by her male robot co-worker when it comes
to upholding quarantine, she needs to be saved when that robot tries to kill her and she
never even guess he was a robot!
Sarah Connor isn't a Mary Sue because she's unable to save Kyle Reese, ends up locked
in a mental institution, is a poor parent, and can't complete her mission without the
help of the T-800 and her son.
Furiousa isn't a Mary Sue because she's missing half an arm, she's NOT part of Imperator Furiosa's
harem, she's unable to defeat Mad Max in hand to hand combat, she needs Mad Max's help when
her escape plan goes wrong, she discovers she's unable to go home after all and most
of the women she teams up with end up dead.
In contrast, Rey turns out to be the second to last Jedi who has a connection to the Force
more powerful than anyone has seen before.
She is so special that Supreme Leader Snoke wants her captured alive, and Kylo Ren seems
infatuated with her as well.
Finn definitely has a crush on her, and Han Solo treats her like the daughter he WISHED
he'd had.
She easily defeats the highly trained Kylo Ren the first time she ever picks up a lightsaber,
is a gifted mechanic who can fix anything, and can outmeanuver experienced TIE fighter
pilots in a very old, very large starship that hasn't flown in years.
Then, despite Leia being his actual sister, it's virtual stranger Rey who gets the honor
of going, by herself, to find the man everyone's been searching for - all while behind the
wheel of the Millennium Falcon which is now her personal ride.
And it only takes her like twenty mintues to find him - she doesn't even need to change
clothes or take a nap.
See the difference?
Now, I know the Force is strong, and many are claiming there are plenty of Gary Stu's
that nobody complains about.
But let's not forget that Luke Skywalker who unknowningly fell in love with his own sister,
had to be saved on Hoth by Han Solo, lost a major fight to Darth Vader where he also
lost his hand, and of course - here's the big one - was unable to sense the darkness
in his nephew and apprentice Ben Solo who betrayed him and killed all of Luke's students
- effectively making Luke responsible for the virtual extinction of the Jedi.
As for other Gary Stu's, I'm sure some exist, but the most popular male action heroes from
Indiana Jones to John McClane to even Daniel Craig's James Bond - who won over fans as
the first Bond to have a chip on his shoulder and fear old age - are flawed individuals
who fail as often as they succeed.
Ultimately, let's remember that the term "Mary Sue" was created, and is still used to remind
storytellers, that audiences simply want female characters like THAT.
Heck let's not forget that Katniss Everdeen, the star of the most successful female-driven
franchise of all time, is as flawed and as familiar with failure as they get.
So now that you actually know what a Mary Sue is, go forth and debate responsibly - and
hopefully proactively - on the internets...