shobogan:
aliceranaway:
Pro-tip: If you are calling Barbara Gordon a MARY SUE in a world that includes Batman (aka, I can beat up Superman and steal Green Lantern’s ring rich white dude who is better than EVERYONE!!!!!) then your opinion is invalid.
In other news, Mary Sue continues to be nothing more than a bullshit misogynist label used by people who still think gendered insults are okay.
Ugh, yes. Can we just - not use this term? Ever?
There are legitimate criticisms to be made of many characters. Sometime their good traits and talents are told more than shown. Sometimes people fawn over them for little reason. Sometimes they have no flaws, or their flaws aren’t recognised by the text or the other characters.
Just say that and dispense with a term that’s been consistently used to dismiss and disparage any female character who dares to be distinct.
Apply those criticisms, and apply them equally.
I actually feel really strongly that Mary Sue isn’t a term that should be banned. It’s one of those things where, if wielded well, it doesn’t have to be an insult or negative descriptor.
Mary Sues are NOT inherently bad, and it IS a problem that a lot of people use the term to invalidate a character or story, and given that it mostly pertains to female characters/female creators there is that extra special layer of sexism.
After all, what is a Mary Sue story if not a female power fantasy? And power fantasies are at the very root of superheroes, and at the root of just about a million other genres with amazing heroic dudes amazing cool things.
I want MORE Mary Sues.
And yeah, Batman is such a wonderful Mary Sue/Gary Stu, I love him for it. But it would be nice if more female characters who got to be uber-competent without people talking about how she needs to be more “realistic” or more “relatable” by bringing her down a peg or two, or five hundred.
And to anyone who wants to bring it up, yes, I am fully aware that seeing as “Mary Sue” evolved out of fanfiction. I’m aware that a lot of people have negative views on fanfic, people associate Mary Sues with “amateur” writing and assume all Mary Sues are thinly-veiled egocentric self-inserts and/or badly written. (That also adds another layer of sexism, given how popular fanfic writing is among women, and women’s writing inevitably gets denigrated no matter what form it’s in.)
But again, HELLO! There are so many thinly-veiled egocentric self-inserts in superhero comics and plenty of them are badly written. However, they usually happen to be male characters with male creators behind them. They just don’t get dismissed as frequently or with the same fervency that female characters or female creators do.
I think “Mary Sue” is something that needs to be reclaimed as something positive. (I’m not the only one: just look at The Mary Sue, a women’s geek news site.)
(Source: zarabithia)
