Mary Sue fanfiction
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Mary Sue (or simply Sue) is a usually derogatory expression for a fictional character who is an idealized stand-in for the author, or for a story with such a character. A Mary Sue therefore goes beyond a conventional author surrogate character. The term originates in fan fiction but is spreading into general use. This has caused some backlash in the fannish community as people change the understood definition and begin to define any original characters in fiction as a Mary Sue.
Male 'Sues' may be called 'Marty Stus', 'Murray Stus', 'Harry Stus', and/or 'Gary Stus', although the original 'Mary Sue' term is often considered unisex. A rarer unisex variant is 'Airy Ooh'. Authors of such characters (of either sex) are sometimes referred to as Suethors.
In fan fiction, Mary Sue characters are usually the original creation of the fan fiction author, but sometimes 'canon Sues' are created by adapting pre-existing canon characters. Conversely, such original characters 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. However, there are a great number of preexisting Sues in canon, namely those in many videogames, anime, and manga.
Although 'narcissistic' Sues and 'unintentional' Sues (characters that develop into Sues due to the author's subconscious) remain common, some authors now write Mary Sues deliberately as a form of parody.
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Typical Sues
A Mary Sue may be tougher, smarter, and cooler than the established characters and so win their admiration. Alternately, the Sue may be nicer, sweeter, and more charming than the established characters (often despite being tortured by a tragic past) and win their love. Either way, the setting's protagonists are upstaged by the new character's perfection. If this new character dies in the story (typically as an act of self-sacrifice), there is often extensive grieving.
Female Mary Sues are abundant in both fanfiction and actual series, particularly anime. Yuuki Miaka from Fushigi Yugi, Tsukino Usagi/Sailor Moon from Sailor Moon, and Kanzaki Hitomi from Vision of Escaflowne are canonical main characters who demonstrate possession of some, if not all, of the typical Mary Sue traits.
Aeris from Final Fantasy VII is another example of a canonical Mary Sue.
Common traits of Mary Sues:
- Has only sympathetic flaws; Mary Sues may be paraplegic, or dangerously naïve, but are very rarely selfish or petty-minded
- Can do no wrong - or, if she does do anything wrong, has strong justification for it
- Unique abilities
- Distinctive physical features (odd-coloured eyes, birthmarks, scars, etc.)
- Owns an unusual pet (especially, 'one that only she could tame')
- Deliberately exotic name
- Name based on that of the author (such as an anagram)
- Cultural/racial background very different from her peers (often adopted out of her culture)
- Attitudes contemporary to the author in a setting where these are unheard of
- Close relationship with a major canonical character (long-lost brother, etc.)
- Centrally involved in every part of the story
- Invokes powers impossible in the canon
- If the published universe is set in a different country to the one the author is from, the Mary Sue will probably be from the author's country of origin
None of these traits in and of themselves make a Mary Sue; rather, a Sue depends on the author's reliance on such gimmicks to make a character unique and appealing. Another "yardstick" used to see if a character is considered to be a Mary Sue is how other characters react to that character.
Gary Stu
Gary Stus (also known as Marty Stus) are far rarer in fandom, partly because fanfic is predominantly written by women but also because many fandoms (Harry Potter, for example) have a shortage of female characters. Some have also observed [1] (http://www.livejournal.com/community/fanthropology/8667.html) that Gary Stus tend to be written into the canon already, enabling them to "hide in plain sight"; the M*A*S*H character Hawkeye Pierce, as written by actor/screenwriter Alan Alda, may be a mainstream example.
Oftentimes canonical Gary Stus, like Mary Sues, tend to have special abilities, or have powers which far exceed that of other characters. The main characters of many shōnen anime, such as Uzumaki Naruto of Naruto, Ichigo Kurosaki of Bleach, and Kazuma Azuma of Yakitate!! Japan have such qualities, although it does not necessarily mean that they themselves are actually Gary Stus.
A Gary Stu is somewhat different from a Mary Sue in that his perfections are less oriented on personality and more on physical traits, skill, or expertise. For example, some Gary Stus are very strong, skilled swordfighters, expert wizards, or legendary heroes with scars who often attract female characters within the story. Most are designed to fill either the role of dangerous action hero or caring, supportive lover. In addition to Mary Sue traits such as unusual background and lack of flaws, the following features are common:
- Dark, brooding, quiet, mysterious, tormented, or otherwise enigmatic, with a dark or tormented past yet somehow showing none of the psychological damage that such a past should inflict; sometimes being almost comic relief silly
- Either a devoted, monogamous lover, or an accomplished, "badass" action hero
- Plenty of gadgets; accompanied by lists of weapons, technology, etc.
- Penchant for violence or skill in battle (sometimes to the point of seeming sociopathic)
- Reluctant warrior, caught up in a conflict he's not ready for (for example, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars)
- "Strong but sensitive" alpha male type (for example, Wolverine from the X-Men)
Notable Sue facts
Pat Pflieger's essay "Too Good to be True: 150 Years of Mary Sue" trace the Mary Sue archetype to the idealized young heroines of stories written by the female subscribers to mid-19th century magazines.
Television shows that have generated large bodies of fan fiction have included episodes that draw on the Mary Sue clichés, including the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Hollow Pursuits" and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Superstar". The X-Files character Leyla Harrison, featured in the episodes "Alone" and "Scary Monsters," was both a Mary Sue and an affectionate tribute to a recently-deceased fanfiction writer after whom the character was named. Mark Hamill noted that during filming of Star Wars: A New Hope, he realized that Lucas wanted to play Luke Skywalker like the director's personality, which would make Luke Skywalker arguably the most famous Mary Sue character of all.
Some fans have suggested that Star Trek's Wesley Crusher was Eugene Wesley Roddenberry's Mary Sue character, although author surrogate would be a better term. Other canon characters that have Mary Sue-like traits include Willow Rosenberg of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Kitty Pryde of the X-Men.
Diane Carey's "Piper" Star Trek novels (Dreadnought! and Battlestations!) meet most of the criteria defining Mary Sue fiction, and are arguably among the very few Mary Sues good enough to avoid general condemnation.
The term Mary Sue is often said to have originated from a Star Trek fanfiction bearing the first original Mary Sue (with that same name). The story, however, while the first to use the name, was actually a parody lampooning previous Mary Sues: "A Trekkie's Tale," written by Paula Smith and published in the fanzine Menagerie #2 in 1973. (Source: Verba's Boldly Writing)
Roz Kaveney used the term in her review of the television program Doctor Who in the April 29, 2005 issue of The Times Literary Supplement: "[Rose] is also what is commonly known as a 'Mary Sue'--an unironic reflection or the writers' and fans' desire to get in there and help the Doctor out (while managing to stay pretty)."
One of the pre-made characters in The Sims 2 is named "Mary-Sue."
External links
- "Too Good to be True: 150 Years of Mary Sue" Essay (http://www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.HTM)
- The Official Mary Sue Society Avatar Appreciation Site (http://www.subreality.com/marysue.htm)
- Mary Sue and Family in Fanfiction (http://www.geocities.com/betareadg/marysuefam.html)
- The Official Mary Sue Manual (http://www.fictionpress.com/read.php?storyid=1440163)
- The Essential Guide to Mary-Sue (http://www.timelady.net/unbroken/full.html)
- Self-Insertion and Mary-Sueism (http://enterprise.mathematik.uni-essen.de/~bastian/Ranma/MarySue.html)
- A quiz that gauges if a character is a Mary Sue or not (http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm)
- Who is Mary Sue? (http://www.geocities.com/mysterysciencefreezer/marysue/)
- A Historical Perspective on Mary Sue: Issues and Trends (http://www.trickster.org/symposium/symp174.htm)
- Mary Sue fannish definion (http://www.katspace.org/fandef.html#Mary-Sue) and Mary Sue Revisited (http://www.katspace.org/works/essays/marisu.html) essay at KatSpace.org (http://www.katspace.org/)