Idealised characters and Mary Sues

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We’ve all encountered them – characters who can do anything. They have physical and mental abilities beyond every other character in that world, perhaps even abilities that no one else in the world has in any capacity. They are so good-looking there are no words to properly capture their beauty. Everyone one they meet instantly falls in love with them. And despite their beauty and incredible abilities, they are modest, kind, and selfless. These characters can do no wrong.

Except that their very existence is wrong. When we stop to think about these characters, we realise they don’t make sense. No one is that perfect. Worse, no one that perfect can ever be interesting.

The term ‘Mary Sue’ is used a lot these days but rarely do people know where the term originated. A lot of fanfiction suffers from naïve author insertion of themselves into the story, a trend that fans have been aware of since the 60s. That’s right, like all great things, Star Trek was crucial to the term’s genesis!

While there are male versions of the term, such as Gary Stu or Marty Stu, but women are the ones at the brunt of the negativity. There are plenty of popular male characters who fall into the trap of being idealised characters, but they rarely receive as much condescension. Then again, we all agreed that James Bond, possibly the biggest Marty Stu of all time, actually works.

Bonus: This episode features the vocal stylings of miss Lucy Hounsom. Be prepared to be amazed!

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