The new "Star Wars" movie has everyone excited about new characters, especially Rey. Rey is a force-sensitive woman featured in the film. Viewers have been blown away by this badass, but many have dubbed Rey a ‘Mary Sue’.
The term ‘Mary Sue’ originated from the fanfiction trope of writing a new character into a story’s universe. Though the term ‘Mary Sue’ was created to describe a fan fiction phenomena, it has transferred into mainstream published media. A ‘Mary Sue’ is an unrealistically talented stand-in for the author in exploring the story’s universe for themselves. This character is adored by almost everyone and is perfect. Even though a ‘Mary Sue’s’ talents are described at length, the character rarely ever shows these talents, relying only on her description.
There has been discussion about the male equivalent to a ‘Mary Sue’, though the concept of this character trope relies on gender bias, especially in science fiction. Female characters are more likely to be accused of being a ‘Mary Sue’ than male characters, as a flawless female character is ill received when compared to flawless male characters.
‘Mary Sues’ are almost immediately dismissed as characters because they usually face no adversity. A ‘Mary Sue’ is too talented to struggle with saving the day, and gets her way easily. The lack of obstacles contradicts the associated talents of a ‘Mary Sue’; how can a character be so loved for talent or ability they never get to express? ‘Mary Sues’ are inherently uninteresting characters due to the lack of development. The lack of struggle and failure makes ‘Mary Sues’ unrealistic and a derogatory standard to compare characters to.
Rey, from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," has been called a ‘Mary Sue’. Rey is quite an impressive character; she is a good pilot and learns to navigate the Force quickly. Though Rey may be slightly unbelievable, her talent does not materialize out of nowhere. Rey studies Kylo Ren’s use of the Force and gets better after he uses the Force ‘against’ her. Also, Rey had been defending herself on Jakku for years, she had to learn quickly in order to survive; so much of Rey’s training and development occurs off screen. Though Rey’s backstory is not crystal clear, her skill is not altogether unaccounted for. Rey may be mysterious, but she is far from unrealistically talented.
Calling Rey a ‘Mary Sue’ is an example of holding female characters to an impossible standard. To be taken seriously, a female character must be competent, though if she is ‘too competent’, she is dismissed as a ‘Mary Sue’. Rey is a strong female character, yet dismissed using the ‘Mary Sue’ trope. Previous movies in the "Star Wars" franchise have not produced an abundance of noteworthy female characters, and Rey is the long awaited female protagonist we need.
