Why the Right Wing Needs to Abandon the Term "Mary Sue"

A while back I was surfing Twitter, and the usual Mary Sue debate flared up again. People were arguing, and one person posted this image below:

Besides the obnoxious scaling, there are way too many items listed for practical use. However, the most damning thing about the list is right there in the first sentence. A character may be a Mary Sue if it meets the traits below. All that and the list never even establishes a proper definition of what a Mary Sue is. 

I remember the debates over The Last Jedi on whether Rey is a Mary Sue. These arguments were infuriating to watch as the rightwing kept listing traits and the leftwing kept naming other popular characters who had those traits as well. These digital fights spiraled out of control as both sides yelled at each other about why certain traits apply to some and not others. 

I don’t think anything came out of those debates except maybe the popularization of the term. It didn’t seem like any real progress was made, and we’re still having the same arguments five years later. 

This seems to be a problem on the Right. People are decent enough at identifying the symptoms of a problem, but they struggle naming the root cause. In this particular case, I attribute the misunderstanding to our cultural view of art. We break down the pieces of any given work and examine it by its parts: character, plot, themes, etc. Once we evaluate those pieces, we assemble them back together and rate the artwork from there. Most importantly, we almost never discuss the author and only rely what the work itself says. 

I see this approach as deeply flawed. The problem with trying to define a Mary Sue by traits is that everything in fiction is contextual. Just looking at the list, I can see all of these traits, grouped or individually, applying to thousands of regular characters. Heroically dying and miraculously coming back to life? Please. 

A skilled enough author could write a story with at least half the traits mentioned and still make it work. I can’t help but think of Superman. But we like Superman so we’ll argue why he’s an exception. However, that misses the point. We like Superman because those Mary Sue traits are used properly to delve into questions of absolute power, morality, and the nature of good and evil. 

The difference between a Mary Sue and a good character is ironically enough not found in the character. It’s in how all the elements of the narrative work together to make the story. You can’t define a Mary Sue by traits because that’s not the problem. The problem is the story being told.

Perhaps this article is a little late as people are waking up to this, but I’ll continue. Take a holistic approach to the work you analyze. Don’t condemn a character for being a Mary Sue, and certainly don’t condemn it by listing off traits. The Left is nothing but a master of sophistry, and you’re playing right into their hands. It’ll become a game of wordplay of why some traits work for some characters and others don’t. 

Condemn the story itself as being empty. This is why I say knowing the author is important. A good story relies on meaning. It relies on the beliefs of the writer and is meant to convey the good, the true, and the beautiful. Sometimes that’s through tragedy, but it’s still there. And while you can often see the meaning in the work itself, knowing the author will tell you what’s intentional and what’s not. 

The Left doesn’t make good stories, because they don’t believe in anything. They think art is subjective self-expression meant to evoke a reaction (whatever that reaction may be). They have no concept of a higher good, and so all that remains is power. That’s why they desecrate old IPs. It’s a way of showing dominance.

That’s also why we see so many Mary Sues in our media (I know it’s not through incompetence). These authors are creating political propaganda as a way of showing power and indulging in their fantasies of crushing their enemies. No wonder it’s an ugly thing (and no one try to make excuses for Hollywood after what they did to Luke Skywalker).

Don’t call characters Mary Sues. Just condemn the story for its lack of meaning and move on. Don’t even get mad because that’s what they want. Express boredom because there’s nothing interesting in these narratives. It’s all just political propaganda and immature fantasy. Don’t get mad at empty things, because in the end, they will be forgotten.