Stop calling women who train for years “Mary Sue” in the media

***Spoilers for prey ahead***

Waking up to the “Mary Sue” trend isn’t exactly something to inspire confidence in the year of our Lord 2022, but here we are. On Twitter, I was met with a sea of ​​people who were either angry that a character was named Mary Sue, or people who took the call. The latest entry into this weird and scary trend is Naru (played by Amber Midthunder) from the new film preya prequel to the predator Franchise.

A video from YouTube reviewer The Critical Drinker ignoring key information the film gives you about why Naru is strong enough to take on the Predator and why she survives. (Some of the reasons for this are abilities like knowing medicine and realizing that Predator can sense body temperature and use this to their advantage when the other hunters in their tribe just want to hunt him like another animal). The Critical Drinker says critically in his video that she’s “not” Mary Sue, although she completely misses the point of several scenes (and eventually gets angry that the French colonizers are being portrayed as disgusting?), but then there are YouTubers like Tyrone Magnus calling Naru “Mary Sue” from the jump on. Combine that with her large subscriber lists and it seems like Naru is now a “Mary Sue” in the eyes of those who have no idea what a Mary Sue is. This trended the topic on Twitter.

I sigh

Here at The Mary Sue we have no problem with characters being called our namesake, and for good reason: this website proudly bears the nickname Mary Sue because we believe there is nothing wrong with powerful, capable, heroic people is in search of an ideal version of what we can be. Traditionally, since the advent of the term, young women have been called Mary Sues, but there are many male characters who are also “portrayed as unrealistic without flaws or weaknesses.” So-called “Mary Sue” characters tend to have the plot revolve around them, are incredibly powerful, and are considered special by the universe as a whole, or at least by the other characters. Like James Bond for example. The greatest of them for me is Luke Skywalker, my dramatic prince. The presence of “Mary Sues” in a narrative basically just means that we’re either thrown into the story when they’re already good at something, they’re naturally talented, or they just happen to be a person with a gift at birth so they don’t have to train as much as others to become the hero of the play.

While males also frequently fall into this category of characters and are sometimes called “Gary Stus”, it is far less likely (based on my own observations) for a male character to be called that, and instead it falls on every female character in a film or a TV show or a book that’s a complete bad ass. The recent trend with Naru doesn’t make sense because we active Watch her training in the film. in the prey, she is also observant and watches as Predator hunts and uses this to her advantage, eventually being successful against him. The fact is that even with female characters do receive lengthy training montages or explorations of their history showing why they are so good at something, some people will still yell “Mary Sue”.

Most of the arguments against Naru so far have been: How does a young woman (many of the comments also commented on Amber Midthunder’s weight and body, and that’s disgusting on a whole other level) take on the Predator when highly skilled soldiers were all but knocked out in the first predator Movie?

The answer is simple: she watched him hunt and found a way to outwit him. I’m sorry, but I don’t think Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, and their team were monitoring the Predator the same way Naru was out here.

How much do women have to “train” to avoid this label?

Naru joins characters like Arya Stark game of Thrones who train, have trained their entire lives, and are then called “Mary Sue” because at the end of the day, they’re the victorious heroes. It just boils down to the fact that sexism usually outweighs any actual character analysis, especially on the internet. In the eyes of those who have a problem with it, they’re pissed that the character doesn’t let a man take over.

And I am secure When pushed, the people who constantly complain and yell about the characters they think are “Mary Sues” would say something about a male character being a better choice. In the reviews above, her justification for not believing in Naru went back to Dutch (Schwarzenegger) and how he was believable but not Naru.

So next time you want to say a character is a Mary Sue while we’re watching her train Instead, just say in the movie that you don’t want a woman to be the hero in something. Just be open about your sexism, because it gets aggressively exhausting to hide behind a definition of a trope you don’t understand.

(Image: 20th Century)

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