"As an actress, I realize that viewers are entitled to have whatever feelings they want about the characters they watch. But as a human being, I’m concerned that so many people react to Skyler with such venom. Could it be that they can’t stand a woman who won’t suffer silently or “stand by her man”? That they despise her because she won’t back down or give up? Or because she is, in fact, Walter’s equal?
It’s notable that viewers have expressed similar feelings about other complex TV wives — Carmela Soprano of “The Sopranos,” Betty Draper of “Mad Men.” Male characters don’t seem to inspire this kind of public venting and vitriol. "
When you see hatred like this though, one can only conclude that the feminists have a point on this issue:
At Clippercon 1987 (a Star Trek fan convention held yearly in Baltimore, Maryland), Smith interviewed a panel of female authors who say they do not include female characters in their stories at all. She quoted one as saying "Every time I've tried to put a woman in any story I've ever written, everyone immediately says, this is a Mary Sue." Smith also pointed out that "Participants in a panel discussion in January 1990 noted with growing dismay that any female character created within the community is damned with the term Mary Sue."[11]
"However, several other writers quoted by Smith have argued that in Star Trek as originally created, James T. Kirk is himself a "Mary Sue," and that the label seems to be used more indiscriminately on female characters who do not behave in accordance with the dominant culture's images and expectations for females as opposed to males.[12] Professional author Ann C. Crispin is quoted as saying: "The term 'Mary Sue' constitutes a put-down, implying that the character so summarily dismissed is not a true character, no matter how well drawn, what sex, species, or degree of individuality."[1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue#Criticism
There are professional authors considering this a problem and a whole panel of women saying they simply don't write women anymore because of the mary sue label and the problems it brings.
If the criticism's enough to affect pros so bad they refuse to write about half the planet's population, then can you imagine the potential it has to damage a young amateur's writing prospects?
The Mary Sue label reaches the ears of writers simply by reviewers leaving feedback on their own books via amazon or their website or FF.net. One really wouldn't have to go to a spork looking for it.
Imagine a fic where a little girl learns instantly what it took her masters 50 years of training to learn, can outperform said masters even before she hit puberty, defeats every major villain even as a child, threats that have terrified the greatest masters of the past, can break whole armies, is innocent and pure of heart, ad her love interest wanted to marry her the first time they met.
It seems to me alot of people would be calling SUE on her. But that's Goku from Dragonball. Not Dragonball Z or GT, just Dragonball. Hardly anybody calls him a Gary Stu at that point.
In an original fic? Alot of people would still call SUE if it was a girl. You know that.
Is Mary Sue a gendered term? Not exactly, but that's an oversimplification.
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Don't know if reply is showing up.
Date: 2014-12-02 05:20 pm (UTC)It’s notable that viewers have expressed similar feelings about other complex TV wives — Carmela Soprano of “The Sopranos,” Betty Draper of “Mad Men.” Male characters don’t seem to inspire this kind of public venting and vitriol. "
When you see hatred like this though, one can only conclude that the feminists have a point on this issue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/opinion/i-have-a-character-issue.html?_r=0
At Clippercon 1987 (a Star Trek fan convention held yearly in Baltimore, Maryland), Smith interviewed a panel of female authors who say they do not include female characters in their stories at all. She quoted one as saying "Every time I've tried to put a woman in any story I've ever written, everyone immediately says, this is a Mary Sue." Smith also pointed out that "Participants in a panel discussion in January 1990 noted with growing dismay that any female character created within the community is damned with the term Mary Sue."[11]
"However, several other writers quoted by Smith have argued that in Star Trek as originally created, James T. Kirk is himself a "Mary Sue," and that the label seems to be used more indiscriminately on female characters who do not behave in accordance with the dominant culture's images and expectations for females as opposed to males.[12] Professional author Ann C. Crispin is quoted as saying: "The term 'Mary Sue' constitutes a put-down, implying that the character so summarily dismissed is not a true character, no matter how well drawn, what sex, species, or degree of individuality."[1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue#Criticism
There are professional authors considering this a problem and a whole panel of women saying they simply don't write women anymore because of the mary sue label and the problems it brings.
If the criticism's enough to affect pros so bad they refuse to write about half the planet's population, then can you imagine the potential it has to damage a young amateur's writing prospects?
The Mary Sue label reaches the ears of writers simply by reviewers leaving feedback on their own books via amazon or their website or FF.net. One really wouldn't have to go to a spork looking for it.
Imagine a fic where a little girl learns instantly what it took her masters 50 years of training to learn, can outperform said masters even before she hit puberty, defeats every major villain even as a child, threats that have terrified the greatest masters of the past, can break whole armies, is innocent and pure of heart, ad her love interest wanted to marry her the first time they met.
It seems to me alot of people would be calling SUE on her. But that's Goku from Dragonball. Not Dragonball Z or GT, just Dragonball. Hardly anybody calls him a Gary Stu at that point.
In an original fic? Alot of people would still call SUE if it was a girl. You know that.
Is Mary Sue a gendered term? Not exactly, but that's an oversimplification.