In Trope-tastic, Ellaheh Gohari ’28 explores the history of tropes in film and media.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

While it is initially entertaining to see an absurdly strong female protagonist girl-bossing her way across the galaxy, countless admirers worshipping the ground she walks on, I’ve found it more fun (and relatable) to see a well-rounded female character instead. As much as I’d love to sit here and tell you, dear reader of The Daily, that the entire female gender is perfect (myself included, of course), I fear that all of us have imperfections. Yes, really. Women, just like all humans, have flaws.

Not exactly a shocker, right? For some writers, it seems to be. Known as a “Mary Sue,” the trope featuring a female character who can do no wrong, appears time and time again in wildly popular media such as “Twilight” and “Star Wars.” Whether she’s naturally an expert in anything she tries once, exceedingly beautiful to the point of disbelief, alluringly quirky (but not too strange) or all of the above, Mary Sue characters paint an idealized version of women that strips them of their actual personhood. An overly perfect character without relatable flaws makes a story predictable, losing that attention-grabbing zing that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

The term originated from a 1974 “Star Trek” fanfiction called “A Trekkie’s Tale.” In the fanfiction — which is itself a parody of the female characters like Janice Rand and Rayna Kapec who appear in the original show — a beautiful 15-year-old lieutenant named Mary Sue attracts Captain Kirk and Spock simply by existing. She later manages to flawlessly save the ship from danger, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, before dying tragically. While clearly not meant to be taken as a serious form of literature, this satirization of “Star Trek” remains relevant to this day. 

In recent years, “Star Wars” fans have accused Rey — main character of the sequel movies — of being a Mary Sue, citing her seeming invincibility despite enduring torture, her ability to beat powerful Force-user Kylo Ren in a lightsaber fight with no training and her immense natural Force power.

Other well-known characters commonly accused of being Mary Sues include “Twilight”’s Bella Swan, an apparently average high schooler who somehow has two extremely attractive guys fighting for her and Arya Stark in “Game of Thrones,” a young noble-turned-warrior who manages to defeat an allegedly unbeatable enemy.

However, some argue that calling a strong female character a Mary Sue simply because she is skilled is misogynistic. Rey, in particular, went through several training montages in the movies, more than viewers witnessed protagonist Luke Skywalker partake in during the original trilogy movies, yet only Rey’s abilities were repeatedly derided by fans for supposedly being unrealistic. 

Indeed, the term is most often used to refer to women, despite men like James Bond from the “James Bond” series, Harry Potter from “Harry Potter” and even Luke Skywalker from “Star Wars” having similar unrealistic feats of prowess and perfection. Although these characters do have clear, acknowledged flaws and thus do not fully embody the essence of Mary Sue, some have used a term like “Gary Stu” or “Marty Stu” for a male version of the trope.

So, what can we do about Mary Sue?

We can support TV shows and movies that portray well-rounded female characters instead. It shouldn’t be difficult to accomplish. The protagonist of the “Alien” movies, Ellen Ripley, is strong and competent, cautious yet firm and realistically imperfect. Interestingly, Ripley was originally written to be a man, but director Ridley Scott switched the character’s gender after realizing that it made no difference to the plot. The change worked: Ripley is still praised today by fans and critics alike as one of the greatest sci-fi characters ever written, defying gender norms while still maintaining a sense of humanity and purpose that resonates with audiences of all identities.

More recently, hit TV show “Arcane” featured a plethora of female characters including Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn and Mel who are highly competent in their respective roles while still facing hardships and having imperfections that make them human. By avoiding “Mary Sue”’s, “Arcane” not only presents more interesting and compelling female characters, but also improves the plot itself by telling a less predictable story.

While writers and viewers alike might want their favorite character to have no flaws, a really good story requires a little bit more zest to get things interesting. After all, who wants to be perfect anyway?