Hot Topics: Mary Sues (Perfection Sue)

This first type I’m going to look at is the Perfection Sue. She is most easily identified in stories and is a good place to start. There are two subtypes the Classic Mary Sue and the Action Sue. Let's look at the Classic Mary Sue first.

Exhibit A: Mary Sue was the most gorgeous girl in the whole state of New York and everyone knew it. When she smiled all the guys had to resist the urge to leave their girlfriends on the spot. Men regularly confessed their love for her. Despite that no woman could find it within them hate her. She was the most kind and generous girl, and everyone wished she was their friend. When she sang people came from miles around, even the pope had been known to show up…

I think you get the idea. Not only does this amazing girl get whatever she wants because everyone loves her. Everyone loves her goodness and compassion. Anyone who doesn’t is a villain. She might also save the day at the end of the story – with the power of love – because she is the only one who can.

Exhibit B: Mary Sue is top of her class. In fact she’s been at the top of her class in everything. She’s the best fighter in all of her martial arts class. She graduated top of her class at west point at 16. She doesn’t ever need anyone's help. She works for the government now and whenever there’s a problem and the president doesn’t know what to do, he calls her. She can take down any man single handedly…

Kill me now. This is called the Action Sue, she may or may not come with a sense of entitlement (and is often more flawed then Classic Sue), but she’ll likely come with a attitude (if the character is a male they will be humble though). Now normally you’d expect anyone who rose in the ranks so fast to be resented by just about everyone, but not her. No, everyone respects action sue. They respect her strength and confidence. Anyone who doesn’t is – guess what? – a villain! This type of Sue has long been common with in her male counter part Gary Sue, but is a newer Sue for female characters. Her rise is probably a reaction to rising woman’s rights in the last 40 years or so.

Do you see the problem? Who wants to read about them? Both of these subtypes bend the story and are unbalanced characters in equal parts. Which just makes them boring! They never really get into trouble (because they bend the plot) and you know that they’ll fix everything in the end (because they're perfect). The bad guys never stood a chance against these girls. Really there’s no real point in even finishing the story. Moreover who wants to read three paragraphs (or pages) describing how awesome the character is?