A Question

[laleia]

Before I ask my question, I should probably make two things clear:

1.) I've never read Twilight.
2.) I believe that Mary Sue should be defined as any original character written in a fanfic; as such, I do not believe that female characters in the original source canon should ever be referred to as Mary Sues because quite often, these accusations are actually the result of underlying (internalized or otherwise) misogyny.

Obviously, a lot of people disagree with me about #2. In fact, people often accuse major and minor female characters of being Mary Sues. One recurring example that comes up is Bella Swann from Twilight. I've never actually read Twilight (and I never really plan on doing so, unless it's for a specific purpose; it doesn't sound like the kind of thing I would enjoy for fun), so I've never been able to defend Bella, as it were.

It has recently come to me to wonder, however:

Why is that people always refer to Bella Swann as Mary Sue but I've yet to see anyone refer to Edward Cullen as a Mary Sue (or a Gary Stu)?

I mean, is there an actual canonical reason? Does Edward Cullen in the books simply have more explicit flaws or something? He's less perfect?

Comments

[askerian]

Thinking about it a bit more, I think the difference between a character coming across as a Sue or not (male or female) is whether the characters in the setting include some who are indifferent to him, or only have the kind of vague opinion/interest you'd get toward your neighbor who you see maybe once a week and never really talk to, or some random coworker. Because when Sue happen there's a lot of group compassion/interest/coddling/worship, more than is warranted by their social status/job/actions. It's like even strangers are interested in the details of their courtship and want to send them cookies when things don't work out with something, like the character's actions aren't validated if they aren't witnessed by more people than simply their immediate friends/partners/coworkers/people who'd give a crap. Usually there's that very teenagery vibe of "you all should be sorry you didn't realize how unique and precious this person amongst you is". It's like the setting and background characters aren't doing their own thing even where the focus of the story isn't on them, but like they're hanging out and waiting for their chance to play the peanut gallery.

[laleia.livejournal.com]

I think it's pretty difficult for an original source canon character to warp the rules of the setting when their setup and their existence is part and parcel of the setting, and thus the rules of the setting. In other books/movies/TV shows, main characters are frequently special and/or break the rules in some way (the one character who has magic despite all the reasons they shouldn't, or the one character who doesn't have magic even though his/her entire family does, or the one character who can resist the pull of the One Ring, or the only character who can defeat the enemy, or the only character who doesn't pick a side, etc.)

That being said, I didn't know that Bella's special scent and/or mind-reading-blocking was never explained. (I assumed there was at least some attempt to address that.) I wonder if Stephenie Meyer ever even had an explanation in mind.

As for the setup, I feel like Edward Cullen's setup (if you reversed the genders) of "I am super-special because I am supernatural and attract people around me. The new boy that everybody else has a crush on has decided to focus on me and become obsessed with me and wants to be with me even though I put him in danger, he doesn't care" can easily become an equally Mary-Sue premise.

I do see your point about Sueness being linked to whether or not there are characters who are indifferent to them, who are not invested in them and/or do not care about them. But can't that same argument be made about Edward?

[That's a legitimate question; you've read the book and I haven't. Are there characters who are indifferent to Edward Cullen?]

I'm not arguing that Bella isn't poorly written, but isn't Edward Cullen poorly-written in much the same ways? Why does Bella think he is so perfect? Why does she like him so much?

Anyways, thanks for your comment! :)