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

[laleia.livejournal.com]

Exactly! To everything!