Seemingly perfect, you quoted the definition yourself. Better than they should be for their skill level. Because, yenno, she didn't get knocked out twice by the baddie of the story (Kylo Ren) via immediately frozen in place, put to sleep for having run away from the fight out of fear. She definitely didn't get captured or need saving from her friends, no sireee.As it should be, since there are still people denying it when it is clearly true.
A Mary Sue is an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character. (...) They can usually perform better at tasks than should be possible given the amount of training or experience, and usually are able through some means to upstage the protagonist of an established fictional setting, such as by saving the hero.
- Wikipedia
Another common trait for Mary Sues is that the attention of everyone around her, especially established characters and protagonists, revolves around her. There is no denying that this is pretty much what is happening with Rey. Finn lays eyes on her and is immediately wow'd. She meets Han Solo and he instantly takes a liking and interest in her. They meet up with Maz Kanata, who asks Han about Rey the moment she leaves. Kylo Ren wants to know everything about her. Finn only cares about saving Rey on Starkiller Base. And after Han died, it's Rey getting a hug of Leia instead of Chewie. It's Rey who gets to pilot the Millennium Falcon afterwards.
If you compare that to Luke Skywalker, he does not upstage anyone really. When he meets Obi-Wan, Luke is fascinated with him, not the other way around. When they go to the cantina, Luke makes a fool of himself. When they meet Han Solo, he doesn't take the kid seriously. When he rescues Leia, she is making fun of his young age. These are radically different approaches to writing a character, and I would say that one of those is more Mary Sue-territory than the other, but decide that for yourself.
You see, I have no problem with Rey being strong in the force. Or Rey being a tough fighter. Or Rey being an amazing pilot. Or Rey being a great mechanic. It's just that the combination of all those is incrediblylazyconvenient writing and makes for a less intruiging, less relatable character. I also have a hard time seeing the hardships in her life as anything but beneficial to her, again, awfully convenient. Like you said yourself:
So her character flaws led to a main baddie being killed. Damn, I hope she can live with that....
But I guess in this sexist world, you cannot follow up on a great and likeable male lead with a tough and arguably stronger female lead. It just is not possible and cannot be done convincingly because misogyny. There just is no wa-- ...
Oh wait, turns out it's possible. It just requires a well-written character, who'd have thought?
We don't need to pay attention to the movie or plot here, because you see, Rey is definitely seemingly perfect because I said so.
Because you know, after all, someone who spent their entire life fending for herself/surviving by digging for scraps and not protected by two guardians/whining about not being able to leave a farm are definitely comparable in terms of mental strength and skill sets and is not at all a completely disingenuous 1:1 comparison to make.
Luke didn't believe in himself and incessantly complained about how nothing is fair and how bad he's got it. Rey isn't this way and already has a leg up on him because she wouldn't have survived otherwise.
These are major differences in their characters that are overlooked because well, reasons. It makes complete sense that Rey would be more capable than Luke. That doesn't mean she's perfect or seemingly, if you actually stop for a second and examine her arc and the plot points within.
But I guess it's easier to ignore these things and pretend like she's perfect, right? Like she doesn't have flaws or fail/fall flat on her face? She went all in on believing Kylo Ren would run away with her and save the day, but instead, her actions led him to be pushed so far in the other direction that he killed his master and took his place.
But this is not a major failure for her at all right and definitely not a direct result of her flaws right?
Because you know, this is definitely fitting the definition of seemingly perfect that you provided above.
And Finn definitely didn't immediately save Rey's life by guiding her around/leading her away from the tie fighters sweeping Jakku on a mission to murder them, therefore saving her life. Rey didn't fuck up and accidentally release the rathtars. Finn and Han didn't save her yet again by bringing the falcon/Chewie flying away with her and Finn. Han didn't help direct them out of the Starkiller detention facility once they found Rey.
And no, by the way, Rey would not have escaped Starkiller, she would have either been gunned down leaving in a ship or immediately destroyed against the shield preventing anything from passing through. The only way Han and Finn even got in is because they came in at light speed. The falcon could only leave once the shield was destroyed via Poe and the rest of the resistance.
Just because people are interested in her doesn't make her a Mary Sue. They're both immediately intrigued and wowed by Han Solo when they meet him, but the other way around. Rey idolizes Luke Skywalker and the rebellion, and even has a doll of a rebel pilot and puts a pilot helmet on while she's wishing to be somewhere else, not on an abandoned planet, collecting scraps for food.
Yeah, you've done very well with your takedown here and definitely didn't willfully ignore her background and development as a character in favor of perpetuating a term utilized in a sexist context. Good job.
If you're going with Rey is a Mary Sue, you'd better be willing to apply the same criticisms to Luke in ANH, or Anakin in TPM.
But I wonder why this doesn't happen
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