Rey is overpowered AF

[muenchjack_00]

For my final project, I will be examining Rey's Mary Sue characteristics and how they translate over to fanfiction.

I must give some backstory though. If you've seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and even Star Wars: The Last Jedi, you will have recognized that Rey is basically perfect. She rarely ever messes up and in instances where she discovers something new, such as when she discovers the Millenium Falcon, she knows exactly how it works, flies it perfectly, knows exactly what tools she needs to fix it, and, even in the presence of Han Solo, knows how to bypass the transmitter to ensure they remain in lightspeed. COME ON! How could she know more than Han Solo upon just discovering it.

This is one of many instances in the film. I request that you watch this video as it displays more through video than I could ever explain with words...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvdRcsBxQUg&list=LLCQCRxNa6nSQsl63eKYdCPg&index=4&t=0s

Now Rey herself is not a Mary Sue, but she does possess the attributes of Mary Sue. I discovered the satirical fic "Violette Oriane Miriana Indigo Twilight Jinn-Kenobi-Windu-Fett-Palpatine-Amidala AKA Rey doesn't have time for Mary-Sue bullshit." Hilarious! This fic exaggerates her these characteristics to a comedic sense. Lines such as "Drawing her Super Badass Qui-Wan Fusion saber©" are clearly intended to mock how perfect, almost too good to be true, Rey is. Rey must fight against another Sue. In the end, Rey wins, because she embodies a Mary Sue, albeit in a glamorus "she exploded into a puff of pink glitter" type of death.

file:///Users/jackmuench/Desktop/FWS%20Final/Violette%20Oriane%20Miriana%20Indigo%20Twilight%20Jinn-Kenobi-Windu-Fett-Palpatine-Amidala%20AKA%20Rey%20doesn't%20hav.webarchive

Take a look and see for yourself.

Comments

[aly22]

Although I love Rey with all my heart, I agree. She definitely has Mary-Sue characteristics. If the sequel trilogy was a fanfic (which it basically is since it's produced by ascended fanboys/fangirls) it would get flamed by the fan community. I feel she became this way not because the female writers inserted themselves into the story as in your traditional Mary-Sue fic, but because of a heavy-handed attempt to create a strong, female protagonist. Instead of imbuing Rey with actual strong female character traits as Joss Whedon did with Buffy, the Star Wars writers simply took stereotypical "strong male protagonist traits" and dumped them on Rey. Ultimately, I think Star Wars has failed to create a realistic female figure for young girls to look up to.

[professorhead]

See, I greatly love Rey also. I think these are great questions, but I also wonder why I love her if she's such a Mary Sue - do you know what I mean? I feel like the real Mary Sues I've read are less engaging (more like private fantasies, like I said in that piece I gave you last week). But, fair warning, I have never spent time in SW fandom, so (like Samantha), I know verrrry little (or less).

I also love the question about whether the trilogy are "fan fiction," given all the intellectual property, capital investment, etc. questions there are. We could say the same about superhero franchises, Doctor Who, or possibly even JK Rowling's own sequels???

[letsgetthisbread]

Do you think Rey would've been seen as a Gary Stu if she'd been a dude instead of a gal? (This is a legit question, I know verrrrry little about the Star Wars fan community lol)