2009-01-17

firecat: red panda, winking (Default)
2009-01-17 07:38 pm

Random thought about the mary-sue-ism of Anita Blake

This was sort of inspired by some comments in an entry in [livejournal.com profile] elisem's journal. But talking about Anita Blake was entirely my idea and she bears no responsibility!

I think that Anita Blake, the "vampire hunter" character serialized by Laurell K. Hamilton, is something of a Mary Sue. She does not lack flaws, but she is idealized to the point where she does function as a wish-fulfillment fantasy in a very obvious way.

(I will note that Mary Sue is a sexist term for an excessively idealized character. The male counterpart is commonly called Marty Stu, but I think he should be called James Bond.)

There are two related reasons Anita is a Mary Sue. One, after the first few books in the series here come the spoilers, but they are pretty general )
firecat: red panda, winking (Default)
2009-01-17 07:38 pm

Random thought about the mary-sue-ism of Anita Blake

This was sort of inspired by some comments in an entry in [livejournal.com profile] elisem's journal. But talking about Anita Blake was entirely my idea and she bears no responsibility!

I think that Anita Blake, the "vampire hunter" character serialized by Laurell K. Hamilton, is something of a Mary Sue. She does not lack flaws, but she is idealized to the point where she does function as a wish-fulfillment fantasy in a very obvious way.

(I will note that Mary Sue is a sexist term for an excessively idealized character. The male counterpart is commonly called Marty Stu, but I think he should be called James Bond.)

There are two related reasons Anita is a Mary Sue. One, after the first few books in the series here come the spoilers, but they are pretty general )