Captain Talks About Some Writing Things - Mary Sue or Strong Female Character?
If you feel offended while reading this, I apologize. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but this is just something I notice and maybe even do. This is only my opinion and I'll be looking at this through the lens of storytelling.
So, if you make OC for fun, that's fine. However, once you make a product and publish it, like a fanfiction or art (even if it's non-profitable), you have to accept that not all people will like your OC. The only reason why I emphasized 'female OCs' is because I've seen a lot of them more often than male OCs, but these can be applied to any gender OCs.
That's the disclaimer. Now, bring on the torch and pitchfork.
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There's no denying that when we enter a fandom, we will see so many OCs. And even with a brief glance, there will be a lot of female OCs, especially when the media has more male characters we can simp on, because most of the creators are females as well. So, it's inevitable that we will see some OC getting paired with some canon characters.
Now, there's nothing wrong with making female OCs for fun, but that begs the question: Why do they get a bad reputation?
Before we go to answer this question, let's talk about Mary Sue.
Now, before we light up the fire, I know this is a pretty sensitive topic, but hear me out for a second. I know we usually throw this word to any female characters that we don't like, but let's look a little bit at this.
Let's ask a question: What's a Mary Sue?
Taking this from Overly Sarcastic Production, a Mary Sue is someone who takes all the spotlight from other characters and makes the universe's law bend to her favor, making the story boring. She can do no wrong, is very badass, and everyone adores her. And this is where the problem starts in stories with an OC that has the Mary Sue-feels. The story feels boring because we know that the OC will win in the end, get out unharmed, and everyone will still adore her. And that can be annoying.
But there's another problem: "I'm not making a Mary Sue! She's just a Strong Female Character!"
Now, I'm not saying that "Strong Female Character = Mary Sue", but there's a line between those two.
Let's ask another question: What's a Strong Female Character?
According to Wikipedia, a Strong Female Character is a stock character, the opposite of a damsel in distress. This character is often seen on our mainstream media. However, as we see, there's a lot of criticism about these characters. They're known to be strong physically, able to stand on their own, but often lacking in weakness. One thing we also often see is that they're better at doing most things than the men in their peers as if they're superior to them.
And I think this is the problem. The reason why both Mary Sue and Strong Female Characters are hated is because of how their character bend the male characters surrounding them. And what I mean in bend is reducing the male characters from their initial role. In both scenarios, the male characters either become the ones who are simping for the female OCs, reducing them into a one-dimensional cardboard box of a love interest, or making them into a butt-monkey to make the female OCs look more badass. Or to other female characters who are not their OCs. They're often turned into a mean girl who is always jealous of all the attention that the OCs get and always lose. In both scenarios, the female OCs are always being adored. If you don't adore them, you're a bad guy.
Another problem is, going back to the universe's law bend to the female OCs' favor, how the female OCs never seem to have a problem or weakness. This is not a simple reason as bullying, but more of a character flaw. many OCs are bullied as their background story, but they still have a strong face. And that's good. The only problem is that they never seem to have some sort of trouble or fear of talking with others. Like, do they ever be guarded and worry that they might get bullied again in a new environment? Like there are no consequences with anything in their life. Heck, sometimes their trauma doesn't even play an important factor in the relationship growth.
These are what I often found in fanfiction and look me in the eyes and tell me this is not annoying.
As I said earlier, it's okay to write for fun, but don't get mad when people don't like your OCs. When you publish something on the internet, people will see and people will have opinions. And some people are not very kind with their opinion.
So, how do we lessen that harsh opinion?
Well, so far, we have two problems. Let's try to work around these problems.
1. Don't lessen the other characters' role
You know who women often criticize how they don't like how women are portrayed as simple-minded, wealth-chasing harlots? Yeah, it feels like that when writers reduce all the characters into chums to make their OCs look better. Don't do that. If you want to make your OC earn the attention, you have to work for that. Speaking of...
2. The Struggles are Real
Many OCs never seems to get into trouble, even when they were the one who caused it in the first place. Giving your OCs some problems and allowing us reader to see how they struggle and solve said problems is fun, engaging, and give us more in-depth to the characters. But, don't make them solve it too quickly without any feelings. This also includes character flaws. I already said some things about the whole "they are shy at first but once you get to know them, they are more talkative" and "they're nice but very scary when angry". OCs, especially in a fanfiction, can be more than these two traits. I believe you can make more complex characters than these. You can have all these badass skills, but you have to earn them. Even the most expert still fails one day. Show them emotions, not just the one stoic looks.
Some Examples from What I've Watched:
Usually, I'll provide two examples, a male and female. However, since we're focusing on mostly female OCs, I'll be giving some females examples.
Bad Example: Rey 'Skywalker' - Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Here's the thing: I used to like Rey and I still have a soft spot for her. I don't loath her, but I don't love her.
Many had been said about Rey. She came from a lonely desert planet, scavenging for money and waiting for her parents. Throughout the trilogy, we found that her parents are nobody, not like Luke and Leia who are children of Anakin and Padme. But it also turns out that she's the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine.
Now, when I first saw The Rise of Skywalker, I was really disappointed. This reveal ruins Rey's character for me. Now, we see the only reason why she was so strong with the Force, with being able to fight with a saber when before she attacked Finn with a staff (implying that's her fighting style), mind control, destroy a big ass rock, was because she was Palpatine's granddaughter. She never had proper training like Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Ezra Bridger, Ashoka Tano (who is also a woman), Kanan Jarrus, and many other Jedis before her, and yet she's the most powerful of them all. Even her little training with Luke was just a fun field trip and serve more as a reflective moment for Luke. She can fly the Millenium Falcon better than Han Solo. She never really have a dream of leaving Jakku and yet she joins the Resistance for...reason? Even her bonds with Finn and Poe have fewer emotions compared to The Force Awaken and both male characters’ role get reduces in the sequel. Everything seems to turns to make Rey the most badass jedi in the universe.
Good Example: Hera Syndulla - Star Wars Rebels
Another example from the Star Wars universe, Hera Syndulla is one of the protagonists of Star Wars Rebels. She's the Team Mom of the small group and later became a general of the rebellion. Compare to the other member of the team, Hera is the least combative, focusing more on being the pilot of their ship and communicating to the growing rebellion. She has dreamt of flying ever since she was little and she train for her skills. I admire Hera, mostly because I adore mother figures. She's the heart and brain that keep her Ghost Crew, but that doesn't stop her from prioritizing the rebellion first. Her bad relationship with her father doesn't stop her from succeeding her mission. When Kanan was captured, despite wanting to save him, she doesn't want to risk the Empire to notice their early rebellion. This doesn't mean that she's heartless, but she's thinking about the future of the galaxy. She doesn't depend on Kanan, but can stand on her own. She and Kanan are also a great duo and are clearly in love with each other and would often worry about each other.
Good Example: Gwen Stacy - The Amazing Spider-Man duology
Even though she's doomed to die, Gwen Stacy left a very large impact on these movies. Gwen is brilliant, smarter than Peter Parker, and is an intern at Oscorp even before graduating high school. She's kind, brave, and can be a little bit stubborn.
What makes her so good is that, even though she doesn't have any superpower like her partner, that doesn't stop her from helping Peter in defeating the bad guys, making the two of them a great duo. Not only that, even with her status as a love interest, she has a life outside of Peter. She doesn't give up her study abroad in England, saying that her education is more important. I also want to mention how good the chemistry between Gwen and Peter (to an extent the dynamic between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield) is. You can tell that they are in love. This makes Gwen the best girl in the whole Spider-Man live-action movie, at least in my opinion.
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Hopefully, this might help all of us. I don’t hate female characters, however, I often see myself in various male characters instead. In the era of mainstream feminism, I often find myself not enjoying it. I can’t enjoy reading fan-fictions with female ocs who only appear and suddenly all the boys are droolling over them.
To close this off, I want to share a video that I found that talks about the strong women in Zac Snyder movies. I never watch any of his movie, but I love how it was explained who he’s a director who respect women and always put them in an important role in his movie, from mothers to survivors.