Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 10 Reasons The Haters Are Dead Wrong
8. Rey Is A Mary Sue
Max Landis, screenwriter of American Ultra and Victor Frankenstein, took to Twitter to whine that The Force Awakens protagonist, Rey, was a Mary Sue. A derogatory term for a fictional character that succeeds through unrealistic abilities, the Mary Sue concept originated in a Star Trek fanzine as a satire of poorly done fan fiction characters. Haters trumpeted Landis criticism throughout the Internet ad nauseam. At first glance, Rey looks like a Mary Sue. Luke took three films to master Jedi mind tricks. Rey did it after a couple tries. Luke needed Yoda to get his skills up to snuff to fight Vader. The first time Rey grabbed a lightsaber she worked Kylo Ren. The Mary Sue criticism seems legitimate on the surface, but doesnt hold up to scrutiny. Its an established part of Star Wars mythology that certain people are gifted Force-users. Reys impressive abilities make sense in the context of the franchise and arent unrealistic by those standards. Luke used the Force to blow up the Death Star without much training from Obi-Wan. Landis also missed the fact that the movie didnt tell us much about Reys past. Episode VIII might reveal that she had some previous training.
