So I've been to see the new Star Wars film ... several times ... and
I'm sure I know the question that's on everybody's minds: What does Ian
Saul Whitcomb the "sensible feminist" think about Rey?
Apparently, there's enough internet grumbling going around about Rey
being a "Mary Sue" that I've read about it in two different articles.
(For those who've never heard, the term is used to denote a
character who exists only as wish-fulfillment on
the part of the author, being so super-competent that everyone loves
and marvels over herim, despite hiser lack of any real personality or
complexity.) Though I myself have only seen one person actually call Rey
a Mary Sue, he was a pretty big ass about it,
and that's enough to make me think it's a real phenomenon and not just
some activist caterwauling or girls crying wolf.
I could make a lot of arguments about the substantiality of Rey's
character being far too great to fit with the definition of a Mary Sue. I
could point out plenty of personal failings on Rey's part that show her
to be much more flawed and nuanced than an actual Mary
Sue. But instead, I'm going to fall back on my inner male swine to
provide the best evidence possible against these frankly infantile criticisms.
Longtime readers will know that despite being a feminist and an
opponent of ogling, I very regularly recognize the sexual attractiveness
of women who enter or pass through my perceptual sphere. It's just
something my brain does, and I refuse to feel guilty
about it or try to train myself out of it. I'm a pretty sex-obsessed
guy, and I think as long as I treat people properly and don't let anyone
catch me with my tongue hanging out, that's as valid a part of my human
sexuality as being attracted to men would
be if I were gay, or feeling trapped in a male body would be if I were
transsexual.
My point is this: I was three viewings into The Force Awakens before one particular scene made me notice the attractive quality of Rey's leg and bottom. That's three viewings spent watching the central character of a pretty long movie without once recognizing her substantial sexual allure. It's not that the filmmakers hid her figure in concealing outfits
or avoided camera angles that would flatter
her attributes. The moment of leg-and-bottom that broke through into my
consciousness actually shows that stretch of flank fairly prominently.
No, the reason I took three viewings to notice is that I was so invested
in her as a character, from the first moment
she came onscreen, that even my normally rampaging libido
couldn't break through my fascination with who she was as a person.
I grasped instantly that I wanted to get to know her. And without
giving her a single line to speak, the filmmakers spent at least five minutes letting me do that. By my count, we follow Rey
through a minimum of eight scene changes before she says
a word. And despite this entirely visual introduction, despite the fact
that she's an extremely pretty young woman with a very nice figure, the
things we learn about her kept me so entranced that her femaleness
informed my perception of her no more than the
fact that she has brown hair.
The trailer for this film prominently featured a woman's voice asking Rey, "Who are you?" And though that line was apparently cut from the final edit of the movie, Rey begins answering it from the moment we first see her -- answering it so richly and magnetically that my mind had room only for her answer, and nothing else.
So, no, dipweeds, Rey is not a Mary Sue. Brush up your literary and cinematic analysis tools before you go spouting this kind of foolishness in the future.
