Marty Sue?

[ithildin]

So George Lucas based Luke on himself, and Gene Roddenberry based Wesley on himself, and those are just two are off the top of my head, and now, I discover that one of the creators of How I Met Your Mother based Ted on himself and the other creator, Marshall. Yet I never see the screams of 'MARY SUE!' that I'm sure would exist if these guys were women.

Just an observation.


Ted was originally modeled on you, and Marshall on Craig. How far have those characters evolved from that? Do you ever sit around and say, "I wouldn't do that" or "We wouldn't do that to each other"?

Ted certainly isn't me anymore. I haven't been engaged, or had a lot of the other experiences he's had. It's more the characters have become themselves .We definitely do try to ask ourselves, "Would this happen to us? Would this happen to someone we know?" for all the characters. We try to keep them personal and real, but there's more overlap now. I relate to Marshall as much as I do to Ted.


Full text here, but it is spoilerish for the last ep of the season.

Comments

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

I think most people hate the term.

It seems to me like a lot of people use it as an insult for any character they don't like.

The point I was making is that if we really want to go there, many of our favorite canon female characters fit that definition in spades.

Sorry. It seemed to me Ith was grumbling about Mary Sue being applied more to female characters then males, and when you singled out Amanda rather Duncan MacLeod or Methos it felt like you were doing exactly what Ith was grumbling about. I can handle most of the ways in which Duncan is a Mary Sue, but when they started talking about him as not just a hero but The Hero fifth season... I've only watched the whole of the Ahriman story arc once. I am deeply grateful Methos is only in the first episode.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

See, when a guy does it, he's the HERO, when a gal does it, she's a Mary Sue [g]

I was feeling grumbly last night, not so much today :) I think when comment threads get long, there tends to be some miscommunication along the way.

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

See, when a guy does it, he's the HERO, when a gal does it, she's a Mary Sue [g]

*Giggles.* Ooooh, and here I thought when Duncan become The Hero, or the Doctor The Lonely God they progressed from "classic Mary Sue" to "Goddess Mary Sue." Silly me. *Smacks forehead.*

I think when comment threads get long, there tends to be some miscommunication along the way.

*Nods.* Yeah, and when it's a subject I'm as touchy about as Mary Sue it's easy for me to react without really getting what someone is trying to say. *Blushes and ducks head.*