And this Rey ‘Mary Sue’ thing is just so tedious, and whether or not you have any pro-male agenda behind it - I’m not saying you have - but it smacks of selectiveness and decades of women not being allowed to do what men can do. I’m a father of two young girls, and I’m involved in the science and engineering sector which desperately needs more women to engage with and fulfil their potential (grade for grade girls score higher in sciences than boys), so this is something I feel strongly about.
Anakin had zero training before his pod race “I’m the only human who can do it”. He uses the Force and wins the race.
Luke had maybe 1 to 2 hours training on the Falcon. He uses the Force and blows up the Death Star.
Snoke even says in the script that the ‘light’ has manifested in Rey as a counter balance to Kylo growing in power. So it is there in the script and it is consistent enough at least for me to go along with and not cry foul.
So please don’t come out with comments like Rey has “insta-force”, as for me it comes off as selective and patronising.
To be clear the same “Gary-Sue” criticism was made about child Anakin. I think the Mary-Sue thing is misunderstood. It not about putting women down, it is actually about wanting them to have real Characters, rather than idealized ones. It would be progress for women if Mary-Sue characters did not exist - Driver got to play a complex character, Ridley got to play a one-dimensional character. Who got the better role?
I hadn’t heard the ‘Gary Sue’ thing before, and both Anakin TPM and Luke ANH provide consistent parallel examples with Rey… all characters beginning ‘The Hero’s Journey’.
The moderators on this forum are super-engaged and I suspect that misogyny would be quickly suppressed, but I am sure many of the guys on here also read other forums, reddit, facebook and have seen with their own eyes that the ‘Mary Sue’ complaint has been the rallying call for a rather ugly streak of misogyny to come out of the woodwork. Kathleen Kennedy has also been on the receiving end.
For Dre to dismiss it as “anti-feminist nonsense” is really naïve. You don’t have to be a ‘Social Justice Warrior’ to see that it’s a good thing to have female heroes and role models. You just have to be a human being.