The real question is, why the need to Mary Sue oneself into every hero story? The modern implication is that somehow a black woman can't enjoy Superman just because he looks like a white dude. (But on the other hand, the white dude is supposed to identify with and see himself as every pox they care to shove down his throat?)
It's fascinating. Some of my favorite characters have been like me in appearance and personality. But a lot of what I find appealing about them are their flaws (That I also share) and the struggle of how they either overcome them or figure out how to put them to their advantage. It gives me hope that I too can one day become a better me.
These people want perfect characters that look and act like them so they can feed their delusion that they too are already perfect.
It's so much worse than that. Their self-inserts aren't even Mary Sues anymore. Now the protagonist on the page shares all of the flaws and defects of the narcissist behind the keyboard - and the story treats her like a goddess anyways! It's a whole new level of self-absorption when you use your own fictional narrative to validate your lifestyle via a self-inserted proxy.
That's still a Mary Sue. She's still being handed unearned success to the detriment of the story, it's only the difference between winning the race undeservedly and losing and being handed the gold medal anyway.
That's why they've started this "coded" nonsense. "Oh, this character is gay/black/trans/etc because they fit the stereotype!" It's such a bigoted mindset, but they brush it off, because it's in their favor.
One of the things that turned me off the Ducktales reboot was how they toyed with the "races" of characters like Fenton and Goslyn. I didn't like Fenton as a kid because he was "white." I liked him because he was a goofy loser who proved he had value with or without the Gizmoduck suit. That's relatable to anyone, and putting the focus instead on race in a show about anthropomorphic waterfowl shows what the writers really care about.
Used to be Fenton Crackshell was a white-feathered duck like Donald and Uncle Scrooge, etc. He was neurotic, a bit dimwitted, and had an overbearing mother, but he was also a savant at counting, which is what earned him the job with Scrooge that then led to him becoming Gizmoduck. After gaining confidence, he asked out his crush, who was already interested in him before. He just needed the self confidence the adventures with Scrooge gave him to make the first move.
The reboot redesigns him (Though not the Gizmosuit, interestingly. Another red flag.) to be a brown duck that looks nothing like his original design. The creators went out of their way to advertise "HE'S LATINO NOW!" and of course, being a minority, he couldn't possibly be a neurotic dimwit who'd manage to come through in the end. Now he starts out with a hot girlfriend instead of growing as a character. Beyond that, I don't know. I stopped watching the reboot before they properly introduced him because the red flags and insufferable retooled character personalities were turning me off hard. They added/changed a lot of characters to be differently colored birds to the show in the name of diversity. And while I'm a fan of visual diversity in character design, the reasons they were doing it were pretty suspect. Heck, they added a crow girl character who was obviously intended to be "black coded." That's pretty rich coming from Disney and their cartoon crow controversy.
The real question is, why the need to Mary Sue oneself into every hero story? The modern implication is that somehow a black woman can't enjoy Superman just because he looks like a white dude. (But on the other hand, the white dude is supposed to identify with and see himself as every pox they care to shove down his throat?)
Because these people are narcissists who can't identify with or empathize with anyone who doesn't look and act just like them.
It's fascinating. Some of my favorite characters have been like me in appearance and personality. But a lot of what I find appealing about them are their flaws (That I also share) and the struggle of how they either overcome them or figure out how to put them to their advantage. It gives me hope that I too can one day become a better me.
These people want perfect characters that look and act like them so they can feed their delusion that they too are already perfect.
It's so much worse than that. Their self-inserts aren't even Mary Sues anymore. Now the protagonist on the page shares all of the flaws and defects of the narcissist behind the keyboard - and the story treats her like a goddess anyways! It's a whole new level of self-absorption when you use your own fictional narrative to validate your lifestyle via a self-inserted proxy.
That's still a Mary Sue. She's still being handed unearned success to the detriment of the story, it's only the difference between winning the race undeservedly and losing and being handed the gold medal anyway.
That's why they've started this "coded" nonsense. "Oh, this character is gay/black/trans/etc because they fit the stereotype!" It's such a bigoted mindset, but they brush it off, because it's in their favor.
One of the things that turned me off the Ducktales reboot was how they toyed with the "races" of characters like Fenton and Goslyn. I didn't like Fenton as a kid because he was "white." I liked him because he was a goofy loser who proved he had value with or without the Gizmoduck suit. That's relatable to anyone, and putting the focus instead on race in a show about anthropomorphic waterfowl shows what the writers really care about.
Used to be Fenton Crackshell was a white-feathered duck like Donald and Uncle Scrooge, etc. He was neurotic, a bit dimwitted, and had an overbearing mother, but he was also a savant at counting, which is what earned him the job with Scrooge that then led to him becoming Gizmoduck. After gaining confidence, he asked out his crush, who was already interested in him before. He just needed the self confidence the adventures with Scrooge gave him to make the first move.
The reboot redesigns him (Though not the Gizmosuit, interestingly. Another red flag.) to be a brown duck that looks nothing like his original design. The creators went out of their way to advertise "HE'S LATINO NOW!" and of course, being a minority, he couldn't possibly be a neurotic dimwit who'd manage to come through in the end. Now he starts out with a hot girlfriend instead of growing as a character. Beyond that, I don't know. I stopped watching the reboot before they properly introduced him because the red flags and insufferable retooled character personalities were turning me off hard. They added/changed a lot of characters to be differently colored birds to the show in the name of diversity. And while I'm a fan of visual diversity in character design, the reasons they were doing it were pretty suspect. Heck, they added a crow girl character who was obviously intended to be "black coded." That's pretty rich coming from Disney and their cartoon crow controversy.