Maybe I'm being too hard on Thirteen. I've certainly shouted my opinion enough, loud and proud, on Twitter. I want to clarify what my problem is with her, because I don't want my friends to think I'm bigoted or close-minded, or just shouting at the rain. Let me open by saying, I don't have a problem with her specifically. Yes, hold on to your seats, it's going to be *that* kind of post.
She insults me not on a personal level--I'm fine with overtly bi, self-destructive girls if you are--but on the level of a creative person, someone who hopes to one day make his living writing fiction for the entertainment of others. She is what we call in the trade a "Mary Sue".
Now, for those not familiar with the term, Mary Sue is a broad sweeping brush that paints over a wide variety of characters that all share the same basic traits. Allow me to illustrate:
"Blessed be and greetings to you. I am Mary Sue! I'm inhumanly beautiful, vastly rich, impeccably intelligent, ravishingly witty, and any man would walk into traffic to retrieve the scarf I delicately dropped just because of my nearly magical womanly charms. My face can topple kingdoms and my body ensnares the attention of every man in a fifty mile radius, even the blind and elderly. I am the daughter or close relative of very important people, and I wield their power. I may also sometimes wield a rare magical power. I may be the last of my kind in a race of once-thriving magical beings. You have no choice but to love and adore me, because the author of the piece is doing everything he can to rub me in your face.
But be careful how you love me, because even though I have everything anyone could ever want, and *am* everything any *man* could ever want, I also have a tragic past, and enough emotional baggage to fill a freight car. My once-thriving magical race is extinct except for me, the last, and they perished in horrific ways. The protagonist will spend a lot of time consoling me while he woos me, and will show me the true power of love while he washes away my sins. It won't help though, because I *also* am under a curse, or have an incurable illness, or am arranged to marry a man I hate. He'll have to overcome that too, somehow, or else watch me die and suffer the unendurable agony of losing someone so perfect, and yet so imperfect.
Come and love me, adore me, pity me, and be carried along the roller coaster of human emotion by me. I am the writer's crutch, a huge prop stick with the words Mary Sue printed in gilded letters along its length."
(As a footnote, there exists a male counterpart for this type of character. His name is Gary Stu, and by now I'm sure you can guess what *his* deal is. He's not the focus of this entry. Perhaps one day I shall write about him, but today is not that day.)
So, now that you understand *that* concept, and by extension why such characters are so insulting to those of us who would actually like to write halfway decent fiction, let's examine Thirteen.
Beautiful: Check
Intelligent: Check
Successful: Check
Every Man's Wet Dream: Check
Tragic Past: Check
Doomed: Check
Fits the profile nicely wouldn't you say? What is more, since she can't have magical powers in the setting, they made her bisexual to set her apart. Not because it advances the character in any way, but because it's edgy and "in" right now.
That's my problem with her. Again, it's not exactly her specifically, but because of what she is on a creative level. She is, in all ways, a universal adapter of character. She is adored for her looks, admired for her career, lusted after by most men and some women for her lifestyle, pitied for her past, and agonized over for her lost future.
Or, at least, that was the writer's aim when he came up with this character. Out of curiosity I surfed over the 'net a bit looking for opinions and I have yet to find anyone on whom she actually *works.* This gives me hope for my career. People are tired of this type of character and so am I, so my writing shall mesh well with the target audience (i.e. everyone) when I release my work upon the world.
4 comments:
I personally think the character is there for satire. How else would you come to love House as he manipulates? A common "enemy". All of these doctors are just pawns to House, peices to move freely as he wishes. He gets a kick out of disrupting the lives of these stereotypical characters. Do not dislike the show or the characters for what they are, but focus on how they change. I think you sort of are missing that with her from starting at season 5. The selection process is interesting.
I still prefer some of the other female characters over 13, even Amber.
In the episodes I've seen, she also seems to have this nasty habit of stealing the ever-diminshing screen time of the protagonist, a character powered by better writing and a much better actor.
I instantly hated the character, because I had her figured out with one scene. She is indeed the cast Mary Sue, whose flaws seem engineered to poke at men's libidos and their gag reflexes in one motion.
I find her irredeemable in her current state, mostly enhanced by Wilde's unmitigated deadpan. Thirteen sucks the life out of every line of petulant dialog she spews. I'm not sure that's an effect desirable in mass quantities.
My general trouble with House is that I was correct in my presumption that the show is focusing more on the personal issues of the support cast than it has in past seasons (something I plan for us to remedy soon).
Someone in a discussion made the apt comparison that nobody reads the Holmes novels in hopes of finding out more about Mrs. Watson or how satisfied with life the backdrop servants are.
Their point was they prefer the medical mysteries to the scenes backed by slow noodling on a piano.
But I see a show with a good premise being destroyed by its own desire to become all things to all viewers.
I also think the show is oddly misogynistic. I would love a ratio of the number of male-to-female cases for each season, and overall. Just seems like for every one male case, there are five female. Hrm. Maybe I just like hearing House rag on women more, so I remember those episodes better.
I actually don't care for most of the supporting cast. They seem too much like depressive token characters, which is pathetic in a modern television program.
Still, I too am glad most people roll their eyes at Thirteen's pathos-laden antics.
I will admit, Ms. T, that starting at Season 5 was probably a bad idea. I want to underline that purchasing all of Season 5 was a result of a mis-click and nothing more. My aim was to purchase just that most recent episode that included the cat, so that I could introduce the wife to it in this way: Even if she hated the show, there was a cute cat, so her time wasn't entirely wasted. :P
Now I'm watching everything backwards. Some DVD purchases/rentals will fix that.
Hrm. I don't agree necessarily.
I think any body of work should be accessible to new viewers at any time. At least anything that's a series. Especially a televised series.
Writing a show with the intent that the viewer has been a loyal fan since day one is silly and I don't think House suffers this.
The ire I've seen demonstrated against Thirteen is generally by the show's staunchest fans. I think it's acceptable that a new viewer has an equal chance of thinking she's a drag. People generally feel subjectively about characters. To hear the fans talk, they're real people! Funny how that happens. How involved we humans become in fiction.
I also hope Lucas gets his spin off show. He'd make a charming protagonist.
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