Comments by "Jim Luebke" (@jimluebke3869) on "Trope Talk: Mary Sue" video.
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Mary Sue doesn't have to work at anything. No hero's journey at all. (That's why Rey catches so much flak, by the way. Rey's powers are properly Hero's Journey powers, not Mary Sue powers.)
But this doesn't explain why the trope is gendered, or even why it's a trope in the first place.
Let's play with the trope a little bit and see what variants of it are more palatable to the parts of the Internet (sadly, aka Humanity) that do not accept Rey as a valid story element.
Instead of a special miraculous ability to (as a complete newb) out-swordfight a veteran swordsman with a clearly overwhelming advantage in weight, reach, and upper-body strength, let's make it a life-giving ability. Healing or something. A healing ability that she can do without any practice, no consultation with wisdom, etc. The complaints would subside, and no one would bat an eye.
Could we add, maybe, a tendency to get damselled on a semi-regular basis, particularly when using this miraculous ability? Sure. Maybe even show that she runs the risk of serious injury or death by using this ability (but she heroically does it anyway, because LOVE). Some people might call this "more balanced", but they'd honestly be missing the point.
And, what if in addition to not having to work for this miraculous ability, she doesn't even want it? The trope still holds. Bonus points if (in more modern stories) she complains that it's the only focus of her life and she wants something more than that.
Oh, extra super bonus points if this miraculous ability first manifested when she was a teen.
Now let's come back around to the idea that everyone loves Mary Sue for her miraculous abilities. Everyone makes a fuss over her for them. Her biggest problem is life is deciding what hunky guy is going to get the opportunity to make the biggest fuss. Does it still work with the trope? You bet.
But why oh why is it gendered? Is this somehow a valid exploration of an actual aspect of the human experience that women undergo and men do not?
(Let me know when the penny dropped for you.)
By the way, for powers like beating people up or otherwise imposing beneficial order on the external chaotic world, you really should have a Hero's Journey to accompany the development of those powers, because that's how the world *is*. Rey would have been a LOT more accepted if she had done so.
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