Poll Is Michael Burnham a "Mary Sue"?

[Skipper]

Hello everyone. I created this poll for a simple reason: every time in a thread someone says Michael is a "Mary Sue", that thread is deranged for pages and pages. So please, discuss here the topic to your heart content and leave the other threads alone.

I'll go first: obviously Michael ISN'T a Mary Sue. I mean, read every description of it out here. People are just using this term to describe a female character they don't like.

Prove me wrong

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Anonymous poll? Fine. No. Burnham is not a Mary Sue. Just refer to everything I've said on the subject the previous 1,771,561 times it's come up, if you want to see why I think so.

 

[Skipper]

Anonymous poll? Fine. No. Burnham is not a Mary Sue. Just refer to everything I've said on the subject the previous 1,771,561 times it's come up, if you want to see why I think so.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize I created an anonymous poll. Can I change it?

ETA: it seems I can't. Can a moderator do it, please?

 

[Mage]

No. Not a Mary Sue.

She isn't perfect, has f***ed up as much as she safed. Flawed character traits. Yes, she has a relation to a famous Trek character. That's it. Nothing more. I really wish people would just drop the subject already.

 

[CorporalClegg]

 

[Nyotarules]

Kirk is more a 'Mary Sue' than Burnham would ever be. Are people watching the show with sound off and screen on complete dark?

 

[Hythlodeus]

per definitionem she is not. she is the main character of the show, so she can't be. she is flawed, so she can't be.

otoh, she's female. which is reason enough for some people that she must be.

 

[fireproof78]

Kirk is more a 'Mary Sue' than Burnham would ever be. Are people watching the show with sound off and screen on complete dark?

Don't judge me

Also, on topic:

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[Gepard]

No.

She's just boring.

 

[Lord Garth]

No. She fucks up plenty of times. And I argued why she's not Mary Sue ad-nauseam last year. Where? right here in the discussion thread for "What's Past Is Prologue". It goes from Page 42 to Page 48, where I lay the final smackdown. No need to cut and paste all six posts. Just read them. I sent Kane_Steel running. That alone made it worth it.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Just what we needed, a whole thread dedicated to this fucking nonsense.

You know it's not gonna stop all the other threads from being derailed by the same nonsense.

 

[fireproof78]

Just what we needed, a whole thread dedicated to this fucking nonsense.

You know it's not gonna stop all the other threads from being derailed by the same nonsense.

Eh, we already had one. It died a slow death but died nonetheless.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Eh, we already had one. It died a slow death but died nonetheless.

Well gee, I'm sorry I missed that one

 

[fireproof78]

Well gee, I'm sorry I missed that one

 

[Spider]

wiki page on the definition of Mary Sue in fiction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

The problem with Burnham isn't that, she just isn't very interesting. At all.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Eh, we already had one. It died a slow death but died nonetheless.

That must have been during my hiatus.

Also, no. Burnham is not a Sue. Of course not. I wish people spouting that nonsense would actually take the time to educate themselves on what a term actually means. What annoys me most is when someone goes, "But I interpret it like this!" You can't. This isn't up for debate. Trying to desperately apply it to Burnham just gives off the impression that these people want to dismiss her by any means possible, whether it makes sense or not. If anyone engages in that sort of tactic, they might want to question their motives. It has zero to do with actual criticism.

 

[Campe]

Dictionary.com defines a Mary Sue as:

Mary Sue is a term used to describe a fictional character, usually female, who is seen as too perfect and almost boring for lack of flaws, originally written as an idealized version of an author in fanfiction.

Let's break this down:

• Michael Burnham is a fictional character.
• She is female.
• She has made numerous mistakes throughout the 24 episodes we've followed her on. In fact, her character arc began with a pretty big mistake in her career. So, perfect? Nope. Lots of flaws.
• Boring? Well, that's really in the eve of the beholder.
• Idealized version of an author in fanfiction? One, this is not fanfiction, so there's that. Two, I think the flaws show she's not idealized.

I'll grant, she can be self-important and self-righteous from time to time. I grant, she seems to be the focus of many stories, but this is Michael Burnham's story. Senequa Martin-Green is the first name in the credits in every episode of Disco. I, however, don't see that being any different than Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway or Archer being the focus of episodes in their respective series either.

So, I must vote: No. Michael Burnham is not a Mary Sue.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

She is NOT. So sick of Mary Sue being tossed around for female characters that people, specifically men, don't like.

 

[Kemaiku]

No.

She's just boring.

This. Don't have to be a Mary Sue to be a terrible character.

 

[KennyB]

Nope