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Self Inserts and Power Fantasies
Jun. 12th, 2020 08:47 pmSo, people didn't like the movie Lucy (2014). Common criticisms include the faulty science, overpowered main character, bizarre plot, and overall crackish premise. Today I'm just focusing on the 'overpowered main character' part, because I think that when people criticise movies like Lucy and Limitless, they're thinking its an action/sci-fi with philosophical/political themes like Equilibrium. This isn't the case, these movies are only superficially similar.
Lucy, Limitless, and their ilk, are all Power Fantasies. The idea is simple. Here is an average pleb, oh look they're now Awesome, this could be you. You have this power, if only you could access it. (This is where that '10% of your brain' thing serves its narrative function, even if its blatantly false)
I said in my previous post on Mary Sue's that overpoweredness can be a symptom of Suedom, but isn't Suedom in and of itself. In this movie, the eponymous main character develops an increasingly nutty intellect coupled with emerging superpowers. Lucy absolutely stomps her way though this movie, and could very well be considered a Mary Sue due to how little her conflict means, but she isn't. Because she's there to be you, to let you the audience be a superhero through her.
The thing about Lucy is that she was no one. She doesn't really have a backstory, or much of a personality. She's a blank slate for the audience to surrogate into. Bella from Twilight started the same way, and this was one of the reasons the books became so popular when they did. One could argue that Neo from the Matrix is also one of these, although he at least has a skill-set pre-installed.
The problem with characters commonly touted to be Mary Sues for their overpoweredness is that they are not reader inserts, nor are they intended to be.
In fanfiction, one of the most commonly picked on genre's is the Self Insert, or SI. To the point where for a long time any Original Character was just assumed to be a poorly written SI, and the bias against OCs hasn't completely left yet. The thing about SI's, and especially Mary Sue SI's, is that they too are power fantasies, they're just written for the writer, instead of for the audience. This is why early SI's, especially those written by children and teenagers, left such a negative impact on people. These stories were written for the writer, not for the reader.
The difference between a shitty 'Twilight SI that's like canon except with a Cool Girl', and a 'Harry Potter has secret magic and is the heir to the goddamn throne' is entirely who they're written for.
Times have changed and people have learned, but, thanks to years of mockery and torment, the SI has fallen into disuse, stripped for parts and bones to be used in making OCs, the SI's more palatable cousin. But the Power Fantasy story remains, in movies and books and especially fanfiction.
Power fantasies are important, they're silly and improbable and contrived, but they're so important. They make you feel powerful.
So keep writing stories where Harry Potter takes over the world, or where some girl who looks exactly like you turns out to be the most powerful mutant Xavier has ever seen. Keep enjoying movies where the deadbeat writer becomes a genius the likes of which the world has never known and thrives.
Thank you for coming to myramble TED Talk.
Lucy, Limitless, and their ilk, are all Power Fantasies. The idea is simple. Here is an average pleb, oh look they're now Awesome, this could be you. You have this power, if only you could access it. (This is where that '10% of your brain' thing serves its narrative function, even if its blatantly false)
I said in my previous post on Mary Sue's that overpoweredness can be a symptom of Suedom, but isn't Suedom in and of itself. In this movie, the eponymous main character develops an increasingly nutty intellect coupled with emerging superpowers. Lucy absolutely stomps her way though this movie, and could very well be considered a Mary Sue due to how little her conflict means, but she isn't. Because she's there to be you, to let you the audience be a superhero through her.
The thing about Lucy is that she was no one. She doesn't really have a backstory, or much of a personality. She's a blank slate for the audience to surrogate into. Bella from Twilight started the same way, and this was one of the reasons the books became so popular when they did. One could argue that Neo from the Matrix is also one of these, although he at least has a skill-set pre-installed.
The problem with characters commonly touted to be Mary Sues for their overpoweredness is that they are not reader inserts, nor are they intended to be.
In fanfiction, one of the most commonly picked on genre's is the Self Insert, or SI. To the point where for a long time any Original Character was just assumed to be a poorly written SI, and the bias against OCs hasn't completely left yet. The thing about SI's, and especially Mary Sue SI's, is that they too are power fantasies, they're just written for the writer, instead of for the audience. This is why early SI's, especially those written by children and teenagers, left such a negative impact on people. These stories were written for the writer, not for the reader.
The difference between a shitty 'Twilight SI that's like canon except with a Cool Girl', and a 'Harry Potter has secret magic and is the heir to the goddamn throne' is entirely who they're written for.
Times have changed and people have learned, but, thanks to years of mockery and torment, the SI has fallen into disuse, stripped for parts and bones to be used in making OCs, the SI's more palatable cousin. But the Power Fantasy story remains, in movies and books and especially fanfiction.
Power fantasies are important, they're silly and improbable and contrived, but they're so important. They make you feel powerful.
So keep writing stories where Harry Potter takes over the world, or where some girl who looks exactly like you turns out to be the most powerful mutant Xavier has ever seen. Keep enjoying movies where the deadbeat writer becomes a genius the likes of which the world has never known and thrives.
Thank you for coming to my
