Harry Potter Vs. Twilight Article: Bella Swan--Not a Mary-Sue

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posted by Ravenclaw2001

Let's just get this straight before you go harping on my article because I'm a Twitard. Because I'm not. I'm just getting a little sick of Bella Swan being called "too perfect". She's perfect about to the extent that I am a Twilight fan. Which is to say, not at all.

OK, Let me tell you a story about a REAL Mary-Sue.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Anastasia B. Ana was in 6th grade, she was tiny for the age of ten (she skipped kindergarten), she was absolutely adorable, and she was in Gifted and 7th grade math. Boys all loved her, and she could crochet, knit, and she had perfect handwriting. She could play the clarinet well and she was an avid reader. She was also very religious and sweet, never disrespecting her friends.

Does Bella Swan seem so perfect now? And now let's see what Mrs. Cullen/Swan has to say for herself.

Once upon a time,there was a girl named Bella Swan. She was beautiful and all the boys wanted her. She was smart and was horrible to her friends. She could play no musical instrument, and her handwriting is anybody's guess. Her religion is not mentioned enough to stick in my head, and when she got a boyfriend, her friends left her only because she left them. She relies on her boyfriend for everything, and when he leaves her, she jumps off cliffs to hear his voice.

Does she sound so Mary-Sueish compared to Anastasia? And here's the twist: Anastasia is an actual person. Mary-Sues aren't just in books.

Here's my conclusion:

Bella Swan was written to be perfect. The small hints of her leading a perfect life, having no problems and consequences, etc. were meant to make her perfect. She was written as a Mary-Sue, probably unintentionally, and yet failed miserably.

PS... to zanhar1: Thank you for making that point in my original draft. I changed it and really appreciate the tip. Thanks!

snuggles123 and Interviewer123 like this

zanhar1 I feel like there are different types of Sues, some more severe than others. Like Bloom from Winx is super bad. Then there's your scenario. With Bella; while yes she does bad not perfect things she usually gets away with it in the end--a tell tale sign of a Sue. Another buggy is the fact that she's described as really pretty and smart and is really popular but then sees herself as socially awkward and anti-social when she is not. She has two men and at one point three fighting for her. Even though she blew them off her friends still seemed to come back to her. Not trying to be hateful, you have some good points, I just disagree.

luv_warriorcatz Bella is written no differently than the other ten thousand sues in The Pit (fanfiction.net). The only difference is that Twilight is published and acknowledged as legit novel, which is worse.

Ravenclaw2001 I agree. I think she's written to be perfect, which is even worse, but doesn't quite pull it off. Yeah, I see what I did wrong now zanhar1, I was just getting sick of people saying she was perfect. I DO think she's supposed to be erect though. She's just a jerk and can't quite pull it off.

Ravenclaw2001 Wow. I just realized that I stated my point like 3 times in that last comment :P. Thanks for the reviews! And, luv_wariorcatz, do you agree or disagree? I wasn't sure and I just wanted to know. Thanks!

Ravenclaw2001 Ok, I revised it. See my bottom paragraph. Thanks @zanhar1!

cassie-1-2-3 Stephenie has flat out said Bella wasn't perfect, which strongly implies that she wan't written to be perfect. I don't think there is any stronger source.

Ravenclaw2001 I'm not saying she WAS written to be perfect, but all her writing shows that she was, and failed rather laughably. She seemed to be, and this article is written as an opinion for a reason. PS: People lie.

luv_warriorcatz To elaborate, Bella is the self-insert sue; the shy, modest brunette who likes to "read", preferably classic literature, and somehow attracts the hot guy, for some arcane reason. It's typical YA romance fiction. Now, Bella down, indeed, turn into a "perfect" sue after she turns to a vampire, which probably turned off fans.

zanhar1 @Ravenclaw No worries you didn't do anything wrong. ^_^ But no problem, and thanks for taking the tip. :D

cassie-1-2-3 [i]I'm not saying she WAS written to be perfect[/i] Oh, my mistake, I got confused by the sentence "Bella Swan was written to be perfect." in the article. But this time, let's take actual evidence from the story and not just our imaginations. There's a quote by Bella at the very beginning of the first book that goes "I do a good job of blocking painful, unnecessary things from my memory." This quote alone is actually very contrary to "small hints of her leading a perfect life, having no problems [or] consequences" I guess Bella's horrible flaw here was not dwelling on bad things and not complaining as much as she could have?

FallingWitch *claps*