So in case you have not been on the internet since Thursday, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ has landed, and while the film has garnered some amazing reviews, and word of mouth, and a crazy amount of money so far, there are some out there who think it still was not that great. Chief amongst them at the moment is Hollywood scribe Max Landis, who has been stirring up a lot of internet anger recently with his comments about the film, and its characters.
While he makes some interesting points about the lack of stakes for certain characters, and depth for others, the comment getting him in the most trouble is his use of the term “Mary Sue” to describe new heroine Rey, the term meaning a character (can be male or female) that magically seems good at everything they do, thus lowering the stakes because they rarely need anyone else’s help, and can easily survive any situation they find themselves in. The problem is that most of the people criticizing the man do not understand what a Mary Sue is exactly, and think it is a sexist term used to downplay strong female characters.
Now do not get me wrong, I do not particularly agree with a lot of what Landis is saying about ‘The Force Awakens,’ and I have seen it twice so far and loved every minute, but people should be allowed to share their opinions without the internet exacting revenge, and it is frankly somewhat scary that so many people are using the argument that because everyone seems to like to movie, there cannot possibly be anything wrong with it. I’m not drinking that Kool-Aid. ‘The Force Awakens’ is not perfect, but despite its issues, it definitely exceeded my expectations. Landis’ other problem is he seems to care a bit too much about what all these people are saying, remaining in endless Twitter wars with his detractors instead of just letting it go, making it seem like the writer is literally having a
Landis’ other problem is he seems to care a bit too much about what all these people are saying, remaining in endless Twitter wars with his detractors instead of just letting it go, making it seem like the writer is literally having a meltdown before our eyes. (Check out the full history of his meltdown on his Twitter feed here.)
Check out the video of Landis defending his Mary Sue comment and his criticism of ‘The Force Awakens’ below, and then share your thoughts on the ‘Internet Vs Max Landis’ feud in the comments below!
