Mary Sue in Newsies Fandom
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | Newsie Sue, Newsy Sue |
| Related tropes/genres | Mary Sue |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Newsies fandom is well known for the prevalence of "Mary Sue" characters, particularly in its early years.
Just about half of all Newsies fics ever written involve a girl who watches Newsies and then time-travels back to 1899 via a "magic paper", and uses her knowledge of the plot to remove Sarah from the storyline and hook Jack and David up (or just hook up with one of the newsies herself).
Parody and Mockery
Members of the het fandom were known to parody their own archetypes. Princess MacEaver's "Thanks for the Directions" was published as early as 2002.[2]
“Well, you are wearin’ da requisite modern boys’ clothing wit a futuristic twist, an’ dat newsie cap dere—dat’s a dead giveaway,” Mush explained.“Plus,” Blink added, “you’re real pretty. I nevah met one dat wasn’t a knockout.”
“Jeeze,” the girl observed, giving them a skeptical look. “You guys got it all figured out.”
“Well, dat’s how it’s done,” Blink said. “Otha stuff, too. Like your real name is Mary Sue, but you have a cute nickname dat reflects bot’ your personality an’ some sorta trademark object or action a yours.”Princess MacEaver[2]
While many fans enjoyed writing self-inserts and characters based on their friends, some disliked this common theme enough to leave the fandom.[3] A "Horrible Newsies Mary Sues" generator was passed around in 2004.[4]
More mean-spirited parodies were written as early as 2003, like Butterfly Conlon's "The Minute Mary Sue Fanfic Collection," which stated in the notes that "Mary-Sues are something that one can hate more than Spot doing a striptease-wait, make that Crutchy."[5]
Sapphy's Help Me! I’m Trapped In A Mary Sue Body! was posted on Fanfiction.net from 2003 to 2004.
The LiveJournal community Gag Me with a Pape was created in 2004 to identify and mock "NewsieSues," although they tried not to insult the "Suethors" themselves.[6]
In 2004, ShortAtntionSpaz created a small Fanfiction.net community for Mary Sue parody fics: AntiSlash, Anti Flamin' MarySue Fiction!.
Meta
- The Newsies Mary Sue Litmus Test by Tuesday on Fanfiction - and about it
Also present was the idea of a "good" Mary Sue, something many outside the fandom would likely argue does not exist.[7]