Blind to Galatea’s shortcomings

Like I said, I suspect when it comes to writing certain characters like Kitty Pryde one has to be wary of idealising them especially when they evidently have personalities (shortcomings if you will) clash with their idealisations. Just as there are portrayals of a buxom Kitty Pryde sometimes with an open cleavage in comics, logically there ought be portrayals of Kitty Pryde who’s this irritable, vengeful and punitive to the point of being violent in canon stories.

Not that she’s without virtue but there’s a certain blindness by her admirers and even her authors to her own shortcomings. That’s somewhat different from Jason Todd fans who’re more willing to admit Jason Todd’s flaws. (There are some who do idealise him but for most of the part admit his shortcomings and personality.)

I suspect with Kitty Pryde, there’s a tendency for some readers and writers to mold her into their dream girlfriend even when her characterisation sometimes resists or contradicts it. Almost as if she really has a voice but one that’s rather fiery, combatative and harsh. It’s the one situation where writers and readers are better off not idealising her if her personality continues to contradict their expectations/idealisations.

That might also be the same for Felicity Smoak to some extent where if nobody really wanted her to be a Mary Sue, they should be better off characterising her as wary of or irritated with men. If taken further, she might even be this distrusting of people at times as to be self-reliant as well as a tendency to sulk and stonewall. Kind of unpleasant but not necessarily evil.

Or heck, the same can also be said of Barry Allen. In that he comes off as a closet Italian/Catholic going by cliches like tardiness, guilt over not saving somebody else before and stuff. (Some of the people writing his stories are either Italian or of Italian descent does have a really big say on his personality.) Even if he’s not Italian-American, he could still pull off the culturally Catholic thing if he were Irish-American.

Boyzone’s Ronan Keating and Altan’s Mairead Ni Mhaonaoigh (Mhaonaigh) are both natural blond Irish folk, thus giving more credence to Barry Allen being of Irish descent and something that can be organically pulled off in a way making him Midwestern won’t do (Superman seems more heavily tied to the Midwest so there’s that). But it’s something very few bothered to.

But because it contradicts their idea of him even when there’s enough evidence to support this. Allen’s even a legitimate Irish surname thus making Barry into an Irish-American all the more plausible (again with cliches of Irish American police).

These are situations where characters’ personalities sometimes contradict even the authors and readers’ intentions and perceptions enough to consider either letting go or opting the logical/plausible route (Kitty Pryde being a bloodthristy assassin, Barry being an open Irish Catholic).

These may’ve been done before, just not very often and not in depth.

Manic Pixie Dream Geek Girls

I suspect the near-tendency to gloss over Kitty Pryde’s flaws (she’s got a really bad temper and bad luck on this side of Donald Duck) may’ve helped lead to a kind of cliche called the Manic Pixie Dream Geek Girl. More of an idealised character than an actual one because the latter usually and actually gets pissed whether if they’re objectified or if they’re not taken seriously. The former’s a weirdly abstract ideal sometimes even detached from their actual presentations.

It’s not that writers like Joss Whedon and Chris Claremont don’t entirely gloss over her flaws but rather seem unable to realise that she’s evidently got a personality outside of their idealisations which ironically comes out in their writings. Whether if it’s Kitty Pryde never getting over her grudge or angrily beating people up for taking advantage of or arguing with her a lot. As if their Manic Pixie Dream Geek Girl’s more unpleasant than they’d admit.

(In the same manner, Barry Allen’s really a closet Italian that really needs to be let out in a way even if he isn’t ethnically Italian he could as well be Irish.)

The later MPDGGs aren’t entirely devoid of flaws either but rather played out unrealistically. It’s not a matter of Felicity Smoak whingeing or crying a lot, which’s understandable. But that from personal experience, some people don’t like sexual humour a lot. There could’ve been scripts where Oliver does get pissed at Felicity’s dirty jokes but that could’ve been changed halfway through production.

Not to mention Felicity Smoak, as originally presentation, never resembled her later telly incarnation and should Felicity be rehabilitated back into comics, especially as the Hyena, her personality needs to harken back to the original non-MPDGG character (this is the character that Kitty ended up becoming even if she evidently has a hot temper and is murderous).

Something that being easily frustrated with or wary of men with the humour being more of a facade as a way to deal with her own problems (anger, fear, anxiety, whatever you call it), tending to sulk and stonewall people. Somebody who’s socially awkward or at least sincerely flawed where rather than being ‘cutesy’, she’s genuinely rude and aloof.

That may’ve been attempted before or even now. (A Felicity Smoak who sulks whilst stonewalling people and goes on chastising them certainly did happen but not very often because it wouldn’t seem cute of her even though that’s making her actually socially awkward or at least unable to handle relationships maturely.)

I even consider Manic Pixie Dream Girls to be Mary Sues but ones that men enjoy and condone as to be Galatea Sues. Not necessarily imperfect but rather their admirers are blind to their shortcomings if played out realistically or even when it occurs in canon.

A bad temper with pride

I also think Kitty Pryde doesn’t lack a personality in the comics but rather it’s a really unpleasant one to others that for some reason in-canon it tends to be nearly without damning consequences. It’s not that Kitty Pryde’s flawless but that sometimes reader and even author appreciation of her contradicts her overall presentation. It’s not that she lacks virtue (she can be enthusiastic) but she’s way moodier than most of her readers would like to admit.

Like she’s the first to lose her cool a lot or real badly to the point of having a really violent grudge against Emma Frost (and going so far to kill her in one story) as well as threatening to kill people. She even beats them up when pissed. She gets mad from being taken advantage of a lot*. Heck she even went to anger management class and is really, really spiteful. Ironically whatever some fans say of Donald Duck could exactly be applied to her.

Maybe it’s not necessarily without consequence but rather a tendency to gloss over her flaws whilst even Donald Duck’s and Jason Todd’s fans admittedly notice it from personal experience.

*From the Kiotr scans.