Where's Mary Sue When You Need Her?: Difference between revisions

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A fictional character is by definition non-existent: there is no winged horse Pegasus, there never was a Philip "Pip" Pirrip, or at least not one whose life experiences are identical to those of Pip in ''Great Expectations'', and a search for a Daria Morgendorffer identical to the one portrayed on the series ''Daria'' among the quick and the dead will be in vain.
A fictional character is by definition non-existent: there is no winged horse Pegasus, there never was a Philip "Pip" Pirrip, or at least not one whose life experiences are identical to those of Pip in ''Great Expectations'', and a search for a Daria Morgendorffer identical to the one portrayed on the series ''Daria'' among the quick and the dead will be in vain.


At the same time, people have no qualms about saying these figures "exist in the mind," without any explanation of the terms "exist" and "mind," without which all sorts of confusion will arise. For example, Richard and Roger may view the same animation cel from ''Daria'' the television series and Richard will conclude from it that Daria the character is slender, while Roger will conclude that Daria the character is chubby. If Daria the character "exists in the mind," but actual minds disagree as to the details, which mind is right? Is slender Daria or chubby Daria the real Daria? Stipulating that there are as many Darias as there are people exposed to the show only increases the problems with the assertion that a character "exists in the mind." If each Daria is distinct yet legitimate, the Daria of the show loses any claim to priority over these other version, and one does not have to be a blinkered [[Prescriptivism in Daria Fanfiction|prescriptivist]] to see the problem with such an approach. Much of the pleasure and therefore legitimacy of alternative universe Daria fanfiction comes from the ''frisson'' between the series and the alternative universe created by the author, and without the priority of the series, that pleasure evaporates; hence the [[Greybird|worthlessness]] of arguments against fic that is too AU or off-canon. But against [[Greybird|stupidity]], the Gods themselves struggle in vain.
At the same time, people have no qualms about saying these figures "exist in the mind," without any explanation of the terms "exist" and "mind," thus causing all sorts of confusion. For example, Richard and Roger may view the same animation cel from ''Daria'' the television series and Richard will conclude from it that Daria the character is slender, while Roger will conclude that Daria the character is chubby. If Daria the character "exists in the mind," but actual minds disagree as to the details, which mind is right? Is slender Daria or chubby Daria the real Daria? Stipulating that there are as many Darias as there are people exposed to the show only increases the problems with the assertion that a character "exists in the mind." If each Daria is distinct yet legitimate, the Daria of the show loses any claim to priority over these other version, and one does not have to be a blinkered [[Prescriptivism in Daria Fanfiction|prescriptivist]] to see the problem with such an approach. Much of the pleasure and therefore legitimacy of alternative universe Daria fanfiction comes from the ''frisson'' between the series and the alternative universe created by the author, and without the priority of the series, that pleasure evaporates; hence the [[Greybird|worthlessness]] of arguments against fic that is too AU or off-canon. But against [[Greybird|stupidity]], the Gods themselves struggle in vain.


These are just consequences of a general problem with any name ''N'' whose referent has an unclear ontological status. The American philosopher and logician W.V.O. Quine summarized the problem thus:
These are just consequences of a general problem with any name ''N'' whose referent has an unclear ontological status. The American philosopher and logician W.V.O. Quine summarized the problem thus:
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It's obvious why this would be troubling to a philosopher, but why would it trouble producers and consumers of fiction? Some would say it shouldn't; others would say it doesn't; and I claim both are wrong. The ''solution'' to this problem in fiction is so well-established that people fail to realize that it is a solution, and to this very problem: the solution is to stipulate that there are multiple real universes, and these universes are populated by fictional characters and alternate versions of them. MacGillicutty (the character, not the author) takes this solution as true until Daria disabuses him of it in the penultimate chapter of "Where's Mary Sue?"
It's obvious why this would be troubling to a philosopher, but why would it trouble producers and consumers of fiction? Some would say it shouldn't; others would say it doesn't; and I claim both are wrong. The ''solution'' to this problem in fiction is so well-established that people fail to realize that it is a solution, and to this very problem: the solution is to stipulate that there are multiple real universes, and these universes are populated by fictional characters and alternate versions of them. MacGillicutty (the character, not the author) takes this solution as true until Daria disabuses him of it in the penultimate chapter of "Where's Mary Sue?"



===The Solution: Fictional Characters as Unactualized Possibilities in a Single Real World===
===The Solution: Fictional Characters as Unactualized Possibilities in a Single Real World===
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