Prey’s Heroine Naru Is The Complete Opposite Of A Mary Sue In Every Way

In this week's Very Stupid Internet Debates, we have the usual collection of outrage-based YouTubers trying to take down Prey, a movie that is being called the best since the original.

The film is being accused of making a woman who is too perfect, talented and skilled, and lacks flaws, a "Mary Sue" since it stars an indigenous actress. She doesn't get the outcomes she gets. Rey was accused of being too good at fighting and force-wielding and not having earned her skill or power a lot in the new Star Wars movies.

I am not going to re-litigate Rey here. Don't get here. As they try to dismiss female characters in media, this is the perfect example of how hollow these arguments are. Naru is a completely different character than Mary Sue, and it's counter to all the usual criticisms leveled at her. What is the way? Where to start?

• To start, while Naru wants to be a hunter among her tribe, it clearly does not come easy to her. During the first part of the film, she’s shown failing to hunt even rabbits successfully, until she modifies her tools and is able to learn from her mistakes to start racking up some kills.
• A key moment of the film is Naru’s early failure to successfully hunt the mountain lion that has terrorized her tribe. She’s knocked unconscious during the fight and has to be saved by her brother, who then goes out and he’s the one who takes down the lion. Though he admits he did so using her strategy.

It is recommended for you.

The number one

There are two

2

• Naru spends the vast majority of the film learning about the Predator, how it hunts, how it hides itself, what attracts or disinterests it. She’s the only one who does this in the whole movie, so it stands to reason she would be at an advantage over everyone else when going to take it on.
• The film also makes it clear, if you’re paying attention, that this is an “unbloodied” Predator during its first ever hunt, not a seasoned veteran, which may make it a somewhat less tough foe than past iterations of the monster.
• Even when Naru ultimately kills the Predator, ahead of that, she still had significant help from her brother, Taabe, who ends up being killed, but not before he himself does significant damage to the Predator.

Naru spends the entire film failing, running away and learning from her mistakes, and even then, she still has a little help. There is absolutely nothing about this that falls into the Mary Sue trope. It is easy to imagine how Sarah and Ripley would sound today if they were in the movie. This isn't true. It should be stopped.

PLAY Forbes Innovation Full Screen About Connatix Read More Read More Read More Read More Read More 1/1 Skip Ad Continue watching after the ad Visit Advertiser websiteGO TO PAGE

You can follow me on a number of social media sites. The God Rolls newsletter is free to subscribe to.

The Herokiller series and The Earthborn trilogy are available for purchase.