The Life of Eliza Lex

Abstract

Elyza Lex is a fictional character that was created by fans of the television show The 100 (2014- ) in reaction to the death of fan-favorite lesbian character Lexa. Lexa’s death was particularly painful for the LGBTQ-community, because she was killed moments after she consummated her relationship with Clarke, the bisexual female lead of the show.

Some writers of Elyza Lex fan fiction write as a way to cope with the loss of Lexa. They write the story they want to read about two women falling in love without anyone dying. These fan fiction stories show how good LGBTQ-representation can look. However, these stories are not without fault. Especially, Elyza Lex is portrayed as the perfect woman. In fan fiction, the perfect woman, such as Elyza Lex, is called a ‘Mary Sue’. This research complicates the Mary Sue trope by analyzing how fans use the trope to repair the harmful LGBTQ-storyline from The 100. The following question was posed: “How is the original female character ‘Mary Sue’ trope used in ‘Elyza Lex’ fan fiction to repair the harmful LGBTQ-storyline in The 100 and is thus an example of a user-generated counter to heteronormative media representation?”

A thematic analysis of ten Elyza Lex fan fiction stories was performed to see how Elyza Lex is portrayed as a Mary Sue. Subsequently, a discourse analysis was performed to see how Elyza Lex is related to the LGTBQ-storyline from The 100. With these methods this research can conclude that Elyza Lex is partially a Mary Sue because her perfect qualities are that she is playful, a badass and a hero. These characteristics allow Elyza Lex to save Alicia Clark multiple times, something Clarke Griffin couldn’t do for commander Lexa. Although these stories replicate heteronormative story structures, where the hero (Elyza Lex) almost always saves the damsel-in-distress (Alicia Clark), these stories are a counter to heteronormative media representation because lesbian Elyza Lex has the role in the story that is usually reserved for the male protagonist.