"Slowly, the girl entered the room. There was no fear in her eyes as her gaze swept steadily around to scrutinize those who stood watching her.
Then, completely unconscious -- or apparently so -- of the veiled hostility toward her, she began to approach the dais of the All-Frak. The long coppery tresses cascading to her bare shoulders seemed almost black in the weird red ceremonial lights which flickered from the ceiling. Her head was high, her chin thrust defiantly forward. Her graceful carriage, the clean lines of her high, small breasts, her tiny, perfectly-formed nose, and her flashing blue-green eyes, delicately tip-tilted -- all proudly shouted the fact of her Venusian ancestry.
Ran-Tar was uncomfortably aware of a quickening of his pulse as he watched her ....."
Do you recognize the above scene? Reread it. Doesn't it sound vaguely familiar, as though it were something you had read a long, long time ago and only hazily remember now? And though the above lines have never before seen print, still the chances are that they will strike a resonant chord in your mind. For you see, the above is what might be described as a typical characterization passage. Read almost any stf story and you will find the heroine -- if the story has one at all -- characterized an a manner remarkably parallel to that above. And that, in a nutshell, is what this article is intended to discuss: the typical stf heroine.
It is a sad but true fact, one which any well-read stf fan will already know, that after one has read so many science-fiction yarns, one may with fair accuracy predict all the general characteristics of the heroine of any given, unread stf tale. As any but the most dull-witted will admit, it is a rare story -- science-fiction or any other type -- which does not at some point deal with the natural forces which act upon the meeting of a male with a female, whatever the species. Therefore, if you are one who reads a great deal, you may already have had occasion to deplore the tiresome repetition of similar heroines in story after story.
This grievous circumstance may, in general, be said to be the result of two factors: (1) Since the invention of the printing press, the mass production of all types of literature has skyrocketed to such an extent that eventual duplication of story character types is inevitable; and (2) in considering the profit motive which underlies this mass-production, an editor or publisher must necessarily print the type of material which will satisfy the greatest number of his buyers -- in other words, he must evolve one or more type-story-formulas which will aid him in selecting from the mass of manuscripts he receives only that kind which he has found most successful in selling the greatest number of copies of his publication. This must inevitably lead to duplication upon duplication with regards to characterization in his stories.
The first difficulty, of course, cannot be helped. But the second can. Unfortunately, however, due to the ever-present profit motive, very little work has been done toward correcting this fault. An editor still must sell his mag. And that is why this question of predictable heroines is becoming of increasing importance to the stfan.
Fans are generally conceded to be of slightly higher intelligence than the norm. Until recently, science-fiction had been considered as an "off-trail" branch of literature. When a person discovered stf, became intrigued by it, stuck to it, and became a fan, it set him apart from his neighbors. It indicated a "something" in his nature which those about him did not have -- this generally conceded "slightly higher" intelligence. But now all that is changing. Stf is booming. Intensive advertising campaigns are now in progress which are designed to bring stf to the general public.
You can see what this will do. Instead of an individual who unwittingly possesses the inherent characteristics of the true fan gravitating to stf of his own free will, stf is now being literally forced upon the public at large. Hundreds of thousands of people who would never have become fen otherwise are now going to become fen in name though they do not actually possess a fan nature. It will be merely a fad to them. "Everybody else is reading the stuff. I must be missing out on something." Keep up with the Jonses. And so the editors and publishers of stf, as they gloat over their growing circulation lists, are going to find their story standards subtly changing. Even now they are different from what they used to be. Science-fiction is now no longer the term they use. It is science-fantasy. The emphasis is slowly drawing away from the "science." Because more and more people of non-scientific inclination are being drawn to it, the profit-hungry stf editors are going to include more and more of the mundane in their publications in order to satisfy the greatest number of buyers. And every day the proportion of buyers with general interests only to the total number increases. Let's face it -- eventually the true fan is going to be left out in the cold. He's going to turn into something else.
Why does a true fan publish a fanzine? I think it can be said that it is -- at least in part -- to express his dissatisfaction of the prozines. And do you know something? The number of fanzines is growing every day! And just look at the articles in some of them. More & more the fan writers howl over the flood of stf hack which is hitting the markets. I'm afraid they're doomed to continue howling without success.
And as far as stf heroines are concerned -- which is, I guess, what I started out to talk about -- they will become more and more conformed to a single uniform standard, so that the stf editor can keep the general masses satisfied. It won't be long and you won't find one that won't be (a) virtuously good, (b) entrancingly beautiful, and (c) disgustingly dainty. Ah me, just for a change, how I'd like to read something like ...
"Nora smiled with a smile that made Captain Rawlins blanch. She laughed. 'What's the matter -- handsome! -- scared?' Abruptly her smile faded. She took a step toward the cringing man.
'You dirty, rotten bastard!' she sneered. 'You're as corrupt as any stinking Solar Patrolman! Look at you! Afraid of a woman! You scum ...'
Abruptly her fist flicked out to smash Rawlins full in the face. Rawlins sat down hard. He had a surprised look on his face. Nora placed her hands on her hips and laughed uproariously as the Captain gingerly applied a handkerchief to his smashed and bleeding nose ..."
See what I mean?
- END -
Text versions by Judy Bemis, page scans by Judy Bemis and Kim Huett
Data entry by Judy Bemis
Updated June 19, 2015. If you have a comment about these web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.