A standard feature of speculative fiction is the prevalence of beautiful women. Whether they’re the lead, the romantic interest, or the villain, any important character tends to be quite attractive. Very occasionally a character may break out of this stereotype, but when they do, they tend to be either an ugly duckling (i.e., Meg Murray, who, though not especially pretty in A Wrinkle in Time, is clearly destined to be a beauty like her mother) or formerly beautiful but now scarred (like, oh, Madame Masque in Marvel Comics). How prevalent are women who are fit a third option? What do you think of this element of speculative fiction? I can’t be the only Doper bothered by it.
The only example I can think of off the top of my head is Chrysalis, from Stephen Donaldson’s “Daughter of Regals.” Deceptive cover illustration aside, she’s certainly meant to be (physically) unattractive: not cursed by magic with the illusion of ugliness, not the victim of an acid throw to the face, but simply naturally un-beautiful. Her perception of herself as being, at best, plain, and, at worst, ugly, is one of the things that makes this story compelling to me. Any others?
(And no, grandmothers, charwomen, and elderly nurses don’t count. I’m talking about important characters who are, saying, mid-teens to mid-fifties.)
I don’t have his books with me right now, but I’m absolutely certain that Susan Calvin was described in various stories as plain and unattractive. Certainly, she’s described so in the one cite I could find quickly, the Harlan Ellison/Isaac Asimov I, Robotscreenplay (not the Will Smith thing.):
Alanna of Tortall (and Trebond and Olau) is not particularly attractive, although she learns to pretty herself up when she discovers dresses. She’s not a hag, either, and has her share of lovers, but is consistently NOT the prettiest girl in the room.
It all boils down to what my creative writing instructor (and, thanks to me, a published fantasy writer) said: Readers put themself in the place of the characters, so they assume the character is good-looking.
There’s another reason, too: unattractive women don’t get put on the cover of books. Even if you describe your heroine as unattractive, you can bet she’ll get a makeover, especially for paperbacks. This was called the “truck driver’s theory”: the purpose of a cover was to attract the attention of the truck driver who delivers the book to the newstands (back when paperbacks were sold at newstands).
I tried to describe the main character of Staroamer’s Fate as OK but not a great beauty. They sent the description to the artist, and when the editor got a look at it, he called me and said, “They’ve made one change.” I knew exactly what had happened (there also was a bit of inflation, if you get what I mean).
George R.R. Martin has quite a few unattractive young women in his Ice & Fire books (rule of thumb - you want to find a broken fantasy cliche, go to Martin): Arya Stark inherited her father’s horse-face; Asha Greyjoy has a nose like a hatchet and a bony frame; Brienne, the Maid of Tarth, is decidedly ugly by any standard. And these are just some of the sereis’ main characters - there are plenty of unattractive women in supporting roles. No shortage of beautiful women, either - the series has more characters than another 10 fantasy books.
Cordelia Naismith (later Countess Vorkosigan) from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan books is described as being rather plain. Many of Bujold’s other female characters are clearly drop-dead gorgeous as described in the text, and I don’t think Cordelia is supposed to be hideously unattractive or anything; just sort of plain, and perhaps getting on towards middle age.
Tolly Mune in Tuf Voyaging is not only plain, but complains about how a movie ( holoplay ? Something like that. ) pretties her up. She especially complains about “those breasts !”.
The women in Mercedes Lackey’s books are often described as fairly plain–I think Kethry is the only female protagonist unequivocally described as “beautiful”. Most of them aren’t actually ugly (with the possible exception of Tarma), but seem to fall into variations on “plain”, “handsome”, and “cute”. (Of course, Lackey is known to have impossibly handsome/beautiful men strutting around her pages from time to time.)
Rhyssa Owens (of Anne McCaffrey’s Talent stories) is described as “not pretty”. She’s described as having uneven and mismatched features, a haughty profile, and a mouth that is “too generous” (i.e. “too big”). While not a protagonist, she is a very major character, with a romantic subplot.
The fact that my counterexamples are drawn from the work of two female authors may be of some significance.
Many of the female characters aren’t necessarily “gorgeous”, so much as “attractive to that particular guy”. The two Vorkosigan brothers are clearly puzzled by the other brother’s taste in women; Kareen “gets outshone by her sisters all the time”.
And of course Taura isn’t scarred but not highly likely to get hired as a babysitter any time soon
Gee, I can’t wait to read how one of the most beautiful women in the world comes up short in your estimation!
The women in the Riverworld series seemed to run the gamut (which is only proper, I guess, since they comprised literally all the women who ever lived); I specifically recall the woman from Bronze Age Germany, who came across as earthily attractive though far from glamorous. Also from Philip Jose Farmer: A Barnstormer in Oz. I vaguely recall a scene where an Amazon slightly less bodacious than Glinda formed an attachment to the hero.
Fahrenheit 451: Montag’s wife, though suicidal and less beautiful than Clarisse, is hardly beastly.
While all the girls in the Buffyverse have stripper names and most of them look like swimsuit models, don’t forget Willow and Fred.
Everybody made a big deal about how Weaver played a part originally written for a man, but ignore that fact that the same thing happened eight years earlier in The Andromeda Strain – Kate Reid played a part that was a guy in the book. And she was no Cute Young Thing like Weaver (“butch”? Weaver was a good-looking girl in the first Alien flick). She certainly wasn’t “beautiful”.
For most of these, don’t blame the writers–blame the producers for hiring such pretty actresses.
It’s been a while since I read the first book, but one of my Harry Potter fanatic friends said she was disappointed in the first movie because Hermione is supposed to be fairly plain-looking. Maybe they thought Emma Watson was going to dull up some in the looks department as she aged? Bad guess, if so…
Although I wouldn’t call Kate Winslett “beautiful.” “Mildly attractive,” maybe. YMMV.
