Who do you think is the intended audience for Weinbaum’s stories? What in the stories makes you think as you do? The vocabulary? The portrayal of specific characters? The nature of the narratives and the kinds of creatures in them?
6 thoughts on “Pulp Science Fiction”
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I agree with Sophie and I think that the intended audience is for the masses, which would be 1930s Americans. I believe this because of how straightforward the stories were. In the Martian Odyssey as well as Parasite Planet, we are given alien life that is very imaginative. The detail to the creatures seems to be extremely important to Weinbaum and the plots do not seem very elaborate which makes me think that he might be trying to intrigue more casual science fiction readers with ingenious alien life. In Parasite planet, the portrayal of Patricia is used to create a love interest for Ham which would make the story more exciting for readers who were not just interested sci-fi.
Weinbaum’s stories are tailored to science fiction fans who enjoy the mystery and adventure of foreign planets while still being grounded to familiar concepts of organisms or human companionship. In each story, the author maintains the reader’s attention through the constant introduction of unfamiliar creatures and landscapes. This is seen in “A Martian Odyssey” when Jarvis tentatively approaches two Martian creatures fighting for survival. The less dangerous creature Jarvis decides to save is described as “ostrich-like,” having a flexible beak-like structure and numerous feathery appendages. While the creature as a whole is clearly exotic and distinct from any life on earth, the comparisons give the reader a concrete image to hold onto, making the story more acceptable. Another important aspect that appears in each of Weinbaum’s stories is the presence of companionship. Continuing with “A Martian Odyssey,” the reader sees the relationship between Tweel, the bird like creature, and Jarvis grow till the point in which Tweel will not leave Jarvis’ side even while facing down death. Similarly, Weinbaum familiarizes “Paradise Planet” by including elements of romance between Ham and Patricia in an otherwise emotionless and rugged environment.
Weinbaum’s stories are intended for the adventurous. In both stories, Parasite Planet and A Martian Odyssey, the main characters Ham and Jarvis travel across foreign planets seeking to find a way out. These two stories share the characteristics of an adventure tale where the main character goes on an eventful journey and finds themselves running into obstacles along the way that prevent them from reaching their goal. Ham runs into speedbumps such as the doughpots and pharisee trees, while Jarvis ends up being attacked by the barrel creatures. Weinbaum also incorporates a side kick within each plotline. Patricia plays this role for Ham and Tweel for Jarvis. Both sidekicks save their respective protagonists’ lives throughout each story. Analyzing these supporting characters makes me think that Paradise Planet could be intended for a more mature audience due to the underlying concept that with Patricia’s supporting tendencies, while also being a female character, amounts to something much more than playing the role of a sidekick. This story turns into a romance adventure that I feel more mature adults and specifically women could relate to. The identification of the character, Tweel, in A Martian Odyssey leads me to believe that the story could be intended for a younger audience considering this supporting character happens to be a friendly alien from Mars. To me, this suggests that Weinbaum designed and marketed this story to appeal towards a younger age group with the idea that they would be attracted to peaceful aliens and foreign creatures.
I think the intended audience of Weinbaum’s stories is mass groups. In the Martian Odyssey, there is a lot of focus on describing the creatures, similarly with the Parasite Planet, and the reader is well-oriented with the planet itself and how these creatures fit into the planet. This makes it easier for large groups of readers to assimilate with the story and place it in a realm they can somewhat comprehend. Also, the main characters in each story are funny, smart, charismatic men who are extremely comfortable in the strange environments they find themselves in. I think men would likely want to identify with this characters. In the Parasite Planet, Patricia is also an easily identifiable character, although she starts off being somewhat rude to Ham. The Parasite Planet seems to me to be applicable to a wider audience, because Weinbaum has weaved the romantic thread into this story, which just makes it a more complex story and therefore perhaps more interesting to a broader range of readers.
Weinbaum’s stories seem to target the science fiction fan, not the reader whose primary interest lies in uncovering social critique within the genre. His stories are fun, adventurous, and easy to comprehend. Weinbaum uses his character’ fascinations with their surroundings to mirror the reader’s interest in foreign worlds. The author introduces exciting monsters that threaten Jarvis and Ham; however, both characters seem to welcome the challenge, which encourages the reader to support each protagonist through his trials. Weinbaum also introduces secondary characters in both stories, but does so more effectively in “A Parasite Planet”, in which the relationship between Ham and Patricia adds an engaging, earthly-element to a story otherwise rooted in pure sci fi. The story’s ending, however, in which Ham makes a unilateral decision to marry Patricia in Erotia highlights Weinbaum’s intent to appeal to a male audience.
Weinbaum’s stories are for readers who are interested in getting a near-authentic glimpse of how it feels to live on foreign planets. In both stories, the protagonists are humans who travelled from the Earth and who have experienced living on their respective planets, Mars and Venus. For example, in Martian Odyssey, Weinbaum gives great effort in describing the Martian bird, Tweel, such as by revealing its physical attributes, intelligence, and emotional capacity. He also spends much time on explaining how certain things work on the planet, such as the “bricklayer” that is not alive and is made out of silicon. Similarly, in Parasite Planet, Weinbaum describes the climate and the environment on Venus in detail, illustrating the various hardships of living on the planet not only by narrative paragraphs, but also by the story plot that the characters are revolved around. It is through those descriptions and explanations that the stories are able convince the readers enough to continue reading and not start questioning the stories’ foolishness. In short, Weinbaum could have chosen to write a great amount of descriptions and explanations so that the stories could be targeted toward readers who were interested to know how life would be if one is outside of the Earth.