Ginny Field is a fictional character in the Friday the 13th franchise, created by writer Ron Kurtz and portrayed by Amy Steel. Written as a replacement to Friday the 13th (1980)'s heroine Alice Hardy (Adrienne King), Ginny is the protagonist of Steve Miner's sequel Friday the 13th Part II (1981). Kurtz gave her backstory and decided to make her a child psychology major, a plot device later fully emphasized in the film's climax. A breakout character of the films, Ginny is prominently featured in fan labor of the franchise, appearing in fan films such as Jason Rising, fan art, animations, and additional merchandise. In official works, Ginny is a recurring character and protagonist in literary works of the franchise.
Steel was in high regard by associate producer Frank Mancuso Jr. and Miner, and they originally wanted the actress to return in the follow-up film Friday the 13th Part III (1982). They had several intentions on the direction to take Ginny, including her evading Jason in a psych ward and another as her as a woman suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and studying martial arts as a coping mechanism. However, when Steel declined to return, Miner ultimately abandoned the Ginny-centric storylines. Ginny is referenced in Carol J. Clover's Men, Women, and Chainsaws (1992) as an example of Clover's theory and has been referred to as being the franchise's "ultimate final girl."
Ginny made her cinematic debut in Friday the 13th Part 2. In this film, Ginny has notably more character development than the main character Alice from the previous film. The character is an aspiring child psychologist and the only character shown contemplating the mythology of Jason Voorhees and his motivations. When the character of Jason begins to murder all of the counselors, Ginny is his next target. After evading Jason numerous times and fighting back, Ginny stumbles across Jason's makeshift shack in the woods and finds a shrine for Pamela Voorhees. She puts on Pamela's old sweater to convince Jason that she is his mother. Jason believes her, and she manages to calm him down before he sees his mother's head behind Ginny. He then slices open Ginny's leg just as Paul Holt comes in. As Jason prepares to kill Paul, Ginny comes up behind Jason and drives a machete into his shoulder. At the end of the film, Ginny is seen being carried away in a stretcher, crying out for Paul, whose fate is left unknown.
Ginny makes her first literary appearance in the novelization of Friday the 13th Part III (1982), which states that she is in "serious condition" and is suffering from "severe hysterical shock" because of her battle with Jason. She subsequently appears as the lead protagonist in [[Friday the 13th Part II (novel]|Friday the 13th Part II]: A Novel, a novelization of the 1981 film Friday the 13th Part 2, which was released seven years after the film premiered in February 1988. The novel was written by Simon Hawke and based on Ron Kurz's screenplay.
The aftermath of her encounter with Jason is once again referenced in the novel Friday the 13th: Carnival of Maniacs, which states that her claims of finding Jason's shack in the woods went ignored, due to the authorities doubting her sanity.