Comparing Victoria Winters to other soap ingenues . . .

[Fletcher]

I'm wondering how Vicky Winters compared to other soap ingenues of the late 60s. 

I suppose Vicky stands-out as a very memorable ingenue, but actually she was one of many -- nearly every soap featured a young innocent female romantic lead during that period.  What makes Vicky so special?  Was she really just the most extreme streotype?  or was there something else special about Vicky?

How didi Victoria Winters compare to other soap ingenues like Alice Matthews? Penny Hughes? Tara Martin? Susan Martin? Allison MacKenzie? Victoria Lord? Nina Courtlandt? Tess Prentice?   Was Vicky just a typical soap ingenue?  Was the only real difference between Vicky and all these others that Vicky was being persued by a vampire?  Or were there other, more intrinsic differences?

[michael c]

good topic.

i have always perceived victoria winters to be the 'classic gothic ingenue'.that's the way that the character was written.

when i first got into the show i was stunned by the negative and even angry reactions can sometimes get from fans.i've always found her supposed "i don't understand-ish-ness" to be greatly exaggerated across fandom. a situation only worsened by comments that alexandra moltke herself made in 1968 during a time when she was(quite understandably)unhappy with her storyline.

the mention of allison mackenzie is important.she was played by mia farrow whom also of course played the doomed rosemary woodhouse in 'rosemary's baby'.like vicki...classic gothic ingenue.if these characters were 'in on it' there would be no story.

it's important to remember that this type of girl was conceieved in the pre-feminist age.they weren't meant to be "dumb" but innocent.in today's context it doesn't play but the 1960's were a different era.

but back to topic.i haven't seem many of the other soap ingenues mentioned here but indeed vicki might have become a more extreme example of the stereotype once the show went supernatural because the way the plot was set up she always needed to be slightly out of step with what was happening around her.

in a story top-heavy with villians she was the single character on the show who was never "bad".i always found that endearing but of course it's a matter of opinion.

[stefan]

I find Victoria Winters to be more of a representative presence. What is so interesting about her and Alexandra M. is her sheer ambiguity and reserve. It's interesting that even after being on the show for two or three years I didn't understand or know her any better than I did from the very beginning of the series. She never reveals much of herself, and I wonder if she is really meant to. What she does do is lead us in the direction to the OTHER characters, she points the finger towards Barnabas, the past, Josette, and others. On her own, as a character, she floats away, as if nothing is really there. Take, for example, her strong 1795 witch storyline, notice that she virtually dissappears at the center. It was a stupid storyline but it also tended to betray Victoria Winters' inherant weakness as a central figure as opposed to the abstract observer and compass that Victoria Winters is classic for.

[Josette]

While it's fun to joke about the "I don't understand" aspect to Vicki, I normally don't mind it too much.  When one considers all the strange things that happen, it seems pretty normal for someone to "not understand"!!

The only time I felt she was acting stupid and really got annoyed by it was in 1795. After the first couple of resemblances and after finally realizing she was actually in 1795, she could have at least kept her mouth shut every time a new person looked like someone she knew!  And, especially as a teacher, she should have known enough of history to have some idea of how to act, and what these people would know and believe, and be able to try to fit in better.

[Sandor]

I agree with Stefan's comments - Vicki was definitely the "bridge" that brought the viewer into the show, and once that was accomplished, her character calmly faded into the background while more florid and intense characters moved to center stage.
That said, Alexandra Moltke was a noble and special soap ingenue of her time. Given her competition of the time (nice choices, Fletcher):
Victoria on One Life To Live had a split personality with a penchant for danger.
Tess on Love of Life was impulsive and immature.
Alice on Another World cried at the drop of a coffee cup.
Tara on All My Children... another incessant weeper.
Susan on Days of Our Lives... trigger happy and not playing with a full deck.
Vicki was different than these daytime divas in that the writers (while ultimately short-changing her character's intelligence) tried not to saddle Alexandra with more than she was expected to handle, and she was content not to chew the scenery in frustration. Instead, she sublimely complimented the histrionics of her co-stars by being so natural and real in her reactions, as her character avoided self-absorption with a genuine concern for the welfare of others in her orbit (David, Barnabas, Mrs. Stoddard, Maggie, etc.). An ingenue with no ego - who you want to learn more about, as she doesn't wear it all on her sleeve - is a rare find.

[michael c]

vicki sure didn't wear it all on her sleeve.

[Midnite]

vicki sure didn't wear it all on her sleeve.

Good grief, I just snorted my coffee. 

[Raineypark]

Oh dear Goddess......I just got that..... .....snort!......

[Julia99]

Okay . .i'll jump into the foray and raise my bad karma score even more  . .haha CAN'T!

I find Victoria abominabley dull but then . .i find that with most ingenue parts blathering and uninteresting which is why i don't care for them.   And another interesting nonsequiter is thing that Grayson was disappointed at some level she wasn't offered those roles in her youth . .her first role in the New York stage was as a 'coarse ex-burlesque queen named Cleo .." and the little thing was only 19!

Back to Vicki  . .I think of Sierra on As the World Turns back in the mid-80s aside from her haystack hairdo (who else remembers that?!) . .she was constantly being courted/wooed by young Craig Montgomery and older-than-Methuselah John Dixon (aHHH another similarity.)

I'm also going to go further and say that I don't personally think Alexandra M was a very gifted actress--stiff, wooden--sometimes some compassion came through but her ugly sleeveless baglike Orbach dresses always interfer with my viewing of her.  .(Yeah I know Julia's were just as hideous but . ..well you know--)

J99

[CastleBee]

i have always perceived victoria winters to be the 'classic gothic ingenue'.that's the way that the character was written.

This would definately be my impression of her - then and now.  She's practically Jane Eyre in the flesh.  Young, clueless, a touch needy, longing for love and (ahem) understanding.  Capable of drawing you in and keeping you involved.  Her situation and character were especially easy for pre/younger teenagers to identify with I think.

[stefan]

An ingenue with no ego - who you want to learn more about, as she doesn't wear it all on her sleeve - is a rare find.

It IS a rare find isn't it? I understand that AM was no angel in real life (well, if one can believe 2nd hand gossip re the Von Bulow mess) but, if she was difficult or strong-minded than I wonder if Vickie's lack of ego was an acting decision on Moltka's part?

[Misa]

I'm not sure about this as I'm not up on all the other soap ingenues, but I think most of them had family in their stories.

Tara Martin had a father, a brother, and another brother who went upstairs one day and disappeared never to reappear again. Everyone in the entire town had group amnesia; no one remembered that he had ever been born. So, Vicki is the only orphan among the ingenues, and she comes to a new town, instead of being a current resident like most of the other young heroines were.

I think that the way the story was originally to have gone; we would have learned more about Vicki. We would have seen her involved in the decision of which guy to fall in love with, the wealthy Burke, or the handsome lawyer, Garner. (I never saw these early episodes, but I hope to someday.) We would have found out who her parents were too.

Then if they had decided from the beginning that Barnabas was to have been a long term character, I'm sure he would have pursued Vicki from the get to, not Maggie. The writers would probably have used him in a new love triangle with whichever of the two handsome hunks won the first contest.

This is just my opinion of course, but there you have it.

I think that after Barnabas became the new leading character; the writers abandoned the Vicki mysteries, she then became the character that we were destined never to know anything about.