Virginia Lewis (The 10th Kingdom)
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Virginia Lewis is the heroine and one of 'The Four Who Saved The Nine Kingdoms' of the Hallmark Entertainment's, and NBC's2000 Mini-series The 10th Kingdom by Simon Moore.
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[edit] History
Virginia Lewis (Kimberly Williams) was born in Manhattan, New York City, and grew up in a well-to-do neighbourhood on the edge of Central Park. Virginia is the only daughter of Tony and Christine Lewis.
Details about Virginia's relationship with her mother are few. When Christine discovered she was pregnant she wanted an abortion, but Tony wore her down on her decision. (As Tony was rich at the time, it is safe to say that Virginia was likely to have been in the care of a nanny during her infancy.)
Virginia was very young when her father, Tony, put all his money into an investment of bouncy castles, which he was very taken with, but then lost both his fortune and later his business, and was left with no income. Tony then took a job as a janitor to provide a home for his family.
While a little girl, Virginia had the impression that her mother, Christine, didn't want her - and for a little girl that is a horrible thing to realise. Virginia recalls that, although her mother was cold towards her most of the time, she still recalls a few happy memories of her mother, which she treasures.
Virginia's mother Christine disappeared when Virginia was seven years old, leaving Virginia on her own to be raised by her father. Tony, and his vain and stuck-up mother-in-law are Virginia's only known immediate family. Virginia was unable to recall the night her mother walked out and never returned.
Over the years, Virginia has been unable to deal with her feelings towards her mother walking out on her: any attempts on Virginia's part to talk to her father about her mother were unsuccessful - Tony remained very tight-lipped about Christine, and will not talk about her simply telling Virginia that her mother now lives in Miami. Whenever Virginia talks about her mother with her grandmother the Old Mrs. Slevil, she talks non-stop about society, and about Christine's debut, and about her own debut, and attempts to talk Virginia into entering high society like Christine did befor her, but Virginia isn't like her mother or grandmother, and she is uninterested in marrying someone just for wealth.
All that Virginia knows about her mother is what she remembers from her early childhood until she left, and what her grandmother has told her. As a result of fourteen years of this - Virginia feelings about her mother have been left unresolved, and feelings haunted by her mother's abandonment caused Virginia to grow up unable to put her trust in people, even on a simple level, due to ths distrust she has only a few friends. Virginia has since been one to keep to herself and tries not get involved out of fear of getting hurt.
Known details about her life point out that despite the fact that she's not like her mother and grandmother - she still wants to know about her mother, and she frequently visits her grandmother’s Gramercy Park apartment from time to time, even though she knows her grandmother will try to persuade Virginia to be like her and her mother Christine. Virginia excelled academically in school, but she opted out of college for unknown reasons. She is also an excellent skier.
[edit] Story of the 10th Kingdom
Virginia is now twenty-one, a beautiful but withdrawn young woman. She is still living with her father and looking after him (which she admits this is "a bit sad", but she's the only family he has left). She has to do all the shopping, cooking (when she goes to work she has to leave Tony something out or he will not eat at all) and the cleaning (Tony never cleans up after himself), and has to listen to him talk endlessly about how he hates his job and how the world is out to get him.
Virginia is employed as a waitress at a New York restaurant (in the series the restaurant is called the Grill on the Park, in the novel adaption its the Grill on the Green) as it gets her out of her father's apartment, and where she has won numerous Employee of the Month Awards. One friend that Virginia is known to have is Candice Candy Fitzsimmons - her ditsy co-worker waitress at the Grill on the Park.
Virginia dreams of meeting the right guy whoever he is, and has a practical plan to establish a restaurant business once she finds a good man - a business partner, preferring management to waitressing. However Virginia has never been in love, she has never been in a serious relationship because of her unresolved issues from childhood, Virginia has no experience with relationships and dating, and she is very inhibitive and even repressive with her own feelings: "I just never want to jump unless I'm sure someone's gonna catch me." Virginia has told her grandmother that she would not marry a man just for financial reasons. Despite her tough-girl exterior Virginia wants commitment and romance - a love-life. So she's "permanently between boyfriends at the moment", so she does not have anyone to move in with.
Virginia is stuck in a dead-end job, and still sharing an apartment with father. She tries to accept that her life will not change: I guess you get to a certain age, and you realize that nothing exciting is ever going to happen to you. But maybe that just how some things are, maybe some people have quiet lives.
Deep down and truthfully Virginia is a warm, caring and compassionate person but she was disillusioned early in life, when her mother walked out on her and her father, so Virginia hardly got to enjoy her childhood, and she has had to be the responsible one in the wake of her father's collapse into his own well of self-pity, and Virginia has had a lifetimes worth of trying to find herself and where she is in life.
Virginia masks her emotions behind a cynical and sarcastic front, in an effort to protect herself from her own feelings, to mask her own insecurities from the world to the point that she becomes somewhat depressed, has she has no-one who she can really talk to, when its her father and grandmother who do all the talking about their opinions and Virginia just goes through all the motions of humouring them because she can hardly get her word in, no more than she can blame than for holding onto their fantasies as she daydreams herself.
Virginia is even suppressive of her own feelings, passions and affections; Virginia also tries not to get attached to anyone because she's scared of getting hurt, which also makes her very practical and sensible and has even tried to 'armour' herself for life in the real world.
Virginia is a typical product of the late 20th/early 21st century – full of expectations about what the world has to offer, yet too insecure and fearful to do anything about it, but with only her bickering father and grandmother as role-models, who could blame her for being reluctant from try taking any action of her own and being all that she could potentially be.
During the scene where the trio are on their way to the Kissing Town by hitching a ride on a horse-drawn wagon, Virginia was reading: Curing why I'm so Miserable "...ask yourself these following questions: Do you frequently conceal your emotions? Do you feel like you do everything for other people and then resent it?" - seems to sum up some of her feelings accurately.
[edit] Story
"My name is Virginia, and I live on the edge of the forest... well kinda. You see, my Dad's a janitor, that's how we got to have an apartment on the edge of Central Park. And you might think that the fact that I still live with my Dad is a bit sad, and you might be right. But I don't know... I'm all he's got really, and I'm sort of 'between boyfriends' at the moment, so, you know. I'm just a waitress at the "Grill on the Park"; but one day I'm going to find a partner, and open a restaurant of my own. All I need is a good man - who's interested in food."
The story begins with Virginia's narration as she takes in the view of Central Park, day-dreaming away her free time, before finishing her chores and heading out for her shift as a waitress at the "Grill on the Park", going through the motions that she does everyday when her father, Tony, as he moans on about his woes and troubles, Virginia manages to insert: "Your Barbecue ribs are on top of the Microwave", before she watches as her father suck up to the building owner, Mr. Murray, as Tony is holding on to his job by a fine line.
Virginia is on her way to work, cycling through Central Park, when her path (and her bike) collides with a crash into a dog, and they lay for unconscious for a short while, until they both come to and Virginia, with the dog in tow, head through the park, Virginia discovers that she has lost her wallet, but is unwilling to linger any longer as she's now already late for work. Greated by her co-worker/waitress, Candy' Fitzsimmons - who has a fetish for dogs, names him 'Prince'. Shortly later, 'Prince' forces Virginia to leave by writing DANGER in spilt flour, after Wolf arrives.
MORE COMMING SOON
[edit] Notes on Virginia
In her heart, Virginia is a dreamer, often daydreaming of the view of Central Park, from her and her father's apartment, as a fairytale forest, like the fairytale read to her by her father Tony when she was little. Virginia's life and adventure throughout the story is indeed remenisent of elements in the stories of 'The Five Woman Who Changed History' in the world of the Nine Kingdoms:
- Cinderella: Cinderella, as good natured as she was in her early years, was made to cook and clean for her wicked step-mother and step-sisters. Virginia, after her mother walked out on them has had to do all the cooking and cleaning for her father, Tony, since the age of seven and over, though this is emphasised in the novel more than it is on screen. On another note, Virginia's encounter with the old woman carrying sticks in the Disenchanted Forest does resemble some versions of Cinderella's story, where as Cinderella encounters her fairy godmother in the woods, who is disguised as an old lady collecting twigs; as in others her fairy godmother comes to her. In the novel adaption, Snow White says that she was the old lady collecting twigs, helping Virginia on her journey.
- Little Red Riding Hood: Virginia can be compared to Little Red Riding Hood, when Wolf (who is speculated to be the half-human grandson of the wolf who tried to eat Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother) plans to cram Virginia's grandmother into the oven, then hides in the bed putting on an elderly voice, wielding a meat cleaver, (until he sees Virginia "in the flesh.")
- Snow White: Virginia's adventure in the Nine Kingdoms most closely parallels Snow White's. Snow White was 7 years old when her step-mother first ordered her death... a similar scenario happens in Virginia's life when her mother tries to drown her at the same age. Virginia, Wolf and Tony along with a frozen-gold Prince Wendell discover and take shelter in the cottage of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in the Disenchanted Forest. Virginia lay in a glass coffin, just like Snow White. Snow White also choked on an apple, just like Virginia did during her nightmare whilst sleeping in the Deadly Swamp. Snow White had four sinificant attempts made on her life: her step-mother the queen ordered her huntsman to kill Snow White; her step-mother tried to kill her with a corset to crush Snow White's ribs; then the step-mother tried to kill her with a poisoned comb; and lastly the evil step-mother tried to kill Snow White with a poisoned apple. Virginia also had four significant attempts made on her life: her mother Christine tried to drown Virginia in a bathtub at the age of 7; during her adventure throughout the Nine Kingdoms, Virginia's mother (now the Evil Queen and Prince Wendell's (Snow White's grandson) wicked step-mother) sends her Huntsman after Prince Wendell, trapped in the form of a dog, and his companions, captures Virginia and threatens to kill her if she doesn't tell him what he wants to know about Prince Wendell; Virginia's mother tries to strangle her while at the same time tries to receive Virginia with her Magic-Mirrors; and lastly tries again to strangle Virginia during the Coronation Ball, after all the guests had fallen to the ground seemingly poisoned, this time Virginia is forced to strike down her mother in self-defence.
- Rapunzel: When they are travelling through the Disenchanted Forest, Virginia's hair starts to grow rapidly under the influence of a gypsy curse, with which Wolf later has to climb up it to rescue her from the Huntsman's Magic-Tree. It is emphasised not on screen, but in the novel how Virginia imagines the horrors of having someone climb up your hair, and later because of the gypsy curse, experiences this first hand when her hair grows as long as Rapunzel's.
- Gretal: Virginia's connections with Gretel are not as evident, though while in the tunnels of the Dwarves Ninth Kingdom, Virginia leaves a trail of breadcrumbs when she was searching for an exit because her father Tony had fallen down a hole in a tunnel and could not move his back. Snow White tells Virginia "you are still lost in the forest". In the Deadly Swamp, Acorn pretends to be the Swamp Witch, threatening to put her in a cooking pot.
Virginia's life and adventure bare resemblences to other stories - modern and ancient. Her name: "Virginia" - named after "Verginia" (Virginial), a young woman from Roman mythology - who was killed by a parent, (as Virginia Lewis was nearly killed three times by her own mother). Her father Virginius (a Roman Centurion), heartbroken, stabbed her through the heart to free her of the supposed bondage of slavery claimed by a corrupt official, Appius Claudius, who lusted after her and used the law to take her by force by claiming she was his slave. Virginius was unable to overturn the law and expose the truth in time to stop soldiers, led by Appius Claudius, to come and claim her as a crowd gathered to watch; at the last second Virginius unsheathed his blade and stabbed his daughter Virginia through the heart; recognised by the public as a centurion, he declared that his daughter's death was easier to bear than her dishonour by Appius Claudius. The Roman army and the poorer citizens then rose to support him, and resulted with checks being placed on the official power of magistrates in the Roman Empire. Virginia's death, along with the rape of Lucretia (a Roman Matrion), helped cause major constitutional changes in the Roman Empire and Republic power.
Virginia's story throughout her journey in the world of the Nine Kingdoms is also reminiscent of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz - travelling along the "Yellow Brick Road" - of life; as well as reminiscent of Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - tumbling down the rabbit hole.
Virginia's life and adventure throughout the story does indeed bares elements often found in a Greek Tragedy, where men, in trying to prevent their deaths (that were predicted by an oracle) by getting rid of the infants (often their own sons, nephews, and grandsons), but end up being killed by them or because of them anyway, in other words they end up starting the chain of events they tried to prevent. As well an element seen in Homer's The Odyssey:
The story of Perseus and the Gorgon Medusa: Perseus's grandfather Acrisius, King of Argos learned, from the Oracle of Delphi, that a son born of his only daughter Danae, would one day kill him; so Acrisius incarserated his daughter to prevent her from any contact with men and thus would never bare any children. However, Danae's imprisonment did not stop Zeus - King of the Gods from spying her beauty from within her prison and visiting her one night, the result of this was that Danae became pregnant and gave birth to Perseus. Acrisius, desperate to save his own skin has Danae and the infant Perseus sealed in a box and set adrift in the sea. The chest was watched over by Zeus and drifted to island of Seriphos, ruled by Polydectes, Danae and Perseus's chest was found in the fishing net of Dictys, the brother of King Polydectes, who took them both in. When Perseus was a man he set out on a quest to obtain the head of the Medusa, one of the Gorgons; aided in his quest by Hermes and Athena; after events of his quest, Perseus ends up attending a celebratory games in Larissa where his grandfather Acrisius, King of Argos was also in attendance. Perseus, invited to join in, throws a discus, which ends up striking King Acrisius dead.
The story of Oedipus and the Theban Sphinx: Oedipus, like Perseus, was revealed by an oracle to kill a king, in this case the King was his father, Laius of Thebes. Learning that a son of his and his queen Jocasta would one day kill him, Laius had his new born son pierced through the foot and abandoned on a hillside, the baby boy was found by a shepherd and was named Oedipus, which means 'Swollen Foot'. Years later the events predicted by the oracle came to pass, Oedipus kills Laius, King of Thebes, who unbeknownst to Oedipus, was his real father.
Like Perseus and Oedipus who were nearly killed by their father or grandfather, Virginia was nearly drown by her own mother at the age of seven, and years later to meet her again and ended up killing her; for Perseus it was an accident, for Oedipus it was in a fit of rage, but for Virginia it was self-defence.
In Homer's classic The Odyssey, when Odysseus was imprisoned by Polyphemus - the flesh-eating cycloptic son of Poseidon, imprisoned in a cave along with Polyphemus's sheep, who planned to Odysseus and his men; Polyphemus asked Odysseus who he was and Odysseus replied "I'm Nobody", later when Odysseus and his men poked out Polyphemus's eye, Polyphemus's fellow cyclopses asked who did it, Polyphemus could only answer "It was Nobody." When the Huntsman had captured Virginia in the Disenchanted Forest and dragged her to his Magic-Tree to interogate her, demanded her name and she answered "I'm Nobody. I swear I'm nobody."
Virginia's life and adventure throughout the story also shares elements found in the more modern epic of Star Wars, Luke Skywalker: Both Luke and Virginia grew-up in positions that are low in life, Luke was stuck on a farm on a planet, still living with relatives and feeling low in the hopes that he may finally be able to leave the farm and make something of himself; Virginia was stuck sharing an apartment - and still living with her dad, stuck in a dead-end job, and the chances of change were, to her, remort. Both Luke and Virginia's lives were changed when their paths cross with those whose paths lead to their past; Luke ends up on a journey of self-discovery, where he discovers his talents with the force and becomes ardent in becoming a Jedi; Virginia ends up on a journey of self-discovery, where she begins to learn to overcome her issues with trust, and falls in love for the first time. Both Luke and Virginia's paths on their journeys lead them to a powerful element of their pasts - the villains they both must confront are their missing parents, Luke's father - Darth Vader, and Virginia's mother - the Evil Queen. Both Luke and Virginia, at the end, give their long-lost parent, in their final moments, redemption.
[edit] Descriptions of Virginia Lewis
Description of Virginia's character: Loving, Sweet, Emotional, Vulnerable, Sensitive, Temperamental, Moody, Loyal, Prerequisite, a dreamer, she wants romance - but she is uselly repressive of her own feelings - which are hidden behind cynisim and sarcasm, she's depressed and userally puts praticality over her own sentimentality.
Virginia likes animals: she was upset when she hit 'Prince' because she was scared that she had killed him - and despite the threats of the Three Trolls', she still saved him - and wouldn't leave him behind (except near the end when they were chained up in the Trolls waggon); in the Disenchanted Forest/Thousand Mile Forest, she released all of the Magic-Talking-Birds from the Gypsy camp - after she learned from Wolf that the gypsies were going to break their wings and sell them to rich people to eat; and when it came to a choice of going home and leaving Wolf to be burned at the stake by the locals of the Little Lamb Village, or staying behind to try and defend him - she chose to try and defend him - even though she lost her chance to go home then and had to pursue the mirror again.
Description of Virginia's appearance: Virginia has a petite frame and a Slender, Lean figure, she's Beautiful, Adorable, Attractive, Sexy, Blue-eyed Brunette; in Wolf's own words: "She’s (Virginia) succulent. What a dreamy, creamy girl". "Dynamic". "Querky".
