Eras of Ailsa's characterisation

[nenehcherry2]

Several other fans and I have commented on how Ailsa's personality changed over time. 

What do you all think? Is Ailsa consistently written and /or portrayed from your perspective? And what "eras of Ailsa" (if any) exist in your viewership of the series?

Eras of Ailsa for me (not exactly night into day seachanges, more umbrella categories):

88 - mid 89: 80s Ailsa is politically conscious in a left-of-centre of way with strong opposition to commercial enterprises which impact the environment (such as the Macklin development). She is generally a warm, extroverted, community-focused woman with clearly defined morals and a real passion in helping underdogs like Bobby. Ailsa relates to teens very well, almost an Aunt figure, and seems to look for their company. But she isn't used as a "Mum" at this point, that is very much reserved for Pippa. She doesn't suffer fools like Roo very gladly. Judy portrays Ailsa with a lot of self-confidence and delivers her lines in a General Australian accent. And she is down to earth, examplified by her chewing gum and throwing bags at Lance and Martin. A difficult to offend type. Streetwise and suspicious but sees the good in everyone. And, most important, has central storylines of her own. Bevan Lee and co clearly liked Ailsa! I am convinced that had they stayed (who knows? Perhaps they'd intended to bring back Graham as Duncan's real father!). 

Late 89ish - late 94/early 95: What I define as "Middle Ailsa". Nice and mumsy. Neither introverted or extroverted. Something changed when Bevan Lee left and the next lot took over (though her leaving the store and switching to the diner started the shift). The new leadership team progressively saw Ailsa as a foster Mum of sorts (the scenarios for bringing the kids in became progressively more forced over time) but, with the "mothering focus" on Pippa, Ailsa just seems to have 1-2 (not truly fostered) kid with her at any one time, so most of her contribution to episodes at this point seems really to be serving coffees in the diner. She is characterised as nice and ordinary (with the occassional snooty side) but isn't as "out there" with her views as the first year or so although still has that mistrust with the likes of Dodge, Nathan and Morag. Gets on fairly well with the teens but definitely more "controlled" interactions than cooler 80s Ailsa. Community focused but that really gets lost in focus once Pippa is recasted (they make Debra's Pip the character everyone goes to with problems with Ailsa as backup). No big storylines between 89-95, more a mere supporting type. As this era progresses, Judy changes the physical mannerisms in her delivery to reflect this lesser focused Ailsa and her accent becomes slightly more cultivated. Lots of "Oh Alf, really Love!" sort of lines and moaning about being busy (especially when Alf goes away every year so Ray can do panto!) 

Late 94/Early 95 - 00: Ailsa in this period is very inconsistent and all over the place in characterisation! She can be downright cold and nasty at times and very aloof, with the kids especially (I see the start of the shift here being not wanting to take Curtis in at first and full-on by the time Laura arrives). Introverted to the point of avoiding interacting with many characters and often socially awkward. Quite the opposite of mumsy. The accent becomes even more cultivated and she becomes more conservatively dressed and centre right in ideology, often approaching Celia level Right! But in the next episode, she can be just like "Middle Ailsa" again, serving coffees with a smile. However, starting with the breakdown, she does start to get central storylines again. However, these stories make her seem like a victim or deranged. It felt like Russell Webb and his team were aiming to bring back darker, tougher 80s Ailsa to a degree but got it all wrong. To the point that she very often comes across as a judgemental, prickly old witch. She does have kids living with her like in the previous era but her chemistry with them (Curtis especially) is nothing near as warm as what she had with say Blake or Sarah. 

So what are the consistencies between these periods? For me, there are few. Perhaps the main one is Ailsa's sixth sense with "baddies" (though by the time Quinn comes along, she takes that way too far) as well as being anti-violence given her history.

 

What does everyone else here think? Is Ailsa one woman for you? Or several women? 

Edited March 6, 2022 by nenehcherry2

[j.laur5]

But however I think the same could be said about any long term character as they all changed characterisation from time to time . 

I think Irene is even more inconsistently written than Ailsa but guess that’s falls Irene remains still on show til this day. 
 

 

[nenehcherry2]

10 hours ago, j.laur5 said:

But however I think the same could be said about any long term character as they all changed characterisation from time to time . 

I think Irene is even more inconsistently written than Ailsa but guess that’s falls Irene remains still on show til this day. 
 

 

You're not wrong about other characters with long tenures changing singificantly over time. And I am not suggesting that Ailsa was any less consistent than Irene. I just wanted to use this page to focus on THE Ails alone

So how do you see Ailsa's evolution over time, J? 

[j.laur5]

21 minutes ago, nenehcherry2 said:

You're not wrong about other characters with long tenures changing singificantly over time. And I am not suggesting that Ailsa was any less consistent than Irene. I just wanted to use this page to focus on THE Ails alone

So how do you see Ailsa's evolution over time, J? 

I have blind spot for Ailsa so I always found her to be same character  and she did not stay in long enough.
 

 

[Homeandawayfan.]

I always feel Ailsa became more unstable 1995-2000. She went from a strong, cheery and independent woman but I think being attacked in the Diner in 1995 was one of the main turning points of her becoming a more introverted and unstable woman. And her past regarding her dad started to get to her whereas she always seemed to have a grip on that.

 

[CaptainHulk]

With Curtis/Laura, Ailsa was left to steer the ship alone (Store, Diner, Duncan,etc) and weather the storm (Laura's death, Curtis drinking, etc) as Alf was in Fiji at the time. The Robbery was the final straw.

[pembie]

She’s gotten wiped from history really seeing as Martha has turned up 

[j.laur5]

1 hour ago, pembie said:

She’s gotten wiped from history really seeing as Martha has turned up 

Ailsa has been mentioned as Alf just said a year ago that Roo gave Ailsa hell. 
 

 

[CaptainHulk]

Duncan giving out to Alf over acting like Ailsa never existed would have been a decent scene and would have added further to his emotions (Caroline not to long having died and him having cared for her in her final days and now being all Bryxe has)

Then Alf would counter with how out of control Duncan was before and after Ailsa's death.

Ray and Benedict would have made it work and seem organic.

[Sunny Girl]

On 14/03/2022 at 05:16, CaptainHulk said:

Duncan giving out to Alf over acting like Ailsa never existed would have been a decent scene and would have added further to his emotions (Caroline not to long having died and him having cared for her in her final days and now being all Bryxe has)

Then Alf would counter with how out of control Duncan was before and after Ailsa's death.

Ray and Benedict would have made it work and seem organic.

That is a good point