Angelique..why do people LIKE this woman?

[stefan]

Common, let's battle this one out! I usually hold out BIG TIME over Angelique but my disqust over her knows no bounds!

Thought Lara Parker was tremendous in the role but the character was psychotic and responsible (if not directly but indirectly) for murder after murder. What I can't understand is why people feel sympathetic towards her. I see Angelique as a great villaness ...strong, seductive, evil and manipulative but I never saw her as a heroine or anyone capable of leading a normal life. As the DS's most successful "bad person" the race should have been on to get rid of her like Professor Moriarty in the Sherlock Holmes stories. I guess the DS writers did their job only TOO well...the audience became just as spellbound as eventually did Barnabas, though I feel his final submission to Angelique was one of the most profoundly disturbing things to come of DS and obviously the result of a Stockholm Syndrome.

[Connie]

Why do people like this woman??

Damned if I know.  I could never stand her and STILL can't.  Even as a witch she wasn't terribly competent.  Seems like she screwed up on many an occasion.

With Barnabas I can only think it was some other part of his anatomy doing the thinking.     Maybe it's a "guy" thing.  ()  But even Quentin, who would pretty much go after anything in a skirt, seemed to spend quite a bit of time avoiding her. 

[Josette]

I've always referred to her as the one I love to hate.  She was so beautiful, and it was often quite fun the way she performed her spells.  I loved to watch her and especially her interactions with Barnabas.  But, as the character, Angelique, I hated her and could never believe that Barnabas changed.  Given all she had done to him, that seemed impossible.

It's one of the reasons I liked 1970 PT.

[spoiler]For a while, even though we couldn't be sure she was Alexis, she really WAS Alexis and for once I could really like her!![/spoiler]

[Brian]

In my humble opinion--and as a DS viewer for almost 40 years--I believe Lara Parker brought to the role Angelique's belief that everything she did was the right thing to do.  The  best villains always believe in their own minds hat their way is the right way.  Angelique is no different.  One need only look at the classic story of THE LADY OR THE TIGER to discover Angelique's internal motives.

Anyway, Lara Parker IS Angelique, no matter who else has or will play the role.  She's first and best--and she made the part her own.

[Connie]

Anyway, Lara Parker IS Angelique, no matter who else has or will play the role.  She's first and best--and she made the part her own.

Yes.  Absolutely.  Angelique is Angelique because Lara Parker created her.  I don't care how unique or interesting a story or script may be.  It's the actor that makes or doesn't make the character.  Not only is she the "first and best" like you say, IMHO she is the ONLY.  Just like Frid created Barnabas, Hall created Julia, Selby created the Quentins - 1897, 1840, 1995, etc., (all distinctly different), Edmonds created Roger, and so on.  The characters grew from these people and came into being.  That's why I think it's meaningless to have other people playing them in a new series.  Some may think I'm being fanatical, but as far as I'm concerned, Dark Shadows is unique, sacred ground.  If they wanna make a new series they'd do much better creating their OWN new characters - descendents or relatives of the Collins family.  (Just my very, very, very, humble, unpopular opinion)  

Anyway, it was Parker's realism that enabled me to hate Angelique.  How can you hate someone who hasn't been made real to you!  Hey, ya know what?  I think her portrayal of Angelique in NODS was superior to the one on the show.  She was much more sensual, erotic, and more beautiful.

"Bring the painting to life, Charles..."

YES!!!    

 

[Cassandra]

Well, for one thing, IMHO she's never boring.  And as much as I love to hate her I always find her scenes exiting.  Oh, she's bad alright, but it's when she's bad that she's very good!  I think she added so much exitement to the show too.   And lets not forget Barnabas, who wasn't exactly the innocent victim here either, after all, he did have a fling with her in Martinique, and it was that fling that caused her to do all the things that she did.  And although what she did was wrong she seemed to believe in everything that she did.  She was definetely ruled by her emotions and also seemed to have alot of pent up jealousy towards Josette.

 I often wished that we could have seen that fling in Martinique. I think it would have at least given us a better perceptive on what exactly had transpired between them back then.  Im not talking about the physical part here (as Im sure we all know what went on) but rather the emotional part of the whole thing. Did he lead her on?  Did he promise her anything or give her any kind of hope for a future relationship?   When she first arrived in 1795 at the old house, she seemed to have expected him to resume where they had left off in Martinique.  He, on the other hand seemed rather perplexed at the whole thing,  so either she completely misunderstood the whole thing or he was lying through his teeth.  We all heard the saying about a "woman scorned" but what I loved to know is how she was before all that happened?    Was she just as evil in Martinique or did her reign of terror all start once she arrived in Collinwood?


Cassandra

[Connie]

....Did he lead her on?  Did he promise her anything or give her any kind of hope for a future relationship?   When she first arrived in 1795 at the old house, she seemed to have expected him to resume where they had left off in Martinique.  He, on the other hand seemed rather perplexed at the whole thing...

Well, I for one would not only have liked to have seen their relationship in Martinique, but the sex as well!!  lol
Back then, I would think that was serious business -- not like today, where people go around sleeping with anyone and everyone and it doesn't seem to mean much.

I love that scene in 1968 I think it is, where Angelique's been biting him and has him in that cave.  She starts talking about that night in Martinique and the "pledge" they made to each other.  Then Barnabas says, "I made no pledge!".  Then she says, "Not every pledge is made with words."

Yeah -- that Barnabas is not exactly an innocent victim.  He's like "wham bam, thank you m'am".  And THEN when she shows up in Collinsport, he's like, "Duh......". 
What an a**hole!

It's just like Fatal Attraction.  Angelique wasn't about to be treated like some "slut you bang a few times and then throw in the garbage."
I love Glenn Close's line in that film:  "I'm not going to be igNORED Dan."

I guess Angelique wasn't about to be ignored either.  LOL!

[stefan]

I believe Lara Parker brought to the role Angelique's belief that everything she did was the right thing to do.

And that's what made her sooooo bad. A brilliant acting choice on her part (I hear JF helped with her it).

[stefan]

That's why I think it's meaningless to have other people playing them in a new series.  Some may think I'm being fanatical, but as far as I'm concerned, Dark Shadows is unique, sacred ground.

I tend to agree with you on this point. DS had that special something. A combination of the right time, direction, production, actors etc. I'd also prefer a continuation of the series but not a duplicate.

[stefan]

And lets not forget Barnabas, who wasn't exactly the innocent victim here either, after all, he did have a fling with her in Martinique, and it was that fling that caused her to do all the things that she did.

Yes, absolutely. BUT just what DID Barnabas unleash? It doesn't make sense really that Angelique never used her spells before and never caused havoc before either. Her attitude towards what she did to Sarah and Jeramiah was callous in the extreme and very smooth, just a days work for her.

[TERRY308]

Cassandra and Connie, I agree with you all the way.  Barnabas knew exactly what will going on and he lied through his teeth, when confronted by Angelique.   

Lara Parker was Angelique.  Sure, she did some things that were pretty darn bad, but everybody did some things on that show that were, well...pretty darn bad.

But, finally, she won.  But, we won't go into that.

Her hair was beautiful.  When I was 17, I went to this Halloween party, and it's her I dressed up as.  I had my long blond hair, I had put body powder (thank you Avon) on my face, my mother had made me a long flowing dress, that was really a sheet but it looked cool, vampire teeth and I was ready to go.  The next night was Halloween, so a bunch of my friends, me in with them, got dressed up again, stood behind brushes, popped up and scared a lot of children.  It was great.   

Why do I love Angelique?  I love her because she does things her way.  And when someone gets in her way......well...I feel sorry for them...maybe 15 seconds...and I'm cheering her on again.  When she comes on the t.v. screen, it's like the t.v. lights up.  She's like the women lib of Collinsport. 

[tripwire]

What i used to wonder about was while ole B was hopping around thru time, why didnt he jump back to 5 minutes BEFORE meeting Angelique, seems he could have avoided a lot of trouble..That romp on the beach with A had to be fun, but the consequences was a bit much.

[Gothick]

The fascination with Angelique is classic, and very simple.  Everybody loves a really good, no-holds-barred villain.  I thought Parker's work in the role went way beyond portrayal... she MOLDED Angelique to the unscrupulous, obsessed Witch we all loved to hate.  I think as Connie said, this was really true of all the DS actors and their characters.  At least it is certainly true of the people she mentioned, because they were simply very extraordinary actors.  The eccentric elan with which they lived their lives offstage bled through into the sizzle and spark they gave their characterizations before the cameras.

I can never really chose a favorite, but if I had to select a favorite Barnabas/Angelique scene, it would be the showdown between Cassandra and her erstwhile hubby in the Old House after Nicholas has removed her powers.  In less than a page of dialogue, they covered all the insanity of the emotional ups and downs these two went through with one another.  And both Parker and Frid played it brilliantly.  I still remember watching that as a child--glued to the tube doesn't begin to describe it!

G.

[Gerard]

I think it's a combination of things:  Lara Parker; the unfairly scorned woman; the ability to have remorse and actually do something nice.  Angelique (save for the PT1970 one) did do terrible, rotten, horrible things, and would then surprise you and do something, often at great risk, that was redeeming.

Gerard

[Connie]

Angelique (save for the PT1970 one) did do terrible, rotten, horrible things, and would then surprise you and do something, often at great risk, that was redeeming.

Yeah - that's one thing I sort of liked about her - when she would turn around and do something to help someone.  (BUT usually there was some benefit to her if I'm not mistaken) ??

Gerard -- you forgot about the crap she pulled in PT1970.  She nearly killed Quentin with that voodoo doll and the pin, and then there was all the conspiring she did with Hoffman to split Quentin and Maggie apart.  ALSO.....that spell she put on Quentin that made him lose his mind and nearly kill himself.

Oh yeah....I forgot to put in my two cents in this thread as to exactly WHY I hate Angelique.  'Cause she's an EVIL, CONNIVING BITCH.