Dark Shadows: Sexier Than True Blood

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Some nice DS photos - two of which (#4 and #8) I don't believe I've ever seen before. Check out: Dark Shadows: Sexier Than True Blood

(I don't know if DS is sexier than True Blood, though - for one, I seem to recall the characters on DS keeping their clothes on, which is certainly something one cannot say of the characters on TB.  )

[Zahir]

An interesting question.  Let us make a comparison.

There can be little doubt TB has more actual sex than DS.  Or at least we see a lot more of it.  For example, think of all the perfectly lovely couples in DS who are married and we can assume were making the beast-with-two-backs.  Barnabas and Angelique.  PT Quentin and Maggie.  Victoria and Peter.  Yet do we ever seen any of them in bed?  No.  At most we might see them get into a clinch and run into the next room a la Bramwell and Catherine.

Such is very different in TB, where (for example) we've seen Jason acting like the boy-slut he is with a wide variety of young damsels, where (real life engaged couple) Sookie and Bill go at it with considerable passion, ditto Sam and Daphne as well as Tara and Eggs.

Plus DS never had any orgies.  

On the other hand...it is true that generally speaking the "heat" between characters who haven't hit the sheets or at least who don't do so on screen can be much more intense.  This is no less true on TB than DS.  Bill and Sookie are a lot more interesting when they're fighting, or before they became a couple or when they were a brand-new couple.  These days (nights) the heat between Hoyt and Jessica is much more intense than between the leads, largely because they haven't yet consummated their relationship.  Likewise, one thing DS wins hands-down at is the portrayal of vampire victims as sexual addicts.  This was especially true after Barnabas is cured.  The next vampires we see--Angelique, Tom Jennings, and of course Barnabas again, seem to press the SEX button in their victim's heads.  It even gets to the point where in PT Carolyn is all-but-begging to be bitten again.  Nor is she alone!

TB deals with the idea of the eroticism of the vampire's bite, but not so overtly for the straightforward reason that TB has actual sex!

On the other hand, what TB explores in terms of that which DS did not was homoeroticism.  At no time do we see a man react to Barnabas' bite as Carolyn and others had done.  Julia and Maggie are each bitten by female vampires, but there is nothing erotic about those situations at all.  DS (and its time period) had its taboos and this was one of them.   TB has an openly gay character, and later this season we'll meet Sophie the Lesbian Vampire Queen of Louisianna (there's a marvelously trashy musical in that title somewhere) portrayed by Evan Rachel Wood.

So methinks the shows are actually pretty much equal.  One is more explicit and open, while the other has more tension.  It maybe comes down more than anything to who seems most attractive to the individual...

• Barnabas Collins or Bill Compton.
• Maggie Evans or Sookie Stackhouse.
• Carolyn or Jessica.
• Joe Haskell or Hoyt.
• Quentin or Sam.
• Angelique or Mary Anne.
• Nicholas Blair or Erik.

[Sara Monster]

True Blood reminds me of the Vampire Chronicles more than any other vamp fandoms (lack of the vampire rules: no reflection, crosses affecting them, no real requirement for coffins; Not to mention the whole New Orleans setting), granted Dark Shadows inturn influenced the main character/story of 'Interview with the Vampire', but it's all evolution I suppose.

GETTING BACK ON TOPIC, I've never seen the original Dark Shadows as very sexy, & nor did I really need it to be. (That's what filthy fan fiction is for, afterall!) Granted, HODS & the Revival series do show more of the pleasurable side of being bitten but it was never overwelming to me. Actually, I'll go against popular opinion in saying that I think there's actually too much sex on True Blood. It gets to the point where I've seen So-&-So's ass/going-at-it so many times that it becomes boring. But then, that might just be me getting old & complainin' bout what's popular these days..   'Damn Kids & your glittering sexy vampires!'

On the other hand, what TB explores in terms of that which DS did not was homoeroticism.  At no time do we see a man react to Barnabas' bite as Carolyn and others had done.  Julia and Maggie are each bitten by female vampires, but there is nothing erotic about those situations at all.  DS (and its time period) had its taboos and this was one of them.

Now I'm going to do a slight 180 on my opinion of leaving things to the imagination & state that if there ever is a new adaptation of Dark Shadows, this is on the list of things I wanna see. Still, atleast there were same-sex bites in the series, and it was treated as a matter that was nothing out of the ordinary. Blood/control was main reason vampires bit & although Barnabas seemed to prefer the women at the docks, he had no problem in taking a bite out of Willie or Dirk if necessity. And as mentioned, no real sexual reactions are shown to such activities, but again..that's what filthy fan fiction is for! (Com'n you know a Sandor/Barnabas slash fic must exist SOMEWHERE..and now that I put that image in your head, I'll take my leave.)