DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '11 II => Topic started by: Mysterious Benefactor on September 05, 2011, 05:35:18 AM
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How Dark Shadows Ruined The Vampire. (http://bmj2k.com/2011/09/05/how-dark-shadows-ruined-the-vampire/)
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Very interesting - he's got a good point.
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The vampire wouldn't have been ruined - or, rather, ruined according to the writer - if the public hadn't wanted it that way. People do buy Twilight and all the other vampire stuff. Which leads me to wonder...were there some image-changing ideas in Dark Shadows that didn't catch on? I suppose if there were, then they're barely noticeable, because Dan Curtis would have whisked them out the show as soon as it became apparent that they weren't working.
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In an episode of True Blood, Vampire Bill comes out of the ground and the lead chick is smitten right away with him. (I've only seen a few episodes. Too violent for my taste.) But anyway, I remember thinking at the time. "EW! The guy just came up out of a grave! He's covered with filth and dirt. And he's dead besides!"
I don't think DS ruined vampires. It's just another example of the romance of having a good looking guy with fangs come into your bedroom at night.
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He does make some valid points. But the conflicted vampire popped up in a couple of Hammer films prior to Ds. Even the heroine of Amrican-International's 1950's Blood of Dracula has the viewer's sympathy because her evil schoolteacher has hypnotized her into being a vampire.
And Stephen King's Salem's Lot plays against the notion of vampire as good guy. No matter how nice the character was before, they are all pretty nasty as vampires.
Of the vampires in DS--six on the show and four in HODS--only Barnabas falls into the category of tortured hero. Angelique is more of a predator. Megan is self destructive. Dirk is borderline psychotic.
Did DS ruin the vampire concept? I don't think so. But it did allow for a different interpretation that has kept the format alive and viable
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His research is also somewhat sloppy. Varney the Vampyre from the 19th Century penny dreadful serial was conflicted and an anti-hero who often behaved in a noble manner.
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The reluctant vampire in film can be traced back to Gloria Holden in Dracula's Daughter - 30 years before Dark Shadows ever appeared. The only way that Barnabas is responsible for the "ruination" of vampires is because he was so good at self-loathing. Dark Shadows popularized the reluctant vampire because it told the tale in such a fantastic way, yes. But, Barnabas can't be blamed for "ruining" vampires. According to the author, Bela Lugosi would bear a lot of blame because he was suave, sophisticated, and attractive. And I have never heard anyone say that Lugosi caused the ruination of the vampire. Both Lugosi and Frid brought new life to the vampire character. Without them, the author probably wouldn't even be thinking of vampires as much of anything at this juncture in history. In fact, he'd be writing about zombies.