DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '24 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '11 I => Topic started by: The Doctor and K9 on March 26, 2011, 03:08:38 PM
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I've just started this book, which was published by Wayne State University Press. It's a scholarly examination of DS and the cult phenomena surrounding it. I've not read very far into it, but it seems to have been written by a fan. At $14.95, it's a bit pricey for a mass paperback. The way I look at it though, DS does not exactly saturate the market as compared with say, Star Trek or Doctor Who. It's relatively inexpensive to be a virtual completist when it comes to DS. OK, I draw the line at the Barnabas Vampire Van! I'm also not likely to own a set of original Groovy Horror Heads, or even the Pink Gum Cards. They are too pricey for me. The former two have little to do with DS, and the latter can be reproduced on a quality printer. I had once hoped to own the model kits, but the 12 inch Majestic Barnabas and Quentin figures have rendered my interest in the kits obsolete. I'm not very skilled at either building or painting, and the end result, even in the hands of an expert, is only a mediocre likeness of the characters. Aside from those rare artifacts and a few others like them, I try to get most anything new that's connected to the program.
I want to apologize in advance if information about this book has already been posted. I tried to do a search several times and got a notice that told me that the page could not be displayed. This happens often to me on several different computers. Is this typical for most people?
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If one does a normal search sometimes the system doesn't respond because there are so many posts on the forum to search. The best way to get a result is to do an advanced search and to search the individual boards where what you're looking for would have been most likely to have been posted - or at least to eliminate the boards where it's not likely to have been posted. [snow_smiley]
As for the book, it sounds interesting. I'll have to look out for it. Thanks for the heads up. [snow_wink]
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I meant to add that Amazon is selling it.
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Good catch, Doctor and K9!
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I forgot to mention that if someone is looking to see if current news has already been posted, the simplest thing to do is to open the current board where it's most likely to have been posted and then to type what's being searched for right in the search box at the top of the page because whatever is typed in that box is only searched for on the currently opened board. (I use that method all the time when I'm searching for things on the Robservations board.)
And good to know the book is available through Amazon. Thanks. [snow_smiley] I'll definitely look it up.
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Didn't Benshoff write the Monsters in the Closet book some years ago about fandoms and subcultures? He also wrote an article that was in a volume on the gay element within DS fandom. This was the piece that included a few infamous paragraphs about Dr. Julia Hoffman "as a drag queen."
Thanks for letting us know about this book, Doctor & K9. It sounds potentially interesting.
G.
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The author has expressed concerns on his Facebook page about how long the book will be available. He's apparently been contacted by Jim Pierson over some sort of DCP copyright claim. Not sure what the basis of the complaint would be since a book about the series by a film studies professor published by an academic press would seem to be about as scholarly as you can get for fair use purposes.
Regarding the price for the book, $14-15 for a paperback from a university press is an absolute steal. They're usually at least twice that in my discipline.
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The author has expressed concerns on his Facebook page about how long the book will be available. He's apparently been contacted by Jim Pierson over some sort of DCP copyright claim.
Hmmm? Interesting.
Not sure what the basis of the complaint would be since a book about the series by a film studies professor published by an academic press would seem to be about as scholarly as you can get for fair use purposes.
I would have thought that, too. [hdscrt] But perhaps not. [idontknow]
I suppose I should count myself lucky that I'd already ordered my copy...
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Not sure what the basis of the complaint would be since a book about the series by a film studies professor published by an academic press would seem to be about as scholarly as you can get for fair use purposes.
"Scholarly" does not equal "fair use". The fair use exemption for "educational purposes" is generally meant to cover use of materials in an educational setting. A book published by a university press is a commercial product and does not fall under that exemption.
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I was thinking more in terms of criticism and comment, which I failed miserably to articulate. Hoping to get my hands on a copy soon to see what the flap is.
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Could be the copyright issue is over the use of photographs which, if you put into a book and sell commercially, DCP will come after you for.
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Wow, poor Harry Benshoff if the problem is that "Wayne State University Press" (sounds tiny and probably indigent) failed to secure the needed clearances for him to use the DS brand name and photographs, etc. in his book. (I was wondering whether objection #1 may have been the title; it might have been OK if it had been marketed under some variant such as "Shadows in the Afternoon: blah blah blah.") Of course, as the author he needed to be aware of getting this stuff taken care of, and the press may have reassured him right down the tubes if they didn't fill out the paperwork and pay up.
As someone all too keenly aware of how much work is involved in getting a book out into the world, I genuinely do feel for the man. As a previously published author, however, I'm startled that he didn't make extra sure all the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed.
This is starting to seem like Ten Little Indians. Who will be the next victim of that most feared among legal sub-creatures--the infamous Jim Pierson? Bwa ha ha ha. Do you tremble when your cell phone rings?
shuddering, G.
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Hmmm - it seems like Amazon isn't actually paying attention if the point was to get them to stop selling the book because when I checked the listing this morning, it said there was only 1 copy left in stock - but more were coming. Well, I just checked again a couple of minutes ago, and it now says that 20 are in stock - and more are coming.
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Hmmm - it seems like Amazon isn't actually paying attention if the point was to get them to stop selling the book
I doubt they're going to pull it unless the university press recalls the book. If Amazon took sides every time there was a copyright dispute with an established publisher, they'd be pulling titles left and right.
Getting off topic, but an example. In recent years, the University of Tennessee Press was forced to pull a title by Fred Ruhlman that dealt with Andersonville because he plagiarized quite a bit of it. Copies had already been sold when the problem was discovered, and they continue to be sold by individual sellers on Amazon even though Amazon ceased selling new copies directly when the book was recalled.
Amazon might pull the DS title at the request of WSU press, but copies are likely to continue to circulate via their independent sellers.
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The reasonable price may have to do with the size of the book-- the cover is only a little larger than a pocket-size paperback yet is not even a half inch thick.
I may be wrong, and the few images of the DS merchandise aside (which the author could have copied himself), but the vast majority of the pictures look to me to be screen grabs from the DVDs, and that could prove problematic for him.
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the vast majority of the pictures look to me to be screen grabs from the DVDs, and that could prove problematic for him.
Ah - that could explain it then.
My copy is still in transit but should be arriving soon...
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While they may have the right to pull the book, I think they are foolish to do so. This is not some fly by night pseudo vanity press publication; it's a publication by a university. It gives DS a great deal of credibility. Is this the first time a single "soap opera" has had this sort of treatment? I wouldn't know off hand, but if I had to guess, I'd say no.
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The thing that's probably different about DS, though, is the use of screen captures taken from the MPI DVDs. MPI seems to go after anyone and everyone who uses extensive screen captures and/or video footage taken from its DVDs without permission. (The main reason why we don't use screen captures from the DVDs here on the forum is because we don't wish to infringe on MPI's copyright.) And if Pierson is going after the book, it would seem likely that the publisher didn't secure permission from MPI for the screen captures because, as someone who has worked for MPI, it should have been easy for Pierson to discover if they had gained permission or not.
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Not that this really means anything in this particular case, but Henry Jenkins' Textual Poachers, which is the seminal text in fan studies, makes use of several screen captures from Star Trek (original series) episodes that are part of a fanvid. The book is/was published by Routledge, a major British academic publishing house with offices in London and New York, and there is no acknowledgment accompanying the book's copyright and cataloging information to indicate use of material belonging to Rodenberry, Paramount, etc. The book has been in print for almost 20 years now. On the other hand, as has been noted multiple times here and elsewhere, those in charge of the ST franchise have been much more tolerant in matters such as this.
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There are only about 21 pictures. It does look like they got taken off the DVDs. One of Julia, toward the back. Most of the pictures, showed Barnabas with his fangs. The ones, that are so exaggerated.
The is a Nice one of Quentin, I think better than the ones of Barnabas. There is one of Willie, quivering. But if you are counting pictures, Barnabas sure does win.
I do believe that MPI, would want to get the people reading about the first show. The numbers of pictures isn't worth the fuss, IMO.
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I just got the book today, will read it soon.
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I'm always surprised at how anal retentive DCP or MCI or Mr. Pierson are at anyone using DS material when it comes to money, money, money. Again, one would think they would be more receptive to anything (within limits, I do realize, but give us a break) that garners more publicity for DS and thus will bring in more money for the franchise at no expense to the franchise. This is a scholarly book designed for a limited public usage (including in universities and colleges with a dramatics department). Neither the author nor the university publishing it will make much in the way of a profit. I have friends who are university professors and who have written text books that are used across the nation in universities in their field. How much, on an average, are they paid for often years of hard work? Around $500. They spend more doing research and in the end it comes out as a loss. University publishing arms generally make little in profit (which is used to fund education) and some just make a wash. Sorry for my French here, but it's about time that DCP/MCI/Pierson gets the stick out of their butt and realizes that they can only make money off the DS franchise if more exposure is given to it, at the expense of others, including fans. It costs DCP/MCI nothing for this publicity and it can only garner profit for future fans. If it wasn't for the fans who dished out of their own pockets, would DCP/MCI now be seeing a possible major motion picture, that can bring in hundreds-of-millions in profit to them? If I could afford it, I'd buy the book and if it doesn't make a dollar for DCP/MCI/Pierson, that would make it all worth it. People need to take that stick our of their butts (sorry for my French again) and whack them up the side of their heads with it. I know that there are people (including here), who will defend the "rights" of DCP/MCI/Pierson and say "the law is on their side," but I have no sympathy for any corporation that has garnished millions of dollars because of fans, and then cries when it can't get a paltry couple thousand from them.
Gerard
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It is a nice little review for people that doesn't know the show.
I have one question, why do people have to keep pigeonholing people into different groups.
For instance if you belong to a specific group you might feel this way. Can't a person just
enjoy the show. Maybe he is trying to get people to read the book.
I can understand the different generations of the show.
Has anyone else read it yet?
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My copy of the book finally arrived today and I've basically just glanced through it. The only section I have read completely is the one about NoDS. And I do have to say that I'll never look at the poster for NoDS in quite the same way after reading his dissection of it. [snow_shocked] [snow_wink] [snow_cheesy]
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Didn't Benshoff write the Monsters in the Closet book some years ago about fandoms and subcultures? He also wrote an article that was in a volume on the gay element within DS fandom. This was the piece that included a few infamous paragraphs about Dr. Julia Hoffman "as a drag queen."
I have always found it fascinating that so many gay people like Dark Shadows. I guess it could be the camp element but it's fascinating to think about. Grayson was definately what I would call a female DRAG QUEEN. I guess because so many queens are larger than life and she that title certainly applies to her! :)
I look forward to getting the book! :)
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I do have to say that I'll never look at the poster for NoDS in quite the same way after reading his dissection of it. [snow_shocked] [snow_wink] [snow_cheesy]
[snow_laugh] Speaking of dissection, lol.
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It's is fascinating though not surprising to me there is a large gay contingent. DS was all about secrets and, unfortunately, many gays grow up and well into adulthood have had to or had that secret only he/she knew about. I know from reading posts and letters from gay DS fans many claimed to identifying with Barnabas because of his secret and for them, a special need others around them did not share.
Nancy
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MB and Midnite, you're both teasing us dreadfully. Please provide a summary of Benshoff's argument about NoDS, or at least, about the poster.
Gratefully,
G.
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Nancy, I have mentioned several times that I could identify with Barnabas and his secret life. I think DS actually saved my life in High School. I was raised very religiously and I was suicidal a lot. However, Dark Shadows was source of escapism for me. I guess that is why it hits me so hard to hear about the kids taking their lives because they are gay or have been bullied because I can totally identify.
Back on point....I am dying to know about NODS as well! :)
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MB and Midnite, you're both teasing us dreadfully. Please provide a summary of Benshoff's argument about NoDS, or at least, about the poster.
Okay, G... This link takes you to a lovely color version of the NoDS poster that's in the book:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28285678@N00/2761108472/in/photostream/
Underneath it, Benshoff's caption (typo included) reads: The Night of Dark Shadows one-sheet poster from 1971 suggests that Angelique possess a monstrous and devouring vagina dentata.
Ha ha!
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Talk about a venus flytrap . . .
Benshoff's caption (typo included) reads: The Night of Dark Shadows one-sheet poster from 1971 suggests that Angelique possess a monstrous and devouring vagina dentata.
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I honestly think his analysis of NoDS oversexualizes it. There are things that he comes up with that I doubt many in the audience have ever thought - certainly not those of us who were still only in our early teens when we saw it. And he actually has a whole line of thought devoted to just what men might think about the movie that I think is really out there and most probably nothing Sam Hall or DC ever intended - probably not even subconsciously. But then, when one is writing an academic treatise, I suppose one is bound to come up with some overanalysis here and there in order to justify that what one is writing IS an academic treatise.
I haven't gotten around to reading any of the other sections of the book yet, but I'm certainly curious to see how he's going to analyze the series...
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But then, when one is writing an academic treatise, I suppose one is bound to come up with some overanalysis here and there in order to justify that what one is writing IS an academic treatise.
Bingo. One of the problems with the first "generation" of works about a specific "text" or issue is that they spend a lot of time talking about the fact that no one has talked about that this before and justifying the need to address it. Once they move beyond that, because there's no clearly defined group of scholars and publications dealing with the subject and any peer review necessarily involves "peers" that don't have nearly as much knowledge as is required to judge as adequately as they probably should, a lot of stuff that probably ought to be questioned flies in under the radar.
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The weird thing is that he seems to be almost exclusively viewing NoDS through its poster rather than through the movie itself. Do any of the men involved with Angelique look like they think she's some "monstrous sexual creature" or that they fear her "monstrous and devouring toothed vagina"? Not in the movie that I've seen. Charles and Quentin look to me like they enjoy every amorous second with Ang. And Gabriel and Gerard are even willing to resort to physically fighting to get back in Ang's bed, as it were, after they've been replaced there by Charles and Quentin, respectively. And it doesn't come off to me as if Ang has a "castrating female desire". But if so, not only are men literally fighting to be castrated by her, they keep going back for more and more of the same. But I guess to Benshoff's mind we're supposed to ignore all that and accept his analysis as a correct one. ::)
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I think the author's analysis of what was in the mind of the artist that created the poster might be correct. Who knows if the guy even saw the movie? He might have been given some stills to work with and cranked out the poster. Remember, this was a creation of the publicity department, not DCP. The author saw the poster and probably jumped to the conclusion that this line of thinking was in the minds of the director and writers. If you have a preconceived notion, it's often easy to find support for it.
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What strikes me as extraordinary about the imagery of the poster is how the flesh on Angelique's face has partly decayed, but her eye makeup and false eyelashes look as fresh as if they had just been touched up moments before. I wonder whether there was ever an attempt to show a close-up of the corpse which got cut from the completed film but might have survived in a publicity still? I have certainly never seen it, if so.
I think overall, given what has been written about the content of the book and the illustrations, I'm just as glad I gave it a big miss...
G.
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Just got my copy, which I'll be reviewing in monster mags & gay publications alike. The author, who has himself written for the gay press, has a chapter that discusses the show's gay fan base.