The article made some good points, but something bugged me as I was skimming it quickly last night, and it wasn't until I got home that I was able to put my finger on it.

It was the breathless (giggle, giggle!) tone that narrowed the show's interest to baby-boom teeny boppers.

As someone else mentioned, the show's audience was -- and remains  --  far more expansive than that.

What a pity.  I doubt that the article will recruit any new viewers.

When is someone going to write (and when will someone accept for publication) an intelligent commentary on some of the themes, the innovative use of classical literature, etc.?

-Vlad

I thought I had pretty much exhausted my thoughts on the question of what Professor Stokes teaches, but a few lines in last Friday's episode(s) provided more grist for the mill ...

When Stokes forced Barnabas (or was it Julia Hoffman?) to tell him who the witch was, he was both shocked -- and yet not completely surprised -- when he learned that Cassandra Collins is the witch.  "For my own personal reasons," he said (or words to that effect).

What were these personal reasons?  What exactly was their relationship?

It was revealed that Roger Collins met Cassandra at a party at Stokes' house (note: not apartment, as I had assumed in my previous viewing).  It is possible that Stokes is merely Cassandra's academic advisor, but I think there is more to their relationship than that, though this is never explained.

For a number of reasons, I believe that Stokes has attempted to psychoanalyze Cassandra, either formally or informally.  That is why he is both surprised, yet not surprised, to find out that she is a practitioner of witchcraft.  He has seen something hidden in her character that he didn't previously understand, which he had been unable to identify, but now the pieces fit together.

I think the background knowledge of the writers concerning Stokes is that he is trained as a Jungian analyst (in addition to his Ph.D.).

Earlier I explained my rationale for seeing Stokes as a psychologist who has branched off into parapsychology.

The Jungian element would explain his knowledge of dreams, symbolism, and culture in general.  Jungians are extensively involved in art and symbols, myth and religion, and dream analysis.  Like Prof. Stokes, Carl Jung was very open to -- and involved with -- the world of the occult and the supernatural.  Dream interpretation, at least today, is the sole purveyance of Jungian and Freudian analysts in the psychology field (it has pretty much been discounted my mainstream academic psychologists).  There is no evidence that Stokes is a Freudian (no talk about Oedipus complexes, penis envy, etc.  ), but he definitely has a Jungian worldview.

Julia stated to Barnabas that she had gone to Stokes because she thought he could help her understand her dream.

Stokes' background as a Jungian psychologist also fits nicely with the whole idea of a dream curse.

(I missed six episodes last week, so I wonder if I missed other important clues.)

*  *  *  *

BTW, the dream curse scans perfectly as poetry -- in fact, it's a little too metrical, resulting in the sing-song quality one finds in much amateur poetry.  The four lines scan as four feet, five feet, four feet, and five feet, regular iambic for the most part, with trochees in the final foot of the first two lines.  The final line wisely varies the regularity of the meter.

or how to avoid doing my housework.  

Birdie, we're suffering from the same syndrome -- I'm told it's procrastination, and I'm a terminal case.  Not laundry but a paper I only have a few days left to write (I did finish one paper last night, but this one is the harder of the two.  They were actually due last December ... ).  

I thought I would comment having never seen these episodes before.  I started watching as a child with the haunting of Quentin story.  I like the premise of the Dream Curse.  

I began watching DS as a youngster at the time of Cassandra's arrival at Collinwood and the start of "The Dream."  (That's what the kids in my neighborhood called it.)  It hooked my young mind in a powerful way since it has stayed in the recesses of my mind all these years, even through the years when I had all but forgotten DS.  So The Dream holds a special place for me.

Your statement ...

The fact that the effects are not that scary to us as adults doesn't take away from the idea.

... is perfectly expressed!  

I also agree with others that the scene where Angelique appeared to Barnabas in the drawing room of the Old House was one of the best moments of DS.  It was so creepy the way he struggled to wake up and stir from his chair, with Angelique standing next to him telling him that he could not, that he was having a dream.

It was brilliant to do the scene that way.

Luciaphil wrote:

there's that episode where Barnabas relates the story of Josette's death to Vicki and Carolyn and it's almost chilling

Almost?!?  That WAS chilling!  Not only that, but Frid's scene and Louis Edmond's recitation of "Dover Beach" were two of the most literate scenes of any TV show I can think of.

And DS wasn't even in the running as one of the Top 50 shows of all time?!!?

Birdie wrote:

O.K.  I guess I have put off the laundry as long as I can.

I'm going to try, try, try to follow your example!

Ringo,

"Kitten With a Whip" is on AMC tonight, and has a second airing sometime later in the week.  I know how you enjoy that one.

liberal arts!
but i think it is History like Linda!

I would say history or philosophy over sociology.  Again, Prof. Stokes seems too interesting a character to have devoted his studies to graphs, charts, infrastructures, ethnic data, etc.  Am probably revealing my own bias here as to what's interesting ...

Maybe he majored in history or philosophy as an undergraduate, and then went on to psychology/parapsychology in his graduate and post-graduate work.  Rockford College has given him a small lab and office to pursue psychical research. Cassandra Blair/Collins plans to become a teacher but is also pursuing studies in philosophy and psychology.

If Stokes' background had been in English literature, I would have expect him to have quoted Shakespeare or some other poet by now.  (They could have had him recite "Dover Beach" rather than Roger.)

I just saw Minja's post in the other thread which provides more food for thought. Stokes might well have studied comparative religions -- especially ancient religions, where magical practices played a big part.  I would also expect him to be knowledgeable of mythology (good one, Minja   ).  What department did Joseph Campbell teach in at Sarah Lawerence?  Religion?

I can't see him in the Education department

I can't either.  People in Education Departments are simply not that interesting!

Speaking from experience ...



PLEASE, SOMEONE, STOP ME!!!

-Vlad, King of Procrastinators  

I just read through everyone's responses again (more carefully this time) and noticed the mention of Rockport College. That always sounded like a community college sort of place to me; if so, it's doubtful that they would have had a parapsychology research department.  But then, would a community college be able to offer teaching licensure?  Rockport College could be what used to be called a "teachers' college."  Or maybe Cassandra actually is pursuing a higher academic degree; she could still have referred to herself as intending to be a "teacher" -- not everyone is familiar with exactly what someone with a Ph.D. does.

And who knows -- I believe that near-death and historic paranormal researcher Raymond Moody is associated with a very small college somewhere in the South, so it is still possible Prof. Stokes could be in a similar role at a small college in Maine.

?!?