Oh how I fondly remember the hate mail we all got. My favorite part was how sometimes they were on anon and sometimes they weren’t but all the hate messages were nearly identical so it was obvious where they were all coming from.
Ooh i had no idea there was dark shadows drama somone please fill me in on this I love drama 👀
A while back ago a bunch of us got that hate message up there. Some people got anon hate but I received it from the person off anon. Basically they were enraged that we were criticizing Barnabas. They also couldn’t handle the Barnabas/Julia ship and if I recall made a post about how the people who ship it are deluded that contained some really sexist/agist rhetoric against Julia.
After they sent the anon hate they were sort of giggling about sending it on their blog saying things like “I was really bad earlier lol oh well”.
It was really odd. I have the blog blocked but some people tried to engage the person in discussion that kind of went nowhere. They’ve complained on their blog since about us and tumblr’s format in general. Don’t know why they continue to haunt a website whose platform they don’t like but *shrug*
I remember this shit- very notable in such a quite loving fandom.
It was full of psychotic ramblings about being ‘married to Barnabas on the astral plane’, and was insanely snippy. But hey, fair association given that Barnabas is the poster child for poor decision making.
I got a mix of this person off anon and then on again, clearly the same person. Had to block them.
It’s funny when paired against the common non Dark Shadows fans disconnect for why we like this show full of terrible humans. Clearly it’s no just because we cant tell they’re terrible.
Speaking for myself I think the heart of the show is half multiple problematic characters who have managed to ruin their few pure emotional connections to others, coming together however incompetently to try and steer each other away from self destruction, and the destruction of those around them- and half plastic skeletons, character actors and slapstick.
You can’t have the first half without the base ingredient of problematic but engaging psychopaths.
I think you expressed why I love DS perfectly. Like I adore most of these characters but they are almost universally terrible people who have done or continuously do terrible things. The few who aren’t are either boring, narrative cannon fodder or Victoria. (At least. I don’t remember her being a terrible person.)
Weirdly enough there is one (set of) character(s) that we do seem to agree that we genuinely loathe.
But then again maybe defending Roger Davies in any capacity is a step too far even for this blog.
I wonder what I missed bc all of a sudden my “Barnabas Hater” ask blew up in my notes.
See I’ve never understood the spammers on that topic-
naturally we enjoy this fictional character, We love the show!
but also a big part of that is watching him make angry, mind-numbingly bad decisions, and then curl into a fetal position and scream ‘why me?’.
It’s like Basil Fawlty of Fawlty towers, we the audience have an certain affection for him and his exploits- and most of it is expressed by watching between our fingers and groaning.
Yes this exactly.
I once described him half-jokingly as the Leeroy Jenkins of Dark Shadows. He ruins everything he touches, especially the well thought out plans of much smarter people, but man if we don’t love him for it.
Oh how I fondly remember the hate mail we all got. My favorite part was how sometimes they were on anon and sometimes they weren’t but all the hate messages were nearly identical so it was obvious where they were all coming from.
if your life flashes before your eyes before you die, im ready to rewatch all the dark shadows episodes in the moments before i die
I was going to say- that would leave me concerned as to whether your life flashes before your eyes forwards or backwards- Now I’m suddenly caught up on how nihilistically metal it would be to try and watch Dark Shadows Backwards.
You listening Patric McCray? Let’s raise the stakes.
… And watched that way, the series ends with Willie Loomis chaining Barnabas up in his coffin. *eg*
The series ends with Viki getting the hell out of collinsport
Which, face it, is only the sensible thing to do.
Honestly that would have been the perfect end of the series. Just one giant “Never mind let’s not.”
the beginning: wow i am so down to watch all 1200+ episodes of this campy horror soap from the 60s what could possibly go wrong?
halfway through: wow i am too fucking invested in all of these characters, but every time this show is about to do something cool, it undercuts its own plots for weird sexist bullshit wow disappointing
1840: i am never touching this trash pile again*
movies: ALL OF THE ABOVE BUT CUT DOWN TO AN HOUR AND A HALF
The Paradox Machine 