Television, Vamp ires and the Bod y: Somatic Pathos Milly W illiamson Introd uction (1) One of the most striking of mysterious b od ies in America n television d ra ma b elongs to the va mpire. Once consid ered to provoke fea r, the b ody of the television va mp ire ha s stirred sympa thy w ith its pathos- rid d en recog nition of its ow n ( often g la morously d epicted) monstrosity. Ma ny consid er this sympa thetic d epiction of the va mpire on television to b e a rela tively new p henomenon, pointing to the recent success of Buffy the Vamp ire Sla yer and its sp in- off series, Angel. How ever, the symp athetic vamp ire on US television ha s a much long er history, sp anning much of its existence ( see Note 1) . (2) If American television ha s long b een fa scinated b y the figure of the va mpire, it ha s a lso b een p articula rly d rawn to the fig ure of the sympathetic vamp ire w ho suffers a troubled relucta nce at its va mpiric urg es. The sympa thetic va mp ire, so p op ula r on American television, is a crea ture troub led b y its ontolog y; it is a b eing a t odd s w ith its va mpiric bod y a nd the urg es tha t this body g enerates. This chap ter w ill exa mine why it is that such a fig ure ha s b een so p op ula r. What is it about a b eing tha t is in such conflict with its own b od y that ha s fa scina ted view ers for 50 yea rs? I wa nt to explore this q uestion throug h an exa mina tion of the 1960s d a ytime Gothic seria l Da rk Shad ow s. This show wa s immensely pop ula r w ith viewers a t the time primarily b eca use of its sympa thetically portra yed va mpire, Ba rnaba s Collins, w ho, like his small screen rela tions, is tormented b y his va mpiric bod y a nd app etites. (3) Da rk Shadow s w as a d aytime Gothic soap op era tha t origina lly ra n to a sta gg ering 1225 ep isod es, which a ired on ABC b etw een 1966 – 1971. C rea ted b y Dan C urtis, the show b eg ins w ith the story of Victoria Winters, a young g overness in sea rch of her pa st, w ho tra vels to Collinsport to ta ke up a post at the C ollinwood ma nsion. Victoria find s herself in a typ ically Gothic domestic la nd scap e, a la rg e and lab yrinthine house shroud ed in secret and mystery. Here, Victoria is employed b y Elizab eth Stodda rd Collins, a recluse who ha s b een tricked into b elieving tha t she ha s killed her husba nd. Initia lly, Da rk Shad ow s had no sup erna tural elements, but six months into production, elements of the sup ernatura l b egan to b e add ed . For instance, when Victoria is kidnapp ed, she is sa ved b y the ghost of Josette Collins. La ter w e d iscover tha t D avid Collins, Victoria ’s young and troub led cha rg e, ha s a n immortal p hoenix for a mother w ho tries to recla im him b efore b eing consumed b y fla mes. (4) Broad ca st at 4:00p m w eekda ys, Da rk Shadows struck a cord w ith an aud ience mad e up prima rily of housewives and the young . Initially, Da rk Shad ow s wa s not p opula r enoug h with audiences to secure its future w ith the netw ork a nd the show w as d ue to b e ca ncelled. But when the va mpire Ba rnaba s Collins first appea red in the tw o-hund red - and- eleventh episod e, such wa s his app ea l to view ers tha t the fortunes of the fa iling show w ere instantly reversed. Willia m Pa trick Da y comments that ‘Ba rnaba s’s p op ula rity w as extra ord ina ry’ ( 2002: 36) and the a ctor who pla yed him, J ona than Frid, found himself a t the centre of a g rowing fan follow ing , with the show receiving 5,000 ca rd s and letters a w eek from fans. Because of Barnab as, Da rk Sha dow s become a s pop ula r a s its b etter know n contemp ora ry, Sta r Trek, and by 1970 w as a ttra cting a n a udience of over 15 million view s p er ep isod e, five d ays a w eek (M uir 2001: 293) . (5) Cult following s and fa ndoms for television show s a re often consid ered to b e a recent phenomenon; how ever Da rk Shadows b eca me the first highly pop ular Gothic series, the first da ytime soap to go into synd ica tion ( 1975) and p erhap s one of the first cult television show s. Da rk Shad ow s g enera ted one of the ea rliest television fa n cultures – a fa ndom which p ersists toda y. As Ha rry Benshoff notes, there continues to b e a larg e and a ctive fan culture surrounding this show , which sta rted d uring the initial run a nd ‘continued to g row in strength throug hout the follow ing d ecad es’ (1998: 201). There a re a t lea st tw elve Da rk Shad ow s internet w eb sites in op era tion toda y, offering the va st a rray of a ctivities and information associa ted with fa ndom; M PI Vid eo ha ve sold more tha n 600,000 copies of Da rk Shadows vid eo tap es and D VD s; a nd the cable station, the Sci-Fi C ha nnel still airs re- runs of the show in the US. (6) This enduring pop ula rity is wid ely attrib uted to the va mpire Ba rnaba s, w ho is sympathetica lly d ep icted a s one who is caught in circumsta nces b eyond his control. Such a construction of Ba rnab as rend ers him a pa thos- ridd en creature, not unlike the Gothic heroines who surround him in the series. In her a nalysis of Gothic television, Helen Whea tley a ctually includ es Ba rnab as in a list of the show ’s melod ra matic p rotag onists: ‘the orpha ned young w oman on the verg e of self- discovery (Victoria Winters) , the strugg ling matria rch ( Elizab eth Collins Stodda rd), the confused teenag er (Ca rolyn Collins) , even the reluctant vamp ire ( Ba rna ba s). Each of these cha ra cters ca n b e rea d as a melod ra matic fig ure with whom w e a re encourag ed to id entify … a nd their stories a re constructed to elicit viewer symp athy and engag ement’ ( 2006: 155) . W heatley connects the melod rama tic construction of the key female cha ra cters to the domestic sp here, in particula r the Collinwood house, a nd a rg ues convincing ly that Da rk Shad ow s is a ligned w ith the fema le Gothic in this rega rd. Ba rnaba s too is tied to the C ollinw ood estate. His fa ther imp risoned him in his coffin on the Collinwood esta te, w here he lang uished for tw o centuries. When he is finally freed from this incarcera tion, he d oes not flee the place of his imp risonment b ut he ta kes up resid ence of the Old House. Furthermore, a recurring theme in the narra tive is his d eta iled know ledg e of the house a nd its history. This knowled g e hints b oth a t his uncanny rela tionship with the house and at his long internment there. Ba rnaba s is d estined to ha unt the corridors of this house eterna lly, and is thus a s imp risoned b y the d omestic spa ce a nd its fa milial concerns, a s a ny Gothic heroine. How ever, Ba rnaba s a lso threa tens the domestic spa ce (a t lea st initia lly) when he a tta cks two of the show’s young fema le protagonists; he is the source of fear a nd anxiety associa ted to the domestic spa ce, b eca use his a tta cks occur in the b ed rooms of the young women, rend ering this most p riva te of spa ces unsa fe. In this he differs from the melod ramatic heroine, sugg esting tha t the root of his ( eventually revea led) pa thos is located elsewhere. (7) This chap ter will exa mine the source of Ba rna ba s’ pa thos to sugg est tha t it origina tes, not just in his domestic sta tus, but also in his ontolog ical status; it will a rgue tha t Ba rnaba s’ suffering a nd misery as a va mpire is a tta ched to his embod iment a s a vampire.