Dark Shadows 1970: Industry, Anxiety, and Adaptation.

This article examines industrial and stylistic aspects of the cult soap opera Dark Shadows (ABC, 1966–71), whose protagonist was a vampire. The series addressed two distinct audiences simultaneously: the traditional daytime target of housewives and a juvenile cohort of both sexes enthralled by its gothic horror format. In 1970, a plotline described the threat of a supernatural cult called the Leviathans that tangentially acknowledged the tumult of the Vietnam era. That year, too, the series was adapted into a feature film soon after the Motion Picture Association of America's censorship had ended, creating new stylistic and thematic negotiations regarding the juvenile audience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]