I Finally Started “American Horror Story” — Let’s Discuss
I have always been drawn to the idea of horror.
How did fear become a sensation that humans actively seek out? We spend the early years of our lives learning to be afraid of strangers, apprehensive about new experiences, and cautious of possible danger. Yet horror has consistently been one of the most popular genres for literal centuries. And, with modern technology, the fear-factor has been increased; films have become frighteningly realistic, which only draws in a larger crowd. But what makes people so willing to submit themselves to fear? To a genre that makes them dread turning out the lights or inclined to take a peek inside the closet and make sure there’s no monster waiting to jump out at them?
I am intrigued by people who can so easily surrender to the sensation. I have never been that person. My list of fears is endless and irrational, and it includes spoons, ghosts, and being burned at the stake. But I have faced an even more frightening dilemma than any improbable circumstance my worrisome mind can concoct. And that is my increasingly short attention span.
Quarantine has reduced my mind to mush. I spend my days watching TikToks that only span sixty seconds, if that. I haven’t watched a TV show since Avatar: The Last Airbender and as incredible as the show is, it’s a children’s cartoon and episodes are fast-paced and easy to follow. I am afraid that my attention span will never recover and I won’t regain the ability to enjoy an episode of a show that is longer than twenty minutes. So, I decided to test my limits and start a real show.
I decided on American Horror Story because I believe I have the capacity to be a horror fan. One of my favorite podcasts is called Dead Meat and focuses on horror flicks. I knew American Horror Story would be a good place to start because it wouldn’t be constant gore and jump scares like a movie that only has 2 hours to prove its scariness; the horror would be intertwined with plot and character development and style.
There are nine seasons — seven on Netflix. I read online that you don’t have to start at the beginning, so I decided to start on what seemed to me like the most exciting season: asylum.
One of my strange fixations for a while was asylums — I was so intrigued by the idea that if I suddenly woke up in the late 19th century, it would take one day of my feminist ramblings to land me a spot in a mental institution. It’s true: they used to send women to insane asylums for believing men and women were equal.
In fact, they sent anyone and everyone to asylums. These institutions were overpacked, the staff was unprepared and overworked, and no one really knew how to deal with mental health. The unfortunate truth is that if you didn’t conform to society’s norms, it was likely you could end up in one of these places, whether you suffered from anxiety or schizophrenia or, yes, homosexuality.
This is what made the concept of American Horror Story: Asylum so compelling to me — though dramatized with supernatural elements, the season was laced with truth.
Sarah Paulson played Lana Winters, a journalist set on reporting what goes on behind the scenes at Briarcliff Asylum — her particular interest is Kit Walker (Evan Peters), a man accused of the horrific murders of multiple women under the name “Bloody Face”, though he was sent to the asylum instead of prison because he claims to have been abducted by aliens. Jessica Lange plays Sister Jude, a nun who runs things at the asylum.
Though on its own, Asylum allows each of the actors to display their talents, it’s even more impressive to watch after seeing multiple seasons. Each new world brings unique characters that AHS alums Paulson, Evans, and Lange play — while one season they may be playing the hero, the next may bring them back as a villain. None of them were true villains in this season, but their characters were all deliciously complex; sometimes it was hard to differentiate good from evil, or sanity from madness.
American Horror Story is good at setting up twists. But sometimes the twists stem from absurdity — am I supposed to believe the woman who comes to Briarcliff claiming to be Anne Frank? Or is she truly insane? Then how does she know that one of the doctors there used to be a Nazi? The writers don’t answer every question and it leaves a lot of plots open-ended. However, I believe that insisting the viewers stay curious and attentive is a blessing in disguise. The show answers what is important to know and lets the viewer decide some small details for themselves.
Asylum definitely brings the spook. What is more terrifying than a dirty, prison-like mansion that you can’t leave, even though you know you aren’t insane? It combines every person’s inherent fear of imprisonment, torture, and loneliness. Yes, characters in the show are tortured and locked in dingy, windowless rooms… not exactly my idea of a good time.
Paulson, Peters, and Lange each remarkably interpreted the sensation of going insane — not because their characters were insane, but because of their surroundings and the outside forces trying to convince them they are crazy. Zachary Quinto plays a psychiatrist who tries to convince Kit that he concocted the story of alien abduction to avoid his murderous tendencies. Joseph Fiennes plays the Monsignor who commits Sister Jude to the asylum and subjects her to electroshock therapy that fries her brain. Each character goes through momentous changes — from a “normal” person to someone considered to be “insane”. It begs the question: what is insanity? And how has the definition changed since the sixties, when this season took place? Paulson’s character is committed to the asylum because she is gay — which is incongruent to today’s beliefs.
One of my few criticisms may be the alien plotline. While I love a good spooky, mysterious alien abduction, it didn’t really fit the theme of “asylum”. I wish they would have explored the plot of James Cromwell’s character doing inhumane experiments on patients more instead — that was an interesting concept but was abandoned later in the season for the sake of “character development” (but, nobody really cared about his character, so I’m not sure why the writers made that a priority). I think the alien plotline should be utilized in another season — Ryan Murphy needs to listen to what Evan Peters has been saying for years: a season in space would be pretty damn cool.
American Horror Story didn’t scare me as much as I thought it would. In fact, my favorite thing about it wasn’t the creepiness that I came for; it was the great performances, well-written characters, and exciting plot.
I have certainly found my new fixation — God help my friends who have to listen to me gush about this show for the next couple of months.
