I am 100% aware that I am very late off the mark with watching this particular show (I usual am to be honest) but American Horror Story has had me captivated this last week. I am only on season 1 so hopefully spoliers will be limited as most fans will be on the most recent season by now.
In a word, it's bonkers. New characters are thrown at you in almost every for the first half of this season. Flashbacks tell us of the absurd history in the house and the current owners are no less unfortunate.
Given that horror is not my favourite when it comes to film genres, I'm surprised that I'm enjoying this series. Each episode feels very cinematic, which I'm finding to be more common with regard to TV shows. I'm not just watching one episode at a time, but 3 maybe 4 episodes in one go. This obvisouly adds to cinematic feel becuase Im watching it in a feature length time scale. Despite some clear flaws, it seems to have me hooked.
It does make use of horribly conventional plot points. A hunted house is the basis of the first season. This house has a not so secret history of murder and death. A sceptical family move in - hunted? pfft, what rubbish - of course. Agnsty teenage daughter remarks that the house has 'character'. Of course. And so begins the unfolding of the narrative that spans 12 episodes. We meet several characters fairly quickly and slowly begin to discover which are living and which are dead. Though these main plot points are not the most unique they are spun in a webb of choas and mystery that keeps me watching. There is enough exposition throughout to keep it unstandable for passive viewers but certain points are challening enough to maintain to the attention of a more active audience. While it teeters on the edge of predictable, ocassional flashbacks and non-linear narrative keep us on our toes.
As for the themes it addresses, this is where this show gets particularly interesting. From the outset, human capacity for fear and is questioned, fear can lead us to insanity. It can lead us to evil we didnt know we were capable of. It can lead us to question our own and others reality. It often leads us to grip onto a higher being, religion plays a massive part is narratives such as this one. Our desire to indudge in immortality and question the afterlife is continurously addressed. The big question, what is life after death? In this case it is an enernity living within the confines of an old house.
Though I find the character development interesting, I'm infuriated by the fact that I don't seem to care about any of them. They are all flawed in the every way you'd expect them to be. An adultorous husband. Angsty, spolied child. Whiny, almost self-pitying wife. And then there is the psychotic mistress of said adultorous husband, and Tate. Tate is the ghost son of southern neighbour. He is a murderer and a rapist. And yet, when it comes to Tate I feel that we are supposed to sympathise with him in some way and strangely, I almost do. He seems sweet until you remember what he has done. He insists to Violet (Agnsty teenage daughter) that she has changed him and you want to belive him. I think it is in this character that we are able to question whether it is possible to be born bad, and regardless off wanting to change, that is just who we are.
American Horror Story, plays with conventions that border on the mundane and gives characters, well, very little character in some cases. But it does throw up questions that make you think and it does address them in an interesting way. It also plays with the conventions in a way that keep you watching. Each episode adds new branches to the narrative whilst simultaniously addressing points bought up in previously via flashbacks that open most episodes. Horror fan or not, I'd give it go. Overlook flaws and take an interest in its themes, I think you'll find yourself wanting to keep watching.
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