MHA's Blog: Chiming In

I’m not going to talk about sexual fetishes, necrophilia and adults drinking breast milk, which all happened in this episode of American Horror Story.  Fetishes are thought-provoking in how the conscious and unconscious impulses in the brain intersect, but they are complicated and not really safe for work.  Instead, let’s discuss a topic that’s nearer to my X-Files loving heart, alien abductions.  One of the recurring themes (topics? Plot lines?) of this season has been Kit and Alma’s abduction by aliens in the opening of the first episode.

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What a way to come back! American Horror Story came back from its hiatus by hitting the ground running, giving us updates on Lana and the new Briarcliff Psychiatrist, Dr. “Bloody Face” Thredson, Kit, Grace and their new baby. We also saw the departure of Sister Mary Eunice (and presumably the devil inside of her). Most importantly, we got a musical number. Following a session of electroconvulsive therapy, Judy Martin (AKA Sister Jude) had a hallucination of herself and the rest of the patients singing “The Name Game.” It might have been the weirdest thing this show has ever done, and it’s a good excuse to talk about hallucinations.

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A question that has always fascinated me is how much influence your genes have on you versus your environment.  I come from a family with a history of diabetes, and everyone in our family has a greater likelihood of getting diabetes due to our genetics.  What determines who gets the disease and who doesn’t?  Can we change how our genes affect us?  This week’s American Horror Story brings up this question (but doesn’t offer any answers, obviously). 

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Last night’s American Horror Story was the show’s Christmas episode.  It was the scariest episode of the show yet.  It was grotesque, mean-spirited and had an honest-to-God unsettling villain.  What made this episode so effective was the minor theme of powerlessness that ran through all of the characters, bad or good. 

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Well folks, we’re at the halfway point of American Horror Story: Asylum.  So far, we’ve seen alien abductions, rape, murder and mutilation.  We’ve got a possessed nun, a Nazi doctor, a serial killer and Anne Frank.  We’ve had forced sterilization, conversion therapy, ECT and canings.  I almost don’t know where to go from here, and I don’t think the writers do either.  This season is actually more coherent, plot-wise, than last season was, but it’s still just what the writers think will be scary all thrown together.  Instead of tension or character-driven horror, we’re getting big set-pieces of scary.  But why do the writers think these things will be scary?  Why are we so conditioned to fear mental illness?

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