In my first monster paper, I wrote about the popular television show American Horror Story (AHS). I love this show because it manages to fluently use different monsters, time periods, and typically unacceptable acts of terror all while captivating even the most innocent people. Every time I explain the show to someone who hasn't seen it, I tell them that they will feel like a sick, twisted human watching it, but that they will love the feeling.
Specifically, I wrote about season four American Horror Story: Freak Show. What makes this show unique is that almost none of the "monsters" portrayed are even true, inhuman monsters at all. In this season, the monsters are a group of people working at a circus who were driven away by society because of imperfections they had which were deemed abnormal. The freaks of the circus start the season as generally passive, quiet, insecure beings but as time goes on, they are driven to insanity by the normal people who want nothing more than to rid the world of abnormality. Because of the lack of acceptance and weight of oppression, the gentle giant freaks shift and become angry, impulsive criminals. This fits perfectly into Cohen's third thesis where he states, "The monster always escapes because it refuses easy categorization (pg. 6)." I interpreted this as what really makes a monster terrifying is its ability to adapt and "shed its skin like a snake (6)." The freaks can no longer bear the weight of their maltreatment and are led to commit terrible crimes they could have never imagined before. What the freaks do not realize however is that they are not hated, the reality is that they are feared. As the season takes place in the 1950's, there was not much room in this time period for standing out and being different. When the laws of nature are violated by the freakishness of monsters, humans become scared and distrustful because they no longer see themselves as the strongest creatures on the totem pole. As H.P. Lovecraft once wrote, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Rather than learn about the quirks of the slightly abnormal people, society immediately thrusts the freaks out to live on their own.
What keeps people watching the show directly relates to Cohen's sixth thesis where he states, "The fear of the monster is really a kind of desire (16)." Every person has a part of them which they do not want to be discovered. These parts can be evil, corrupt, sexual, etc. AHS consistently sweeps in and throws every perverse, taboo idea right into your face. When they show a new unimaginable, gruesome scene, they do not give you time to be surprised by what happens. The show is successful because they make these horrible scenes and monsters feel like they are a part of the shadows hidden in everyday life. They make it seem as though to be human is to be slightly demented and monstrous.
In my opinion however, the strongest similarity between Cohen's theses and AHS however is the consistent theme of monster vs. man, or monster=man.
I really like that you talked about season four of this show because that's the only season I have seen and I think it's awesome! I think both of the theses you related to the show are the same ones I would have picked if I did my paper on AHS. I really like how you said, "They make it seem as though to be human is to be slightly demented and monstrous." This really captured my attention because thinking back on the show I can recall that a lot of the times the freaks weren't the ones doing the monstrous things. Instead, it was normal people that were killing others or kidnapping others. The show is portrayed around the freak show, but shows how the non-freaks can be more monstrous than them. I really like how you compared AHS to the fear of the monster is really kind of a desire because it fits so well. People fear the freaks and at first is why they wanted to go see their shows, but for some of the fans that desire went too far. That's when the desire became more of a reality for a couple of specific people in the show that I won't go into detail about. I never thought about AHS in these ways so I'm very glad you wrote about it.
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