![]() You can watch season 9 on FOX and NOW TV in the UK. Nothing would surprise us at this point.Īmerican Horror Story: 1984 airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX in the US. Still, with a never-ending line-up of young attractive men waiting in the wings, we can only assume that American Horror Story will continue this unfortunate trend in season ten and beyond, perhaps while bringing a sexy alien or two in as well. And when you factor in real-life scenarios too, American Horror Story and TV as a whole should consider killing off this trope entirely out of respect to the victims who were killed in real life. However, sympathising with fictional serial killers is already tricky territory before shows like American Horror Story sensationalise this even further with sex and nudity. Even while AHS:1984 fetishised The Night Stalker, it also broke away from the sexy-serial-killer trope by covering John Carroll Lynch's Mr Jingles in some particularly grisly makeup, encouraging us to identify with him despite this. ![]() To be fair though, American Horror Story doesn't always "sex up" its killers. AHS 1984 rectifies a big problem from past seasons.Instead, men like this are cast with an intent to lure us in, to make us root for both fictional and real-life serial killers in the role of underdog or anti-hero. Why else cast Zac Efron as Ted Bundy or Jamie Dornan in The Fall?Īs beloved as these performers might be, neither represents the pinnacle of acting. However, it's also pretty clear that the sheer volume of sexy serial killers on our screens has more to do with our collective thirst than an actual lesson in morality.įor every show like Unbelievable that examines the impact of male violence on women with respect and a desire to further the conversation, there's also a show like Youthat sensationalises the violence by demanding we sympathise or even lust after the killer. We don't live in a fairytale world where the horrors that lurk inside are necessarily reflected on the outside too. On the one hand, it's important to acknowledge that toxic masculinity isn't always easy to spot. AHS 1984's finale creates a huge plot hole.each of them have imbued the 'Helter Skelter' monster with heartthrob status in recent years, and this is symptomatic of a wider issue in popular culture today. There's actually a long and unfortunate tradition of casting attractive stars as "sexy Manson". While the make-up was piled on for these two roles, the fan-favourite star also embodied Charles Manson in the disturbingly sexy flesh as well.Īmerican Horror Story is hardly the only show that's guilty of this. Back in season seven, Peters played multiple IRL cult leaders, including Jim Jones and Marshall Applewhite. Yes, there's no denying that Villa is indeed a snack, but he's also playing a 'character' who destroyed people's lives - and not that long ago either.ĪHS: 1984 isn't the first time that American Horror Story has portrayed real-life murderers in this way. Objectifying and longing for fictional characters who are evil is problematic enough, but it's even worse to do so with men based on actual killers. There's no getting around that, no matter how many people he and the others maim or slaughter. Michael Langdon's hair alone deserves a spot in the Louvre. Peters, Fern and plenty of other problematic men in the world of American Horror Story are objectively sexy. Hell, even Satan's offspring turned people on when Cody Fern played " TV's sexiest Antichrist" last year in Apocalypse. Dandy Mott is hot, no question, and Evan Peters didn't become a sex symbol until Tate Langdon shot up a high school in season one. There's no kink shaming here, but letting a serial killer lick someone else's blood off your twinkletoes is the definition of problematic, no?Īmerican Horror Story has long had a problem with fetishising evil as something sexy and alluring, and this has always represented a key part of the show's appeal. Stabbings, beheadings and honest-to-God ear-severing all played a big role this year, but perhaps the most disturbing moment of all was when Richard Ramirez licked Montana's blood-soaked feet. American Horror Story didn't exactly shy away from "horror" in season nine.
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