Scribbles about TV with major AHS Spoile- Shannon tries connecting all the seasons of AHS- Real Nerdy Stuff here. Lol.
So a few weeks ago I started to suspect that the AHS worlds were all connected, aside from Pepper being in both seasons. I figured that if I watched all the seasons at once I would start seeing these patterns, so the plan is to watch each season very slowly. I'm trying to have it so that the episodes are lined up with the current season, so I have to catch up a little bit, but I think it will be interesting. So far I've watched all the episodes of Freakshow, 2 episodes of Coven and the first episode of Murder House and Asylum.
So the first connection that is quite obvious with each season is probably the most obvious: These are all American horror stories. They're quite American tales. The Murder House season is the stuff American stories are made of! American family moves from the East to the West in an attempt to put together their dysfunctional family... and they succeed, even if in a dark way because that's what America is about. The end is quite satirical. Also back to the north and south thing. This season takes place in the south. In Murder House Jessica Lang's character was from the South.There is also some mention of New Orleans in Coven.It all adds up. Briarcliffe was in Massachusetts as were the Salem Witch Trials and the school in Coven. The English Major in me is noticing a connection there also... a lot of classic horror stories and mysteries are either Southern Gothic or have more Northern themes. Southern Gothic tales are usually very strange with outlandish characters and have unsettling endings. In High School we read a short story where a woman named Emily kills people and keeps them in her attic and sleeps with them... very strange. Flannery O'Connor fits in this category also I think. A modern author I would say fits in this category is my favorite: Gillian Flynn. Having read 2 of her books that take place in the south and are very twisted... I'd say she fits. I think Northern tales are more like Edgar Allan Poe's style of writing... often cold weather/ raining helps create the creepy mood of the events (like the storm in Coven for instance). This connection makes sense and the show is brilliant for connecting both horror styles together.
There is a big theme of forbidden love. Between living and dead, different races, same sex. Thats a pretty universal theme right there, and is currently a true horror story of America. All love should be accepted and its sad that it isn't. And yes, I mentioned the love between the living and dead, but I mean that in a different way than the love between the same sexes and different races. It could mean, and I'm kinda just bullshitting this here, but if someone you love dies, you obviously don't stop loving that person. And some day you will get to be with them forever. I'd say the way Violet and Tate are connected... but I don't think they're the best couple that symbolizes this I think Vivian and Ben Harmon are. They actually love each other and if Ben were to live without Vivian I don't think he would have really gotten over it.
A small connection I noticed in the first two seasons were a scene with the window opened. Not sure if this is really a connection or if it symbolizes anything... but I think it does. I don't think its totally disconnected. Lol. Just a speculation, and it was an interesting shot in both instances, so there is that.
The dead in the series don't really go anywhere either. In Murder House they live in the house forever. In Coven the witches can summon the dead and heal them back to life, and turn them into frankensteins. In Freak Show Edward Mouldrake has his Freakshow. And they say that in this season the dead stay dead, but Edward and Twisty are certainly not going anywhere. They're probably the best characters the show has ever had! In Asylum there wasn't anything directly like this... but it did seem that way and I don't think thats an accident. It seemed that Bloodyface did come back to life and was killing again... and so it seemed like he came back to life. Also Amma Walker and Alice came back to life and were sort of "reborn" from their experience with aliens.
And each season has a special halloween episode, but also the Rules on Halloween are different than they are the rest of the year. In Murder House the residents of the house can leave on Halloween. On Freakshow Edward Mouldrake appears if a Freakshow performs on Halloween. On coven I think thats when the zombie thing happened and... I don't really remember what happened in Asylum on Halloween and if the rules changed. I remember the Anne Frank thing but thats about it.
The struggle of fame is also apparent in each season. Lilly Rabe and Jessica Lange struggle with it in Season 1. In Asylum, Lana struggles with her fame and that its slightly based off of lies. In Coven Madison deals with celebrity and her supernatural powers and in this season Jessica Lange wants to be famous and struggles with that. Also I think Montgomery was Lilly Rabe's characters last name in Murder House and it is Maddison's last name in coven... so there is that.
They're all also slightly based off of truth. There is some real history in a lot of these seasons... ummm yeah don't know too much about that... but in Coven there were some real people in the stories, the Murder House is a real place and I think some of the characters in Freak Show are based on truth.
There are also child murderers, which is creepy and twisted... but it happens in pretty much every season. At the end of season 1, the little girl in season 2 that kills her family, Madison Montgomery is hardly a child... but she isn't an adult... and I'm certain she used her powers as a child for evil. And in Freakshow, there hasn't been an actual "child murderer" yet... but all the characters that have murdered someone have child-like behavior. Dandy clearly has mommy issues (and even though the timing doesn't make sense, I think he's Tate and Vivian's son grown up... actually his dad isn't in the picture... his dad might have been a ghost too!) Dot and Bette are certainly more on the "innocent childish" side and I would say Evan Peters character is also. Thats something odd and interesting... hmmm. That is like the creepiest thing of all, so it totally makes sense to have in every season.
Finally, the last thing I'd like to say is that all of these take place over a long period of time. There are lots of flashbacks and such for each season. They also all have somewhat happy endings. A good way to tell if an ending is going to be "happy" or not is to take into account how long the story takes place. Breaking Bad for instance only took place over 3 years, that is doomed for a tragic ending. These all take place over many decades and even hundreds of years really. That allows more room for a happy ending. Shakespearian comedies and tragedies all have this also.
Ummmm yeah. I wrote too much. I've been working on this for over an hour! Holy crap guys! Lol. Uhhh yeah so thats it. I hope this was interesting to someone... I more just wrote it for myself, but if you're a huge AHS fan and you don't mind reading a whole hell of a lot... you can handle this! Lol.
Byeeeee!
-Shannon
So the first connection that is quite obvious with each season is probably the most obvious: These are all American horror stories. They're quite American tales. The Murder House season is the stuff American stories are made of! American family moves from the East to the West in an attempt to put together their dysfunctional family... and they succeed, even if in a dark way because that's what America is about. The end is quite satirical. Also back to the north and south thing. This season takes place in the south. In Murder House Jessica Lang's character was from the South.There is also some mention of New Orleans in Coven.It all adds up. Briarcliffe was in Massachusetts as were the Salem Witch Trials and the school in Coven. The English Major in me is noticing a connection there also... a lot of classic horror stories and mysteries are either Southern Gothic or have more Northern themes. Southern Gothic tales are usually very strange with outlandish characters and have unsettling endings. In High School we read a short story where a woman named Emily kills people and keeps them in her attic and sleeps with them... very strange. Flannery O'Connor fits in this category also I think. A modern author I would say fits in this category is my favorite: Gillian Flynn. Having read 2 of her books that take place in the south and are very twisted... I'd say she fits. I think Northern tales are more like Edgar Allan Poe's style of writing... often cold weather/ raining helps create the creepy mood of the events (like the storm in Coven for instance). This connection makes sense and the show is brilliant for connecting both horror styles together.
There is a big theme of forbidden love. Between living and dead, different races, same sex. Thats a pretty universal theme right there, and is currently a true horror story of America. All love should be accepted and its sad that it isn't. And yes, I mentioned the love between the living and dead, but I mean that in a different way than the love between the same sexes and different races. It could mean, and I'm kinda just bullshitting this here, but if someone you love dies, you obviously don't stop loving that person. And some day you will get to be with them forever. I'd say the way Violet and Tate are connected... but I don't think they're the best couple that symbolizes this I think Vivian and Ben Harmon are. They actually love each other and if Ben were to live without Vivian I don't think he would have really gotten over it.
A small connection I noticed in the first two seasons were a scene with the window opened. Not sure if this is really a connection or if it symbolizes anything... but I think it does. I don't think its totally disconnected. Lol. Just a speculation, and it was an interesting shot in both instances, so there is that.
The dead in the series don't really go anywhere either. In Murder House they live in the house forever. In Coven the witches can summon the dead and heal them back to life, and turn them into frankensteins. In Freak Show Edward Mouldrake has his Freakshow. And they say that in this season the dead stay dead, but Edward and Twisty are certainly not going anywhere. They're probably the best characters the show has ever had! In Asylum there wasn't anything directly like this... but it did seem that way and I don't think thats an accident. It seemed that Bloodyface did come back to life and was killing again... and so it seemed like he came back to life. Also Amma Walker and Alice came back to life and were sort of "reborn" from their experience with aliens.
And each season has a special halloween episode, but also the Rules on Halloween are different than they are the rest of the year. In Murder House the residents of the house can leave on Halloween. On Freakshow Edward Mouldrake appears if a Freakshow performs on Halloween. On coven I think thats when the zombie thing happened and... I don't really remember what happened in Asylum on Halloween and if the rules changed. I remember the Anne Frank thing but thats about it.
The struggle of fame is also apparent in each season. Lilly Rabe and Jessica Lange struggle with it in Season 1. In Asylum, Lana struggles with her fame and that its slightly based off of lies. In Coven Madison deals with celebrity and her supernatural powers and in this season Jessica Lange wants to be famous and struggles with that. Also I think Montgomery was Lilly Rabe's characters last name in Murder House and it is Maddison's last name in coven... so there is that.
They're all also slightly based off of truth. There is some real history in a lot of these seasons... ummm yeah don't know too much about that... but in Coven there were some real people in the stories, the Murder House is a real place and I think some of the characters in Freak Show are based on truth.
There are also child murderers, which is creepy and twisted... but it happens in pretty much every season. At the end of season 1, the little girl in season 2 that kills her family, Madison Montgomery is hardly a child... but she isn't an adult... and I'm certain she used her powers as a child for evil. And in Freakshow, there hasn't been an actual "child murderer" yet... but all the characters that have murdered someone have child-like behavior. Dandy clearly has mommy issues (and even though the timing doesn't make sense, I think he's Tate and Vivian's son grown up... actually his dad isn't in the picture... his dad might have been a ghost too!) Dot and Bette are certainly more on the "innocent childish" side and I would say Evan Peters character is also. Thats something odd and interesting... hmmm. That is like the creepiest thing of all, so it totally makes sense to have in every season.
Finally, the last thing I'd like to say is that all of these take place over a long period of time. There are lots of flashbacks and such for each season. They also all have somewhat happy endings. A good way to tell if an ending is going to be "happy" or not is to take into account how long the story takes place. Breaking Bad for instance only took place over 3 years, that is doomed for a tragic ending. These all take place over many decades and even hundreds of years really. That allows more room for a happy ending. Shakespearian comedies and tragedies all have this also.
Ummmm yeah. I wrote too much. I've been working on this for over an hour! Holy crap guys! Lol. Uhhh yeah so thats it. I hope this was interesting to someone... I more just wrote it for myself, but if you're a huge AHS fan and you don't mind reading a whole hell of a lot... you can handle this! Lol.
Byeeeee!
-Shannon
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