American Horror Story‘s third season, The Coven, ended last night. The show as a whole did not quite meet my expectations–a critique echoed here and here; but still, for various reasons, I quite enjoyed the season’s finale. Among them was it’s take on hell: each of us has our own private one. Misty, the “swamp-dwelling,Continue reading “The Coven’s Vision of Hell and ‘Repetition Compulsion’”
Tag Archives: American Horror Story
The Year That Was, Here, On This Blog
The formal two-year anniversary of this blog was sometime back in November; as I was traveling then I couldn’t put up a commemorative post; this year-end dispatch will have to do as substitute marker for that occasion. 2013 was a busy year for blogging here, though I blogged on fewer occasions than I did inContinue reading “The Year That Was, Here, On This Blog”
American Horror Story and Torture Porn
Last night was Fright Night. I had plans to watch the opening episode of the third season of American Horror Story, a show that despite its disappointingly concluded first season and its at times too-lurid second season still manages to hold considerable promise for me. But I was going to watch Paranormal Activity first; somehowContinue reading “American Horror Story and Torture Porn”
American Horror Story’s Asylum: Site of Nightmares
American Horror Story‘s second season always promised to be creepier and more effective than the disappointing first season, which began well, but had devolved into a terrible mess by the time its end rolled around. The second season’s ending had its share of disappointments, but it had many fine moments that came before, the episodicContinue reading “American Horror Story’s Asylum: Site of Nightmares”
American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, and the ‘American Gothic’ Style
The opening credits/titles for season 1 of American Horror Story are very creepy; in their visual ‘style’ they resemble those of season 3 of The Walking Dead. Let’s call this style ‘American Gothic’; what makes it work? The central motif in ‘American Gothic’–at least in the two sequences cited above–is the decay of the familiar: inevitable,Continue reading “American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, and the ‘American Gothic’ Style”
Samir Chopra 