Representations in American Horror Story:

There are a multitude of different representations shown in the first episode of American Horror Story, some of which I am going to discuss during this essay.

The show begins with a long shot of an old, overgrown house; setting the scene. In this shot, we see a young girl looking up at the house. Then two teenage boys enter through the open gate, one carrying a baseball bat. The young girl is startled and turns around. As she does this, we get a close up glimpse of her. The audience are now able to identify she is a young girl with Down-syndrome. The boys immediately see her, and one of them addresses her presence by saying “Hey, freak” and they both look her up and down; making the face of disgust. The statement “Hey, freak” implies to the audience that people with disabilities are different to those who don’t, making them seem as though they aren’t normal. During this time (1978), people with disabilities were extremely discriminated against. However, in a modern day society, they are seen as equal to those without a disability as we all carry the same strengths and weaknesses. This is further shown when the girl warns them not to go into the house, and they turn around and say “Shut up or we’ll kick your face in”. This shows the audience how targeted they are, and that they suffer a lot of bullying. This makes viewers sympathise for the girl as they know she has done nothing wrong, but is being targeted purely because of her disability.

Another representation we see is gender. This is shown in the ‘2011’ section of the show, where we see a woman returning home after a doctor’s appointment. She is putting her belongings down in the kitchen when she hears a noise upstairs. She begins to panic, grabs her phone and dials 911. She tells the operator there is an intruder in her house and asks them to hurry to her house. As she puts the phone down, a close up shows her picking up a kitchen knife and holding it out in front of her as a form of self-defence. The silence, and diegetic sounds such as rustling help form an uncomfortable atmosphere and builds tension which gives the audience a feel as to what she may be feeling as her own tension builds. This suggests that she is like a stereotypical woman: weak, emotional, cowardly, and always in need of someone coming to the rescue.

The section where Moira enters to clean the room while Ben is in there is another example of the representation of the female gender. The mid shot enables the audience to see her whole body. Her maid uniform is extremely short, with the top few buttons undone to show off her chest. She is also wearing suspenders and heels, which lengthen her legs. This outfit can be seen as sexy to some people, especially men; which is where the female gaze links in. The producers are showing women to be how men want them to be, which is how the audience are to view them. The provocative uniform and suspenders have connotations of flirtatious behaviour; which is what women, stereotypically, are seen to be like. Moira’s makeup is natural and her hair is up, which puts extra emphasis on her physical attributes, presenting women as flashy and desperate for attention.

The representation of sexuality (heterosexualism) is also shown by Ben and Vivien’s marriage. Throughout the show we see the couple’s marriage breaking, however we are able to see the love each other feel for one another. Stereotypically, marriages are meant to be perfect; however this episode shows us different. Not all relationships are perfect, and this couple demonstrate that. The over the shoulder shots show us each character as their argument heats up. This enables us to see their facial expressions, body language, as well as their reactions to what each other are saying. Ben is shown to be getting angrier and hurt as their argument goes on, and becomes teary eyed (shown in a close up). To viewers this may seem normal as it is okay to cry, but stereotypically men are seen to be strong, confident and not as emotional as women; which Ben doesn’t show. Also Vivien shouts at Ben which, again, doesn’t fit the stereotype as women are seen to be softly spoken and not as confident, especially during confrontations like this.