American Horror Story: Season 1 (Rewatch)

 

Season one of American Horror Story came out in 2011 and was a very big hit. It continues to be that maybe not on the same scale but it has a large and loyal fan base. I watch the first and part of the second seasons but at the time did not really like it. I found the characters immensely unlikable. Even the main characters, the Harmons, Ben (Dylan McDermott) and Vivian (Connie Britton) and daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga) are very flawed individuals. Ben is an adulterer, who gets caught with a back story Vivian's horrendous miscarriage pulling the couple apart. They move from Boston to Los Angeles using the age old geographic cure to try to save their relationship. Vivian and her daughter Violet are probably who we are supposed to pull for but the structure of the show does not really allow for a bond to be made.

  What the show does really well is create a complex web of at of tragic stories of the deaths of the dozen or so ghosts continuing to reside in the house. These are not appear and disappear types of ghosts but instead they interact and effect the living through relational manipulation. These are hungry ghosts who want nothing more than to add to their numbers. The rules of these ghosts are really loose. The classic motif is ghosts have a very hard time interacting with the material world having to be emotionally charged to have the smallest impact. This is not the case in this series, ghost can murder as well as manipulate. There are other living characters that come and go from the Murder House to build a complex set of stories but in the end it is a story about the Harmons and how they came to join the undead for eternity. 

I like this more than I did 15 years ago, each ghost has a very unique story and the show balances the reveals of them in a way that allows a bit of mystery all the way to the end of the season. I think the show is blunt and cruel at times and really I was only pulling for Violet. Which makes the second half of the show less appealing since her reveal was never intended to be hidden fully. The show tries to shock with socially challenging topics for normal American society such as bondage fetishism, horrific murders including the famous Blue Dahlia case that really happened in LA, child harm etc.  This season was interesting but it misses the heart of story and instead give us a collage of images and ideas that do not fully satisfy.  I am in the minority with these opinions. Murder House is loved and averages near 8 of 10 stars in IMDB reviews so take my thoughts as my own.