“American Horror Story: Cult “, Season Of Phobias And Manipulation

For those who still do not know, American Horror Story is an American series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. It is not a standard series, but rather a series in which each season presents a different story, is independent from the previous ones and has its own outcome.

However, it is true that the cast does not usually have too many variations, especially until its fifth season. The actors are more or less the same and play different roles from season to season. 

It is a series that leaves the viewer some freedom: they can choose in which order to watch the seasons and even skip some if they are not interested. In any case, for its most loyal fans, it is interesting to see the complete series and follow it year after year to discover small connections between one season and another.

American Horror Story, between reality and fiction

As its name suggests, American Horror Story rescues real and fictional stories from North American popular culture and, of course, it is about stories loaded with terror. We see numerous cultural and historical references such as:

• The cinema, the fourth season is titled  Freak Show in  reference to the film Freaks (1932).
• To popular American folklore with characters like Piggy Man, who appears in Murder House and in Roanoke .
• To old legends like the old lost colony of Roanoke.
• To crimes as well known as that of the Black Dahlia, which to this day remains unsolved and has inspired numerous films, series, etc.
• Personification of serial killers such as: Aileen Wournos, John Wayne Gacy or the Zodiac Killer.

This year, we have witnessed a very different season, with a very different cast, although two veterans stand out: Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson.

American Horror Story: Cult

AHS has us used to witnessing supernatural events, souls seeking revenge, haunted houses … But this seventh season has not had anything paranormal, it is clear that Sister Jude (Jessica Lange in Asylum) was not wrong when she said that famous phrase of ” all monsters are human. “

In this season, we witness the degradation of humanity, to its most terrifying side. It all begins in a complex atmosphere, just on the day of the elections in which Trump was victorious and became president of the United States. And it is that politics will be, precisely, one of the keys of the season.

The header already warns us that we are facing a different season, it is the second time in the entire series in which the tune is modified (the first time was in Freak Show , a season where the paranormal did not have much relevance either). This header is really peculiar, we see allusions to trypophobia, clowns and the masks of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

The dangers of fear and manipulation

It is a controversial season, with many detractors; however, I think it is also one of the most reflective, where media manipulation is put in the spotlight. Furthermore, we can identify an effort to show how our society resembles a clown circus.

Our fears and phobias, sometimes, become our worst enemy, something that we see clearly in the character of Ally (Sarah Paulson). The series begins by focusing on his phobias (trypophobia and coulrophobia) and how they affect his daily life, his wife and son. But nothing is what it seems in American Horror Story and, as always, things can go wrong and take a totally unexpected turn.

The character of Kai Anderson (Evan Peters) is the center of the action, at first, we see him as a very intelligent young man, with a great capacity for manipulation and with very radical political ideas that will lead him to create a kind of sect or worship. Little by little, we will discover how this character uses the fears and insecurities of others to achieve his goals.

We are witnessing an incredible evolution of the characters ; each and every one of them present numerous changes as the series progresses, but the aforementioned Kai and Ally stand out especially. While one recovers his sanity, it seems that the other is losing it; when one is vulnerable, the other is strong …

AHS: Cult presents us with the danger of cults and the influence of their leaders, drawing very well their personality and showing how the most insecure and most vulnerable people are their favorite victims.

Members of the sect are not called by their real names, but by nicknames. In this way, Kai strips his followers of their own identity.

Everything can take an unexpected turn and any person at any given time, by whatever circumstance, may be more vulnerable and be involved in a manipulative situation from which it is very difficult to get out.

Building the leader

This whole cult environment is deeply reinforced by the constant allusions to other well-known cult leaders, some promoters of the most numerous collective suicides in history, such as Jim Jones and his “drinking the Kool-Aid”, Marshall Applewhite and his sect. Heaven’s gate or David Koresh, leader of the Davidians.

Among all of them, Charles Manson stands out, known for his sect “The Family” and having organized one of the most famous murders in history. I am referring to the murder of Sharon Tate, wife of director Roman Polanski, who was also pregnant. Murder that is recreated in the series and that leaves the viewer speechless.

Kai will be the narrator of the stories of these well-known leaders, in addition, it is Evan Peters himself who is in charge of interpreting them. Kai sees in them great men of history, with great ideas, idealizes them and tries to imitate them, but is very critical and analyzes the reasons for their failures. So try to forge an improved image of all these leaders; he is inspired by them, but tries to overcome them, to perfect them.

This personality is not only reinforced by the image of other leaders, but by his own experience. Through some  flashbacks, we relive critical moments in Kai’s life and we can intuit that, perhaps, behind the narcissist one day there was a person who suffered and was also a victim. This sketch immediately invokes a reflection: each one chooses how to face adversity, each one chooses how to face their fears and overcome them. In American Horror Story: Cult, there are two different forms of this “overcoming” in the characters of Kai and Ally.

Kai becomes a tremendously narcissistic misogynist and leaves the women of his cult in the background. This male-female rivalry rises to its full potential, and a world antagonistic to misogyny appears, where Valerie Solanas is rescued with her SCUM Manifesto and her attempted assassination of Andy Warhol.

There is no lack of violence to which the series is accustomed, but it presents us with a very different perspective. Showing the worst of humanity to  make us reflect on the manipulation that we experience daily with the media and current political systems, especially the American one.