American Horror Story has officially returned, releasing Season 10 of the original series, “Double Feature,” on August 25. With some fans sending their praises to Ryan Murphy and others critiquing the season at first glance, it’s safe to say that the series is quite contrasting to past seasons.
Initially, I was confused. There are no jump scares. We’ve seen the cannibalism trope before in the 2013 cannibal horror film, The Green Inferno. But, there was still an eerie feeling about the new season. It’s like, Murphy wants us to be fearful of what is to come; or even, how to analyze our deepest desires after watching and digesting the show.
In “Red Tide,” which is part one of the two-part season, Finn Wittrock plays Harry Gardner, a struggling screenwriter who battles writers-block. Gardner moves to Provincetown, MA, with his wife, Dorris Gardner (Lily Rabe) and daughter, Alma. The family arrives in the eerie town in hopes of (1) Harry finding his creative-break to write the pilot for a new show and (2) Dorris completing her new interior design project, which is to revamp the house they are living in for homeowners, the Browns.
“It’s a psychological horror,” was my first thought and was later confirmed once I read Wittrock’s interview with Entertainment Weekly. “‘The type of fear that The Shining induces is the type of fear we’re going for, which is, I guess, fear of the unknown,’” Wittrock said.
We don’t know what’s going to happen next. But more strangely, if this were our reality — do we truly know how we’d respond? Is your deepest desire success and perfection? If you could achieve that desire by simply taking a pill at the cost of eating other humans, would you do it?
While, you might say no; the decisions made by those that are in our society affects us as a whole.
“Red Tide,” in my opinion, challenges the current state of society. If we were to look at this past year and how a great part of society has selfishly responded to the pandemic by refusing lockdown, wearing masks and more, it’s hard to say what one would choose if given the option, introduced by screenwriter Ryan Murphy.
The pill that Harry, and majority of the population in Provincetown, MA., takes only works if the human, in which it lives, already has the creative talent within.
In Episode 2, Evan Peters was Austin Sommers, a relaxed musician who introduced Harry to the pill. In an intimate conversation with Harry, Austin said, “It only works if you have talent. So, those things you see haunting around town — they took the pill but they’re just hacks, wannabes, dreamers.”
Part of the horror rests in that aspect of the unknown. Wondering if we have what it takes to be successful, does the creative talent already live within us? It’s a curiosity.
“See if you take the pill and you don’t have a creative scene in your brain already, the pill destroys you 6– turns you into a flesh phantom. Always thirsty, never satisfied or employed,” Austin added.
It’s quite similar to the often discussed effects of over-consuming social media. Never satisfied, always thirsty; needing and wanting more. More specifically, altering the personalities of individuals and influencing uncanny decisions. It’s almost synonymous with the phrase, “do it for the ‘gram.” Did we forget about John Robert Hill, also known as “Boonk?”
That is where the fear lies, in the exploration of what one would do for success, perfection and fame.
If Harry’s reality was our reality– what role would you take? Are you Sarah Paulson as Tuberculosis Karen, the crazy white-lady who is warning every new-comer about the town’s evil spirits? Harry Gardner who gave in to the pressures of and desire for perfection? Or a bystander, who allows these things to happen like the police officer or grocery store clerk?
For some, it’s something to sit down and truly think about. But we don’t know.
That’s the horror.