For those who are familiar with American Horror Story, the first season took place in the haunted house. In this season it was showing how the male subject of authority is more dominant than the women's authority. However we transition into the next season, with different characters and a totally different setting. In the second season, instead of a house, it is taking place in an insane asylum. In this show however, there is a whole new transition in authority. It seems in this episode, the authority is switched between genders. For those who are not familiar with the show, there is this nun who is in charge of the asylum, and she has authority and power on all of the patients in the hospital.
This could also tie in with the sick people arguement. Of course all of the patients in the asylum are supposed to be insane. However in the show, we see the authority as being more insane than the patients, while the patients are in the asylum (some patients get out and the show gets crazy from there). I just thought that between the show there is an interesting transition between authority between both seasons.
-Courtney O'Donnell
I think your right in trying to tie in this show with our current readings. We see as compared to the class status between the affluent and the working order that some of the healthiest people are the ones not trying to come up with different ways to be called sick and as seen in the show the upper classes are trying to make the working class believe the opposite. Where as the upper classes and medical authorities are the ones falling from the graces and they are the ones who are the worst for wear when the show progresses every episode. I guess what they say is true, turn about is fair play.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that many shows on TV show the male dominance in society, whether it is intentional or not. In American Horror's story first season, what I can gather (from watching the clips) is the male dominance role, and its relation to the past and present. If anyone was to view any other doctor shows on television, you could see an apparent gender gap in the topics. Perhaps this is because the demographics of the viewers are mostly women? Maybe not, but perhaps we should see that there still is a gap in the programs still shown today. Dr. Oz is another example of showing "sicknesses" or body "issues" in women.
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with the show either, but I am very intrigued by its themes. (I am a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror films; I can't quite get myself to click watch on Netflix, but I digress.) I do have a few questions. Is there a difference in the types of authority in the male and female in the two seasons? What I mean by this is the male dominance due to his role as a father? And does the nun have dominance because of her religious role, or is it because she is the primary caregiver?
ReplyDeleteThe second season really does show how authority really can take advantage of the "sick", and just how sick they can really be. Not as much in the physical sense, but more so in the mental aspect. The authority really takes advantage of some of the patients, through sexual harassment and assault, through "medicine" which really is torture, and through experimentation, such as the head doctor who uses patients to test out diseases on, and the patients are nearly never heard from or seen again, until one of them does get free and is discovered in a public place. The second season really portrays a lot of what we have talked and will talk about this semester and I feel as if we will be able to use examples from this show a lot throughout the semester.
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