A Gay/campy chronicling of daily life in NYC,with individual kernels of human truth. copyright 2011 by The Raving Queen
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
"Oh, The Harmons And The Langdons Won't Be Friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
This is not "Oklahoma!,:" girls! This is "American Horror Story--Murder House," and while the two families will never be the best of friends, that do prove Leo Tolstoy's axiom, in the opening sentence of "Anna Karenina."
Let's start with The Harmons. We already know about pussy hound Ben, and that slut, Hayden, who followed him all the way to California!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention tramp Moira, the maid, whom he can't keep his hands off, either. Then, there is Vivien, his wife, and all I can say about her is--victim, Victim, VICTIM!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no sympathy for this simp, who plays the victim card every chance she gets. The parents are so dumb they don't realize when their daughter, Violet, is dead. Of course, Violet, the smartest of this bunch, doesn't realize it, either--at least,. not right away. And she is to blame for letting the Langdon influence, into the house.
This is by way of Tate Langdon, portrayed by Evan Peters. You see, the Langdons used to live in the Murder House, but when Constance Langdon's (Jessica Lange) husband, Hugo, was killed by Constance, for his whoring ways, they had to move next door. Hugo and Constance gave birth to all monstrous children--the deformed Addy, Beauregard, and another, as yet unknown, sibling. Tate was the only one physically perfect---but his monstrousness was on the inside. When Constance took up with sleazeball jerk, Larry Harvey (Denis O'Hare, Tate goes to Larry's workplace, and sets him afire, then goes to his school, Westfield High School, and commits a Columbine-like massacre. The only difference here is that, I am not sure Tate's victims were undeserving. This would also apply to Chad and Patrick, whom he murders as kinky "Rubberman," and kills them in a homophobic rage. But then, as a couple, they were not sterling models of gay men. He also, as "Rubberman," rapes and impregnates Vivien, which gives her another thing to cry victim about. So, when she becomes a ghost, too, who cares???????????
Who's left? Why, Constance, played by Jessica Lange, a tough survivor, living on the fringes of minor Hollywood success she came to town to get, only not enough of. Just as with Jessica's other characters on the show, there is a strong performance component, which, I think is part of the interconnections of the shows.
But The Harmons and Langdons are not your garden variety families. They are the polar opposites. Next to Violet, the smartest one in the bunch is the ghost of Infantata!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He should kill all the rest, who are still alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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3 comments:
You made a small typo, RQ: Constance' son Beauregard did not become the Infantata, he became a pitiable knockoff of Rocky Dennis, living in the Harmon's attic. As you correctly described in your earlier posts, the Infantata is Thaddeus Montgomery, dismembered infant of Charles and Nora Montgomery.
Now that you've finished the first season, perhaps you've noticed the annoying "Ryan Murphy Syndrome" which carries from season to season, series to series. Murphy comes up with oft-brilliant ideas for series, but repeatedly fails to plan them out with any coherence, inevitably leading to viewer frustration.
Time and again, Murphy shows are enthralling and gripping until the halfway point- then he loses both interest and plot, and things fall apart that shouldn't. He also has a BAD habit of changing overall plot arcs midstream in response to idiot youth/young adult fan feedback, to the severe detriment of the series.
Perfect example was the "Tate Langdon is Rubberman" fiasco. Rubberman was a mysterious, scary, inexplicable presence in the house for a good six episodes: viewers were glued to the screen trying to figure out what was up with him. Unfortunately, American Horror Story suddenly exploded on the radar of the tween girl demographic, who went bananas for the Twilight-esque Tate/Violet Romeo/Juliet angle (the pair became perversely known as "ViolAte" on Tumbl'r and Facebook).
Ryan Murphy noticed this new fandom, and basically tossed the original plot arc for the series to make Tate the endgame. It was a last-minute fan-service hack job, and boy does it show. Revealing Rubberman as that miserable twat Tate ruined the whole setup, and throwing all that extra screen time at "ViolAte" meant we never got any closure on key phenomena like the Infantata (they just drop him around ep 9 and never refer to him again).
Don't even get me started on the inconsistent "house rules" for the ghosts. The series spent several episodes pointedly showcasing Moira's attempts to bring her murdered body to light, believing she would then be free to move on. But after the fifth episode, we're told to forget all of that. Then, we have ghosts who appear only to serve an amusing plot point but otherwise are never seen despite them having a vested interest in the house being occupied (i.e., Tate's father NEVER bothers to warn the Langdons about Tate or Constance, but shows up to play sex games with Hayden for a cheap laugh? Come on.)
Love the show, love the actors, love the concept, but Ryan Murphy is a friggin PITA as show runner. The only one of the four AHS seasons he managed NOT to screw up was "Asylum", and that only because the story was so complex he couldn't get away with a mid-run rewrite.
David spotted the Infantata thing, and I have fixed it! Thanks so much! I had forgotten! Thi swas the sickest season, so far!
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