American Horror Story: Asylum is the second season of the anthology series American Horror Story. It takes place in 1964 at Briarcliff Manor, a fictional asylum for the criminally insane. The season explores themes of sexuality, racism, and gender inequality through the stories of patients and staff at the asylum. It received positive reviews for its social commentary and performances, particularly from Sarah Paulson and Jessica Lange.

1. American Horror Story is the collective name for the
different series of programmes that focus around
different plots which are “horror stories.” Their
individual titles reflect their plots. They were created
and produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Fulchuck.
Recurring actors and actresses often appear in each
different season. This means that it is known as an
anthology series as a whole.

2. The different series of American Horror Story are…
Season one - American Horror
Story: Murder House.
Season two - American Horror
Story: Asylum.
Season three - American Horror
Story: Coven.
Season four - American Horror
Story: Freakshow.
I shall be focusing on the
second season, “Asylum.”
A trailer can be viewed
below:

3. 
 The second season, American Horror Story: Asylum was first premiered on the 17th of
October, 2012 and the rest of the episodes were released every Wednesday at
10.00pm to the 23rd of January, 2013. Like all of the seasons of American Horror Story,
the episodes were originally released and shown on TV by and through the American
channel known as “FX.” The symbol for this is shown on the gif above.
 Like the last two seasons of American Horror Story, “Asylum” was also made up of
thirteen episodes in total. This was in contrast to the first season which was made up
of twelve. In total, this means there are fifty-one episodes of the anthology series in
total.
 This season premiered with approximately 3.85 million viewers which is the second
third highest out of all the seasons, since the fan-base of this series has grown. The
finale of the series was viewed by approximately 2.29 million people.

4. Evan Peters as
Kit Walker.
Jessica Lange
as Sister Jude
Martin.
Sarah Paulson
as Lana
Winters.
Lily Rabe
as Sister Mary
Eunice McKee.
Zachary Quinto
as Dr. Oliver
Thredson.
Frances Conroy as
The Angel Of
Death.
Naomi
Grossman as
Pepper.
Dylan
McDermott as
Johnny Morgan.

5. THROUGH:
GENDER, SEXUALITY AND ETHNICITY…

6. Sexuality:
Sarah Paulson played Lana Winters, a journalist and strong willed women whose sexuality was a part of the storyline which impacted her
greatly. The audience was introduced to her character as one that felt the need to hide the fact she was a lesbian and was living with her
girlfriend. She was a journalist, one that had great ambitions within a male-dominated area of work, but knew if people found out she was
a lesbian she’d face social prejudice and discrimination. This would therefore affect her, her lover, employment and their lives as a whole
so it was agreed by both of them that they’d keep it a secret. This was until she reached Briarcliff, the Asylum in which she became a
patient. She was kept against her will by Sister Jude, who said she became a patient due to her sexuality. This “diagnosis” was not
dismissed by any other member of staff and the events that followed become even worse for poor Lana. For example, she befriended Dr.
Thredson who said that he’d help her escape if she could take part in experiments that were put in place to see if they could “cure” her
homosexuality. These experiments involved interaction with another male patient she was very uncomfortable with for example. “There is
no treatment,” Lana said.
This reflects current social issues due to the fact people may still feel like this within society. Lana’s story reflects and can be likened to
lives of people through time who have battled with themselves and with other people in this way in order to be who they are. As Lana
showed, you can be pushed and face the most extreme situations, but by becoming stronger, fighting through the negativity and
becoming empowered, life can get better. By accepting yourself, others will accept you too, although they should do anyway. This is
further reflected by modern day media due to homosexuality being more commonly accepted across the world. An example of this
acceptance is that more gay characters are portrayed on TV programmes.

7. Ethnicity:
Alma Walker is introduced as a friendly and loving African-American woman who is married to Kit Walker. Like
Lana and her girlfriend Wendy Peyser, the audience saw that they were both intensely in love with one another.
But, they similarly had to hide their feelings for each other due to the threat of social persecution. Due to her
ethnicity, members of the community thought of her as Kit's maid. However, due to the fact Kit was a an attendant
at a gas station, which is a job that was deemed as not that important, other people became suspicious of their
relationship. These suspicions came to Kit's attention when guys who knew him approached him one day scaring
and teasing him. The "leader" of the group then left with the line, "mmm chocolate,” which may act as a
metaphorical statement that could relate to Alma, objectifying her and acting as an offensive threat. The plot then
takes a mysterious turn when Kit and Alma are attacked; Alma disappears and is thought to be dead.
Racism is therefore a topic raised within this series. Which can relate to the large amount of it around that time, the past,
future and modern days too, although it has been massively reduced. She represents one of the people who tried to fight
past through the oppression. As I mentioned, she was attacked, as did many. But, in fact aliens had taken her within the
story. Including aliens may be an intentional and metaphorical device used in order to symbolise the factt that those of
different ethnicities could have been viewed “alien” with negative connotations to white people for example. Alma became
stronger throughout the series to the point where her character had changed and she became unhappy when those who
knew her found out she was alive again. However, her strength, like Lana’s shows that people can fight through
oppression which is representative of people in today’s society as it can made up of people who have different ethnicities
and cultures and are accepted.

8. GENDER:
Women are oppressed throughout the series in different ways.
Some of these are in ways I have previously mentioned:
Lana Winters and her girlfriend are
insecure and can't live their lives
being true to themselves and as
happy and successful as they want
to be due to their sexuality. Lana's
only form of escape seems to be
through the man Dr. Thredson too,
who ends up raping and nearly
killing her.
Alma is discriminated against due to
her ethnicity and labelled as a maid
because of it and her gender. She is
also a wife and objectified further by
members of society because of this
and especially because other people
aren't certainly positive of it either. The
fact she also becomes involved in a
polygamist relationship, although both
wives are loved, also connotes that
women could be viewed as objects.
Another example is that Sister Jude and Sister
Mary Eunice eventually also experience conflict
due the inequalities made apparent due to their
gender. Sister Mary Eunice was shy and
vulnerable to begin with and lived obeying the
words of Monsignor Howard and Dr. Arden This is
until she is corrupted by evil, but even then she
couldn't be saved from her death which was
caused by the Monsignor.
Interestingly, Sister Jude started out as the most
powerful character of them all. But even then she
was overthrown by the people around her, ended
up being a patient herself, becoming weak and
then dying from the kiss of death which had
previously haunted her within the male-dominated
place of terror : the Asylum.
Relating to modern day times:
This series therefore presented women as “inferior” to the men around
them and any other forces that potentially posed a threat to them. Since,
for example, Sister Eunice obeyed men and then got took over by an evil
presence which still lead to her demise, even if she appeared powerful for
moments. This could therefore have links to today’s society and how
women have gained power over time. Back then in the 1960’s, when this
series was set maybe women didn’t have much power and were known to
be more “weak” and inferior to men, but now men and women have
more shared roles in society. This could also link to the rise of the feminist
approach, since in modern culture and media, there are celebrities who
can have great effect on people, claiming to be feminists and making a
positive change, not only for women, but for women too since it is widely
believed that equality can lead to the happiness of all. This theme could
therefore also be one used to hopefully provoke further positive change in

9. Suspense
Thriller Mystery
Drama
Fantasy
Science fiction
GENRES:

10. Examples of when genres reflected
the zeitgeist(s)…
The story managed to capture the zeitgeist of the
1960s (when this series is set) due to it featuring a
storyline with connections to World War Two which
ended in 1945. The story therefore takes place after
people would have recovered from the impacts of the
war to the best of their abilities. The storyline it includes
shows how Anne Frank, played by Franka Potente,
could have survived, how her experiences during the
war had effected her and what would have happened if
she ended up in an asylum due to them and came face
to face with someone she thinks was a Nazi war
criminal a.k.a Dr. Arthur Arden played by James
Cromwell. This therefore means the genres
SUSPENSE, DRAMA, THRILLER, MYSTERY AND
FANTASY have connections with this.
The story is therefore also set after The Roswell UFO
incident and the continuous follow up of other alien
conspiracies. This could explain why the storyline
featuring the presence of aliens and how they effect
people is featured. The zeitgeist therefore also fits with
all the previously mentioned genres and SCIENCE
FICTION.

11. Camera shots & editing:
Close up shots are commonly used
within the show in order for the
audience to interpret, empathise
and sympathise with how characters
are feeling. This creates suspense
and emphasises how scenes are
dramatised and how the characters
are therefore portrayed.
Two shots incorporate how different
characters are feeling and saying. This
gives the audience more information and
obviously gives them an insight into more
than one character which is useful, as the
audience can then establish what they
both may be feeling and thinking. This is
emphasised by the fact these shots could
also be a part of close up and shot reverse
shots as some of these gifs are.
Shot reverse shots are useful to see
action in the form of movement or
conversations between characters.
Separate shots are formed, when
the camera cuts from one person to
another to show what they’re
doing. This can also be used to
dramatise a situation like in the gifs
on the left and right.
Notice how the
camera pans
closer towards
her face. This
creates suspense
and dramatises
the situation.
Lower angled shots are used to
look up to something of
importance, like in this shot and
the bottom right shot. They
both show someone trying to
oppress another person
through forceful actions.

12. Sound:
The opening credits of the series of American
Horror Story all have the same theme tune. This
may be used in order to present the audience with
the fact that it is an anthology series, they are all
American Horror Stories with some of the same
cast members, but they have different plots.
The song Dominque was used throughout the series,
especially since it was played within the main social area of
the Asylum. Due to the fact it is repeated over and over
may symbolise the presumed insanity of the place and the
repetitive lives the patients have to lead, which could send
them mad themselves. This occurred in one scene when it
was stopped out of anger which could forebode the events
that Lana would put a stop to the cruelty of the Asylum
and therefore the madness.
The last video is of my favourite scene. This use of
performance art when she sang the song “You
Don’t own me "revealed to the audience that she
was rebelling against those that restricted her:
god, religion and the people (especially men), who
tried to oppress her.

13. Mise-en-scene:
Establishing shots, long shots, wide
shots and close ups could all be
especially useful in setting for the
scene. As the pictures above show
and have connotations with the
Asylum, confinement and
restriction which therefore inform
the audience of the location and
potential themes of the series.
Many religious references (known as
iconography) were purposely apart of
series to show how it controlled people.
The clothes or “costumes” for the cast could also relate to the era
and themes such as religion (such as the nun’s outfits), to inform the
audience of these things. The costumes and props, as well as the
connected themes could also reveal to the audience the outdated
approaches of this era as a thought provoking way to create positive
changes to how people are today.

14. Critical acclaim:
It is believed that this season gained much more positive reviews than the
first season. This may mostly be because a bigger audience began to watch
it.
Examples:
- IMDb.
 80% out of 40 critics in relation to the website Rotten Tomatoes
wrote a positive review on the season. The site’s main description of
the season emphasises their positive views as they say it: “crosses
the boundaries to shock and scare with sexy subplots and innovative
takes on current social issues.”
 Maureen Ryan from The Huffington Post claimed that “it’s to the
credit of Asylum’s writers, directors and cast that the emotional pain
of the characters often feels as real as their uncertainty and terror.”
 Many awards have been won for the series and it’s cast members.
These include gaining seventeen nominations for the Primetime
Emmy Awards, which is more than any other show. Some of these
were won. Sarah Paulson and Zachary Quinto also won awards from
the 3rd Critics Choice Television Awards, as did others for the same
and different award shows, since the actors Jessica Lange, Sarah
Paulson, Zachary Quinto, James Cromwell and Lily Range all
especiallly gained a lot of praise for their work.

15. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!
I HOPE YOU’VE ENJOYED LEARNING
ABOUT AMERICAN HORROR STORY
AND WANT TO WATCH IT! I
RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO!
If you haven’t already, check out my favourite scene below: