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The Official Student Paper of Riverside Poly High School

The Division

Sep 22, 2017
Image drawn by Alexandra Flores

INTENSE: The television show “American Horror Story” premieres its most impressionable season yet.

By Alexandra Flores, Staff Writer

Ryan Murphy and Brad Franklin’s sixth season of their running television show “American Horror Story: Cult,” premiered on September 5th, 2017 and is already the second most-watched cable show of 2017 after “The Walking Dead.” Loyal fans of the series will recognize the familiar faces of Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, and Cheyenne Jackson as a few of the main characters in the show, along with the unfamiliar ones of Billie Lourd and Alison Pill. This season is inspired by the 2016 United States Presidential Election, as if one could possibly forget.

This season more so than any other seems to embody its very title; it is indeed an American horror story. However, that only applies to some, as the show has expressed. Really, since Trump’s campaign for President, there has been a distinct division between those who do not support him and those who do, both of which are fiercely secured in their views. This division is somehow more intense than anything before it, and at this point surpasses that of Democrats and Republicans.

In the show, this division is conveyed by the presence of two different sets of eyes, the characters of Ally Mayfair-Richards (Paulson) and Kai Anderson (Peters). They presumably to represent the perceptions of those on both sides of the partition — of the wall. The first episode opens on Donald Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s announcements to run for President and then falls on Trump’s infamous victory.

For Ally, this is the literal end of the world. “It should’ve been her,” Ally said as she broke down in tears. Being a married lesbian and a mother, her views are clearly on the left side of the political spectrum — one can at least recognize the reason behind her reaction. Ally’s already sensitive mental state deteriorates as her phobias of confined places, clusters of small holes, and clowns reappear. This essentially puts a strain on her marriage and her life as a whole, which viewers understand would not have happened if Clinton had won instead.

Kai’s story, unsurprisingly, is the polar opposite of Ally’s. Besides his Conservative political views, not much else is known about him. He is a dedicated Trump supporter, and sees him as the leader of the revolution. “The revolution has begun,” Kai exclaimed with his fists in the air and a proud expression on his face. He begins to put the “revolution” into action by harassing a group of Hispanics with racial slurs and a particularly inappropriate gesture that makes one wonder “Was that really necessary?”— a question which American Horror Story never fails to spark.

The show is off to an intense start in regards to drama, sexual content, and of course politics. “I felt that it was just too much too soon. The beginning wasn’t that bad and I was into it, but as it went on I was like nope,” Poly Literature teacher Mrs. Wilson said. This content is not a huge surprise to anyone that knows the show’s history, but politics are an especially touchy subject, and one that the show has never really dared to have a go at. That is, until now.

Many do not want to be reminded of what they consider to be the horrors going on in the world right now, as caused by the election. In late 2016, America actually had a problem with clown pranks and even now, there are problems in the White House that resonate throughout the world. It can be difficult to think about these things or to watch a horror show based off of them. Maybe the show is trying to tell audiences that thinking about these things is the only way to inspire action and therefore create change. It’s more so screaming at audiences rather than telling them, but that’s just the good ol’ fashion American Horror Story way.

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