"American Horror Story" fails at abortion story line

This piece originally appeared at What Tami Said

Yesterday, Feministe published a post on the irresponsible way The Walking Dead treated "the morning after pill" in a recent episode:

So you’ve got this storyline where Lori Grimes is unexpectedly pregnant and despairing over whether to bring a child into a filthy, chaotic, hopeless, joyless, post-zombie-apocalyptic hellworld. You know what? That’s awesome. Seriously, that’s an awesome storyline. I can totally see a person struggling with that under those circumstances, and there’s a ton you can do with that subplot. Good call, show.

So you give Glenn a pony and send him into town (even though y’all do have an actual car, but that’s another complaint for another post) to hit up the pharmacy for…

… a big ol’ handful of abortion pills.

Oh, show.

1. A big packet labeled “Morning After Pill” is like a white soda can labeled “Cola.”

That’s… just not what they look like. Plan B is actually available over the counter now, if you wanted to pick up a few just to see what they look like, in case you were interested in, like, accuracy, or whatever. You also might be surprised to learn they look nothing like Tylenol PM.

2. The morning-after pill doesn’t cause abortions.

Even if you take them by the heaping Tylenol handful, Lori. All that will do is make you feel really queasy, and then you’re sick and pregnant and living in a post-zombie-apocalyptic hellworld and your hair is really flat. Read more...

The writers of The Walking Dead aren't the only ones who could use a trip back to sex ed class. Though, I can't decide whether American Horror Story's treatment of abortion is ignorant, lazy or evil. The show, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's weekly camp homage to iconic horror, follows the dysfunctional Harmon family, recently relocated to the West Coast and stuck in a spirit-infested home with a long history of sordid sex and murder.

The Murder House, as the Harmon's new home is called by locals, was built in 1922 by the inept,drug-addled Dr. Charles Montgomery, who is convinced by his money-hungry wife to take a break from his nefarious Dr. Moreau-like experiments and begin earning extra cash performing abortions for unfortunate show girls. Eventually, the angry boyfriend of a patient kidnaps Montgomery's baby Lindbergh-style, returning him dead, his body cut into pieces. The now quite mad doctor stitches the child back together like one of his previous ghoulish experiments, reanimating him into an unholy evil thing that may still reside in Murder House in corporeal or spirit form.

As horror stories go, a physician who turns his murdered son into a monster is foundation enough to spark a decades-long curse. But I am convinced that the show wants the audience to think some of the house's murderousness comes from the fact that its original owner was performing abortions. The show runners prod the audience to associate abortion with the dark, unholy and wrong.



Through its narrative, American Horror Story disturbingly co-signs several conservative and anti-choice messages:

• Doctors who perform abortions are bad: The architect of the Murder House's evil--a man with the ability to create an undying demon baby--is an abortionist.

• Women who receive abortions are promiscuous and selfish, therefore bad: The women who come to Dr. Montgomery for abortions are show girls--"loose women" in the parlance of the time. The doctor's wife remarks to one how a baby would ruin her career on stage.

• Abortion = murdering babies: The darkened Murder House basement still holds fully-developed babies in jars, leaving the impression that the unhinged doctor was murdering babies instead of performing a medical procedure, now legal, that involves the removal of a fetus or embryo before it is viable.  

Clearly Dr. Montgomery and his wife were not running a caring medical facility. Instead, they were enriching themselves by preying on young women with unwanted pregnancies--women who had no legal options for the termination for their pregnancies nor access to the birth control methods we take for granted today. But I think the revulsion American Horror Story wants us to feel is not about poor reproductive care in the early 20th century, but about the medically-assisted ending of pregnancy, period.

At a time when American women's reproductive rights are under attack, American Horror Story's handling of abortion is the most horrific thing about the show.

American Horror Story, Season One, Episode Eight: Rubber Man

 

Wednesday night's episode answered a lot of questions.  We have seen rubber man from the very beginning of the of the show, but were never given any clues as to who he was until now.  Rubber man is Tate.  It seems that he is particularly moved by Nora Montgomery's desire to have a child.  He killed Teddy and Chad, when it become apparent that their relationship had disintegrated to the point where they would not be adopting a child, in the hope that a new family would move in, and provide Nora with the child of her dreams.  His rape of Vivien was to ensure that she became pregnant with a child.

The rubber suit was originally purchased by Chad, when he learned that Patrick was having conversations online about BDSM.  He was absolutely desperate to save his relationship and so he visited a store in the hope of finding something to turn Patrick on again.   He was clearly out of his element, because he did not know whether Patrick was a top or a bottom, but when he considers that sexually he always took the lead, he decided Patrick would be submissive for Patrick in order to mix things up a bit. Unfortunately, when Chad puts on the rubber suit to seduce Patrick, he is so clearly not into it and tells him that he does not like the feel of rubber against his skin.  They begin an argument, where once again Patrick tells him that he is sick of renovating, and tired of Chad holding the house against him.  As Patrick storms out in a rage, he tells Chad that he likes leather, and Chad crumples and begins to cry desperately.

In this episode, we watch as Vivien comes slowly unglued.  Hayden has determined that she wants her vengeance, and has set about torturing Vivien with Tate's help.  Vivien knows something is wrong, because she recognizes Nora Montgomery as the woman who came to see the house earlier, but Moira tries to tell her that everyone has a doppleganger.  When she looks up the side effects of the drugs her doctor gave her, she realizes that they could potentially be responsible for everything that she is seeing. 

We know that Vivien is not seeing things and that the house is in fact tormenting her.  Moira tries again by telling her about hysteria.  Vivien seems comforted by the knowledge that the medical profession has a long history of misogyny, but what I wonder is why she didn't consider for a moment that her OBGYN is female. Obviously, women are no strangers to internalized sexism; however, this should at least have been a consideration of hers.  Moira then goes on to tell her that malevolent spirits live in the house, and that she has to get out or Ben will assure that she is institutionalized. Vivien takes this to heart and runs upstairs to get Violet and leave.  As they are making their way out the door they are accosted by the spirits of the people who broke into the home during Halloween.

At this point, I completely believe that Moira is setting Vivien up, though she defended her to Hayden.  She fed Vivien raw brains and claimed it was to help the child, but as Ben would later point out, raw organs carry infectious diseases and could potentially be very harmful. Even during the 80's when Moira was alive, this would have been true.

The next day, Ben and Vivien have it out after Violet tells him that Vivien is losing her mind and eating raw offal. Vivien accuses Ben of setting her up and he tells her that he will go to the courts if he has to, to ensure that she does not leave the state with Violet or their unborn twins. Vivien tries to tell him about the break in, but he says that according to the police report no such thing occurred, and that he believes she has had some sort of psychotic break because she never dealt with the break in at halloween.

Upstairs in her room, Violet is alone with Tate. He asks her if she is in pain because they apparently just had sex.  I do not understand why Violet is in Tate's thrall. She knows that he is responsible for a vicious school shooting, but hey, none of that matters when there is true wuv to consider.  Does she think she can reform him?  What about the fact that she has been incontrovertible proof that he is not even alive?  Violet tells him that she wishes that she could tell her mother what is going on, but he says that she can't because they will lock her up and that means that they will be separated. 

Dear Ian Somerhalder, When You Have Money It's Easy to be Well Meaning

While Ian Somerhalder is an activist on many issues and is highly well intentioned - the fact remains that intent isn’t flawless and there’s a lot wrong with this - and a whole lot of unexamined privilege and paternalism

First and most glaringly is one of class and wealth. While Ian Somerhalder is, of course, in a position where he can cavalierly ignore sales bargains, having a net worth of $14,000,000 and being paid $40,000 per episode of the Vampire Diaries. That’s $720,000 per year (note: this figure does not take into account monies earned through modelling and his modelling agency). Performing in one episode of The Vampire Diaries earns him far more than many make in an entire year. For many, black friday represents the only opportunity they will get to buy that special present or afford that indulgence. And while we can criticise the materialism of that - it’s easy to criticise the materialism when we can casually afford whatever we want.

Official City of Bones Film Synopsis

Okay, Cassandra Clare fans, I know that you have been chomping at the bit to learn more about the upcoming City of Bones film.  The official movie synopsis has been released.

'CLARY FRAY (Lily Collins) is an ordinary Brooklyn teenager until the night she meets the mysteriously tattooed JACE, who turns out to be a half-angel warrior known as a Shadowhunter. When Clary finds out her mother JOCELYN has been abducted, she desperately hopes Jace will be able to help. After a whirling golden portal transports her across time and space in a heartbeat, Clary realizes she too has the powers of the Shadowhunters. But can she harness them in time to save her mother?

Clary, Jace and their fellow Shadowhunters endure one breathtaking battle after another against vampire, warlocks and demons—only to discover Jocelyn hid a terrible secret from the fiercest warrior of all: VALENTINE. Cast out from the world of Shadowhunters, Valentine abducted Jocelyn believing she had a powerful tool known as the Mortal Cup. Using her newfound gifts, Clary finds the Cup, only to be brutally betrayed and forced to relinquish it.

Still reeling from this setback and racing to save Jocelyn before it’s too late, Clary finds herself caught in a battle between forces she barely understands. Based on the best-selling series by Cassandra Clare, THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES is a magnificent urban fantasy rich in detail and suspense, about a girl’s journey to the darkest corners of the underworld to save those she loves.' (source)

Twi Kids Trio: Thanksgiving

American Horror Story: 7 Rubber Man Teasers You Might Want to Know

 

Tonight's episode of American Horror Story is called Rubberman.  We have seen this mysterious figure around the house but we know very little about him.  Ryan Murphy wrote this story and this is what he has in store for us:

•  If you wonder if Tate (Evan Peters) actually realizes he’s dead, well, he’s not the only one. Another ghost is about to get a sad revelation tonight.

• It turns out that latex suit that the Rubber Man hides behind was purchased to spice things up in one of the previous owners’ relationships. Clearly it wasn’t enough, though, and when all of their fighting led them to rethink wanting to start a family, something in the house-- not actually the house itself-- got to them.

• Two grieving mothers from two very different times come together in an unlikely partnership-- perhaps almost as unlikely as Moira (Frances Conroy) and Constance (Jessica Lange).

• We haven’t seen the last of Hayden (Kate Mara), and her constant intrusion causes Vivien (Connie Britton) to take drastic action to ensure the safety of her family. Unfortunately her drastic action has unexpected consequences.

• Vivien plans to leave the house but her eventual destination is not where she’d imagine.

• Tate certainly has his anger issues, but he may just be a hopeless romantic at heart.

• If you’re looking for an emotional husband-wife moment between Ben (Dylan McDermott) and Vivien, there is a really nice callback to something that occurs in the pilot.

Continue reading on Examiner.com

Wednesday Reboot: Blade

 

The movie Blade was released in 1998 and is based on the Marvel human/vampire hybrid character.  It stars Wesley, I've never met a Black woman I can respect Snipes as Blade, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Dorff and N'Bushe Wright as Blade's love interest Karen.  

The movie begins on the day of Blade's birth, where we watch as his mother dies giving birth to him.  What we do not know is that Blade is destined to be a hybrid because his mother was bitten by a vampire.  He was raised by Whistler who developed a serum to help him fight his thirst to kill vampires, to keep the human population safe.  Whistler became involved in the fight because a vampire had broken into his home and killed his wife and two daughters.

There are two kinds of vampires, those who are born with the condition and those that are bitten.  This creates a hierarchy between the vampires, with both factions waring for control.Speaking to Deacon Frost about turned vampires Karen says, "Vampires like you aren't a species. You're just infected, a sexually transmitted disease." (1:21 58) Obviously, this statement is problematic, because it plays upon the stigma that those living with HIV/AIDS live with.  It is further troubling that one is better entity because of the position and or privilege that one is born into.  Having this asserted by a woman of colour, who is naturally born without White or male privilege, naturalizes the idea that identity outside of the control of the person is a valid reason to stigmatize, thus normalizing the idea that constructed identity markers are a positive attribute.

Review of Embrace the Night by Karen Chance Book Three of the Cassandra Palmer Series

 

I have to admit that this series is really growing on me, though Chance has not given up on her love of bringing dead stars into her stories.  In Embrace the Night we were introduced to Jim Morrison's ghost which last long enough for me to roll my eyes. 

In this story, Chance really enlarged her world which I would have believed impossible to do because she had already used so many super natural beings in the other two books. The world consists of fae, both light and dark, witches, Demons, Incubus, vampires, Ancient Greek Gods, and Merlin from Arthurian legends.  Clearly a lot went on in the story but Chance managed to keep it all straight.  I think that it takes a great imagination to have all of these mythos in one book, without having one group over power another and Chance does this beautifully.

Time shifting plays a huge role in this book, but unlike previous stories, it was extremely easy to follow.  It really added a level of complexity that lead to a brilliant story.  When Cassie was in Paris in the 1700's, the background scenery was so graphically described, that as a reader, it felt as though I was on the journey with her. This book also tied up some time traveling issues that were difficult to follow in the first two books.