American Horror Story
Image credit: Robert Zuckerman/FX
"HONEY, DOES MY BLACK RUBBER FETISH SUIT MAKE ME LOOK FAT?" Vivien (Connie Britton) and Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott) move to a house that may or may not be haunted in the pilot episode of American Horror Story.
We see what amounts to the Violet/Tate courtship -- a secret post-therapy session rendezvous in Violet’s bedroom. They bond over cutting scars, gloom pop (she’s all about Morrissey; he’s a Cobain guy), and laughably banal self-loathing for white upper middle class West Coast living. Oh, and the weather, too. “I hate it here. I hate everyone. All their 'boo-gee' designer bulls--t,” says tough-talking Violet. “East coast is much cooler. At least we have weather.” Tate: “I love it when the leaves turn orange.” Violet: “Yeah! Me, too!”
And yet, an undercurrent of subversive intent permeates the scene. It comes from Tate, who has moved from wearing green and black stripes like the violent, monster-destroyed red-headed boy to wearing a solid shade of puke green. At one point in his flirting, he goes to the chalkboard on Violet’s wall, and writes the word TAINT in tall, capital letters. The creepy thing about this beat: Violet doesn’t react to it. Doesn't even acknowledge it. Taint: To imbue with something offensive, poisonous or corrupt; to infect with decay. Taint: Take out the “n” and you have “Tait.” Like Tate. And when you give that “n” to Violet – infect her with it; taint her with it – you make her VIOLENT. Which is a long, rather ridiculously convoluted way of saying that yes, Tate is a bad influence. Memo to Violet: You’re going to regret it! You’re going to regret it!
Anyway, all of this unsettling nonsense comes to a screeching halt when Ben walks in. The doctor is not pleased. The daddy in him, even more so. Ben casts him out. Once again, Tate feels betrayed. He pouts. “That thing you said I was afraid of? Fear of rejection?!” He leaves the answer unsaid, but Ben gets it. Tate storms out, cursing.
From a scene that saw Ben try to rid his home of bad influence Tate, we segued immediately to Ben barreling out of the bathroom and wet from a shower, calling out to Vivien for razor blades. The transition/segue got me thinking: Is Tate an evil spirit or possessed by one? Think through what the pilot has shown us and told us. Razor blades: The preferred tool for teenage bloodletting. Bloodletting: According to the story Tate told (and don’t take this to the bank, kids), “the Indians” used to ritualistically cut themselves to exorcise the evil spirits living inside them, that have tainted them. Did you catch what happened in Ben's office when Tate told that tale? At the mention of evil spirits, we got a shot of Ben in his chair -- and a bloody-headed Ben standing behind him. Then he was gone. The injury looked consistent with the maulings by the monster in the basement. Was Tate killed or claimed by the creature? Is he a host body for the malevolent miscreant?
Regardless, Vivien doesn’t respond to Ben’s call for razor blades, and Ben’s about to turn back to the bathroom, when he hears sounds coming from another room. The door is ajar. He pushes it open. Moira Junior is laying on a couch. Touching herself. He watches. She watches him watching her. A mix of emotions take possession of him. Lust. Anger. Guilt. Loneliness. He storms away, retires to his study, and "pleasures" himself, breaking into a sob at the point of climax. A sad, pathetic little exorcism. The thing that initially struck me as most ridiculous about this scene now strikes me as most interesting: That he did what he did while facing a window. He wanted to be caught. Didn’t he? He wanted to be seen. In the profound sense. And then, when seen, dark parts and all, not rejected. You know: Just like Tate.
Ben is seen en medias masturbatorious, but not by the woman he loves. A second after finishing, Ben spots a man outside the window, hiding among the linens hanging on the line. And judging from the smirk on his burn-scarred face, the fedora’d voyeur was watching him the whole time. Unless… unless… the man didn’t materialize until Ben spilled his seed. So: Immaculate conception? Ben barrels downstairs and looks for the bogeyman amid the billowing white sheets. The man is gone. Was he ever there? Am I losing my mind?
NEXT: Ben's horror story theory of culture.
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