Ryan Murphy’s long-running anthology horror series, American Horror Story, has seen its ups and downs, particularly with Cult, the seventh season that tried to take on politics, yet included killer clowns as - arguably - its strongest storyline.
One of the more polarizing and divisive seasons of the series, Murphy’s decision to tackle societal fallout after the US Presidential election in 2016 was a bold choice. Given the nature of an anthology, Murphy has never been afraid to take risks with his content, as even a poorly-received season can be washed away with a new one. Some have criticized that Cult was too on the nose given the political climate that came after the election of President Donald Trump, who was often referenced in the season along with his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and treated as a background character. Murphy’s aim for the season was to show how a culture of fear, which is a sociological term popularized by Barry Glassner, can cause people to make place their support behind people and make decisions they usually wouldn’t if they feel they - or their way of life - is being attacked by some insidious, outside force.
Along with bringing back Freak Show’s killer clown, Twisty, as a comic book character, clowns were also featured heavily in Cult as an integral part of the show. However, the diversion of focus from their antics to a focus on realism - specifically drawing from real fears that surfaced from US residents after the election - was a disservice to fans who wanted to lose themselves in fictional scares, and would have been better without the social commentary.
American Horror Story Cult: Why The Clowns Were The Best Part
Kai Anderson (Evan Peters) was the main antagonist of the season. He was a Trump supporter who decided to run for political office, and ended up as the Divine Leader of a murderous cult known as Fear Is Truth (FIT). Kai’s cult was formed after his therapist encouraged him to find a greater purpose for himself, his anger, and his ideas. Evan Peters ended up playing several notorious cult members throughout the season to reflect how Kai’s stance and leadership differed or bore similarities to people like Charles Manson and Jim Jones. The FIT members donned clown costumes with various sexual and phobia-based design structure, playing off fears beyond coulrophobia that included trypophobia (fear of small, closely-packed holes) and other erotophobias such as phallophobia.
Coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) is relatively common in society, popularized by villains such as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Stephen King’s classic novel, IT. John Wayne Gacy, a serial killer, used to dress like a clown to ensnare his victims. More recently, indie horror hit, Terrifier, created Art the Clown as its vicious, mime-like killer. On their own, the members of the FIT cult would have been terrifying, but as they were lumped into the larger agenda of the season - the sensationalization of political violence and fear mongering - it wasn’t as effective. Kai’s cult members played into the most terrifying of home invasion tropes, as well as the type of mob mentality laden gang violence that has been portrayed before with the Droogs in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.
The premise of clowns also playing into the fears of Ally Mayfair-Richards (Sarah Paulson), who was crippled by her various phobias, was also interesting because it pitted two actors who are arguably some of Murphy’s finest against each other in a big way. However, Cult’s release came at a time where many longed to lose themselves to fictional violence instead of being overloaded by very real and authentic feeling events, such as the choice to include a mass shooting, which underwent significant edits after the Las Vegas shooting in 2017. If these killer clowns had been involved as messengers in a fictional election, or if the season had revolved around Kai’s cult, specifically, it would made a much stronger season of American Horror Story.
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