Over ten seasons since 2011, the television series American Horror
Story (AHS), created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, has continued to
push the boundaries of the televisual form in new and exciting ways.
Emerging in a context which has seen a boom in popularity for horror
series on television, AHS has distinguished itself from its 'rivals'
such as The Walking Dead, Bates Motel or Penny Dreadful through
its diverse strategies and storylines which have seen it explore
archetypal narratives of horror culture as well as engaging with real
historical events. Utilising a repertory company model for its casting,
the show has challenged issues around contemporary politics,
heteronormativity, violence on the screen, and disability to name but a
few. This new collection of essays approaches the AHS anthology series
through a variety of critical perspectives within the broader field of
television studies and its transections with other disciplines.
The book includes sections on the industry context for the making of
American Horror Story, the intertextual territory upon which the
anthology series has been built, the societal and spatial aspects of
American Horror Story, as well as its broader but specific
relationship to otherness. The book accounts for the broad
narratological sweep of AHS which crosses different times and
locations while playfully exploring and openly acknowledging its
internal linkages.
