Unreliable Narrators and the Monstrous Feminine
I just finished watching American Horror Story: Asylum. Yes, I am way behind and slow to catch up. However, in case there are others like me, consider yourself duly warned: Spoilers Abound.
Overall, I found Asylum somewhat uneven. However, the cast is consistently fantastic, the visuals are striking, and I enjoy the tropes they’re playing with, so I’ll keep coming back for more. One of the things that annoyed me about the first season of American Horror Story was that the last episode felt incredibly rushed. The pacing of the second season felt off as well, and the last episode in particular seemed to take a sharp left and introduce the possibility of an unreliable narrator rather suddenly. At first, this annoyed me, but the more I thought about it, the more the decision seemed like an interesting and valid one. Throughout the second series, we see several variations on the theme of identity, disguise, and which characters have the right to speak and be believed. Dr. Arden and Sister Jude have both reinvented themselves at Briarcliff to escape their past crimes. Later, Sister Jude has her identity taken away from her, along with her authority to speak and be believed. Dr. Thredson wears a mask to become Bloodyface, and vice versa; Bloodyface wears Dr. Thredson as a mask, one that gives him credibility and access to his victims. A demon adopts Sister Mary Eunice’s body as an innocent disguise. A woman comes to Briarcliff claiming to be Anne Frank, and no one believes her. In face, almost every patient at Briarcliff has their sanity, reliability, and ability to tell truth from fantasy questioned.
So the groundwork for unreliability is there. Then, in the final episode, we see Lana Winters giving an interview where she looks back over her career as a journalist. Since her time at Briarcliff, she’s made a name for herself by unmasking corruption, and bringing down the mighty and powerful. During the interview, Lana admits to her own secret. Rather than dying at birth as she’d claimed for forty years, the child forced on her via rape, did indeed survive and she gave him up for adoption. This scene, as well as several leading up to it, begin to throw Lana’s reliability into question. She admits to bending the narrative to suit her needs and tell a better story. How many other details of her stay at Briarcliff, and her subsequent exposure of the abuse that went on there did she smooth over, change, or outright lie about to suit her needs?
The final scene of the final episode further throws Lana’s credibility into doubt. The final episode makes it clear that Lana is the overarching narrator for the season. Everything we’re told happened has been related to us through her point of view. In the final scene, we return to the 1960s, and Lana’s first encounter with Sister Jude at Briarcliff. During this conversation, Sister Jude predicts she will never see Lana again after denying her access to Briarcliff, and we see Lana walk out the door. With the possibility of Lana as an unreliable narrator established in the scenes prior to this one, the idea that everything that has been presented to us as truth all season long never happened at all. Maybe Lana walked out the door that day and never returned to Briarcliff until after the government took over, and Sister Jude was long gone. During the final scene, Sister Jude also warns Lana about ambition, telling her that it will result in Lana ending up miserable and alone. If we take the scene where Lana is being interviewed as the only truth, however, we see quite the opposite. Her ambition has gained her everything she wanted in life. She’s a trusted journalist, author of multiple bestselling books, about to be honored by the Kennedy Center, in a loving and stable relationship, and living in a beautiful house that suggests she’s very financially well off indeed.
So, instead of a character whose backstory is torture and rape, motivated by said rape to find the strength to take on the world, we are opened up to the possibility of a character who is a liar and a monster doing whatever she has to in order to achieve her goal. This includes killing off anyone who could have disputed her story. Despite the stories of demon possession, alien abduction, and serial killers, it’s possible Lana is the only murderer in the story. We really only have her word to go on. It’s possible she was never incarcerated at Briarcliff, but she was a good enough journalist to figure out that the best way to break the story wide open was to paint herself as a sympathetic survivor and victim. She was also smart enough to know that the sensational story of a serial killer would gain her international notoriety and attention. Maybe Dr. Thredson really was Bloodyface, or maybe she killed him before anyone could figure it out either way. Maybe she eliminated Kit, Sister Jude, Dr. Arden, Sister Mary Eunice, and even the Monseigneur before they could dispute her story. Maybe she never had a baby at all. Maybe Lana was indeed playing a very long game. Maybe she tracked down an orphan with a criminal record, one with a history of mental instability and planted the idea that he was Bloodyface’s son in his mind to make her case that much stronger. Maybe there never was a Wendy. Maybe.
If these things are true, it makes Lana Winters a fascinating example of the Monstrous Feminine. Unlike Grendel’s Mother, or Mrs. Vorhees, she doesn’t kill to protect or avenge her child. She kills solely for her own gain and to further her career. And unlike so many Evil Queens, Wicked Stepmothers, and Lady Macbeth, she’s never punished for her ambition, either. She gets exactly what she wants in the end, and there’s no one left to challenge her. She’s already shown us her ability to be determined and unwavering. We don’t see any evidence she’s succumb to guilt further down the road. She set out a course for herself, followed it, and in the end, she reaped her reward. Now that the last threads are tied up, all she has to do is sit back and live happily ever after.
It’s also possible I’m reading too much into things. However, I prefer the version of Lana Winters who sets a goal for herself and stops at nothing to achieve it rather than one who perpetually suffers. Regardless, it’s interesting to think about. Now, judging by my current pace, I may have some thoughts about American Horror Story: Coven to share in a year or two…
Originally published at A.C. Wise. You can comment here or there.