Richard J. Hand is Professor of Media Practice and Head of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, UK. He has a particular interest in popular culture, especially horror.
Mark O'Thomas is Principal and CEO of the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) and Visiting Professor of Theatre and Performance at the University of Greenwich, UK. He has a particular interest in popular culture, especially television dystopias.
Preliminary Matter and Acknowledgements; Contributors; Introduction, Richard J. Hand and Mark O'Thomas; Section 1. INDUSTRIES/CONTEXTS/CONSUMPTION, Chapter 1. 'I'm really not trying to be cheesy in this moustache twisty way, but it gets really bad. Things that you can't even really imagine...' (Sarah Paulson): American Horror Story and the Horror Ensemble Paradigm -Richard J. Hand; Chapter 2. The American Horror Story Repertory Company- Mark O'Thomas; Section 2. INTERTEXTS AND REFERENTS: GOTHIC, VOODOO, WITCHES, Chapter 3. 'Who's the Baddest Witch in Town?': Adaptation, Female Agency and Monstrous Representation in American Horror Story: 'Coven'- Adam Herron and Ben Nicholson; Chapter 4. 'I Know Your Body': Trauma and the Frankenstein Myth in 'Coven'- Catherine Pugh; Chapter 5. Science, Madness, and the Gothic in American Horror Story's 'Asylum'- Richard M Sheppard and LMK Sheppard; Chapter 6. 'We're more than just pins and dolls and seeing the future in chicken parts': Channelling and Challenging Voodoo Stereotypes In 'Coven' And 'Apocalypse'- Mikaël Toulza; Section 3. SOCIETY, POLITICS, SPACE, Chapter 7. Desiring Horror and Desirable Retro Slashers: '1984' and the Transformation of Sociocultural Intelligibility- Alvaro Lopez; Chapter 8. (Un)Dead Together: Hospitality, Hauntology and the 'Happily Ever After' in American Horror Story- Bethan Michael-Fox; Section 4. GENDER/OTHERNESS, Chapter 9. A Feminist and Queer Approach to American Horror Story's Homonormative and US Nationalist Values in the 'Asylum' and 'Cult' Seasons- Daniel Berjano; Chapter 10. Scaring with Otherness: American Horror Story and the Other Identity- Özgür Çal¿¿kan; Chapter 11. 'Bitchcraft': Adolescent Femininity and Fourth-Wave Feminism in Television Horror- Miranda Corcoran; Chapter 12. 'Cut me and I Bleed Dior': The Dark Side of Glamour in American Horror Story - Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns and Emiliano Aguilar; Chapter 13. Into The Womb: 'Murder House' and the Erotics of Oppression - An American Horror Story- Michele Trépanier; Index
This collection of essays approaches the American Horror Story cult television series through a rich variety of critical perspectives within the broader field of television studies and its transections with other disciplines.