American Horror Story: 10 Reasons Asylum Is The Best Season
2. It Was A Social Commentary
Murder House may have discussed American gun laws with a reference to school shootings, and the plausibility of ghosts, but Asylum tackled much bigger issues, making it a more sophisticated affair.
Trapped in the era of the 60s, Asylum reminded us of the sad state of affairs that the country found itself in. Most of the horror came from the characters' committal to the psychiatric facility and the way patients were handled back then. From the insanity plea, to electroshock therapy, and the lack of innocent until proven guilty, Briarcliff was a pretty spot on representation of crumbling real life psychiatric facilities.
Then we had Kit and Alma's interracial relationship and the abuse that they faced in the local community. This was mirrored by Lana Winters' secret life as a lesbian> Sure, by the time that Lana got to 2013 she seemed happy as an openly gay member of the LGBT community, but her relationship back in 1964 was definitely taboo.
As well as being a clever commentary on the time period, if anything, tackling such issues were some of the scarier parts of the season and it is strange to think that such a time existed.