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- The Substance Has Been a Horror Hit
- Ryan Murphy Stopped Being Interesting Years Ago
As a seasoned viewer of many a television series, I must say that my journey with Ryan Murphy’s work has been quite the rollercoaster ride. In the early days, his shows felt like a refreshing blend of horror and camp, a daring mix that was both entertaining and thought-provoking. However, much like a once-beloved toy that’s been played with too many times, his shows have lost their initial charm.
In the past month, Ryan Murphy has churned out an impressive six new TV series! Among them are Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story” and ABC’s “Doctor Odyssey”, the latter being a medical procedural with an amusing title starring Joshua Jackson as a doctor on a cruise ship. With over 30 shows already credited to his name, including 12 seasons of “American Horror Story”, this productive TV mastermind continues to push forward at a rapid pace. This week, he’s added another series to the lineup: “The Beauty”, featuring Evan Peters, Jeremy Pope, and Ashton Kutcher (more on that later).
In a distinctive fashion, Murphy portrayed The Beauty as his interpretation of the “Ozempic culture,” delving metaphorically into an STD that transforms you into your ideal self. Notably, this resembles quite a bit with The Substance, a fact that isn’t startling given Murphy’s knack for leveraging cultural trends (for instance, casting Travis Kelce in Grotesquerie). However, after reading the description, it’s become more apparent than ever: Ryan Murphy needs to be restrained.
The Substance Has Been a Horror Hit
As a devoted film enthusiast, I can’t help but reminisce about my recent discovery – “The Substance,” a chilling body-horror masterpiece by Coralie Fargeat, starring the legendary Demi Moore. This gripping tale of an aging actress who transforms into a ‘younger, more beautiful, more perfect’ version of herself was first published in 2016, a full eight years before it took the world by storm.
In a perfect world scenario, the triumph of The Substance could inspire an increase in daring and female-centric genre movies. Regrettably, Hollywood often employs the tactic of feigning that viewers aren’t interested in films helmed by or featuring women, disregarding compelling evidence to the contrary. Essentially, we can expect a rise in themes revolving around body horror within media, and with the escalating trend of weight-loss drugs, many narratives will tackle issues related to body image and self-obsession.
Is there anything more dull than Ryan Murphy’s interpretation of it? During his conversation with Variety, Murphy discussed the reasons behind creating “The Beauty” and its core themes.
“It’s something I’ve never done before, which is a sci-fi medical show about a new virus that mutates and it’s sexually transmitted, that turns you into your absolute perfect self. And the question is, how far would you go to be beautiful? What would you sacrifice to that, and does that matter?” he said. “That show was looking at, I call it the Ozempic culture. One little shot, and suddenly you’re going to look better and feel better, and all your problems are going to go away. But what are you really working on? What’s going on with you that you feel you need to do that? Sometimes it is health, sometimes it’s vanity.”
Murphy referred to it as “the Ozempic culture,” although he didn’t originate the term – it has now become interchangeable with diet culture in contemporary language. While The Beauty is an intriguing idea, its plot shares similarities with both The Substance and Charles Burns’ groundbreaking graphic novel Black Hole, which revolves around a group of ’70s Seattle teens affected by a sexually transmitted infection that leads to grotesque physical transformations. Additionally, it bears resemblance to the 2014 horror film It Follows, where a lethal curse is passed through sexual contact from one teen to another. Body horror has been instrumental in examining themes such as body image, sex, addiction, self-harm, and health crises for decades. It has given rise to some of the most outstanding horror films, and every so often, a new filmmaker emerges with a unique perspective that breathes life into the genre.
The individual in question won’t likely be Ryan Murphy, as his heavy-handed style is noticeable even in replacing a controversial health potion with a more biological injection.
Ryan Murphy Stopped Being Interesting Years Ago
Initially, the early seasons of American Horror Story, premiering in 2011, had a somewhat daring and unconventional feel. Ryan Murphy’s horror homage was heavily influenced by various genres, often showcasing these influences openly. The series could be described as an exaggerated mix of campy horror and melodrama, intentionally over-the-top with a plethora of intricate plots and characters. Rather than following Coco Chanel’s advice to subtract one accessory before leaving the house, Murphy seemed to collect every available element from his closet, blend them together in an oversized blender, and then throw the resulting mess at the wall to see what remained. It provided amusement for a while, but with each subsequent season of AHS, the enjoyment seemed to decrease. However, Murphy continued undeterred.
Clearly, Murphy’s shows are successful in terms of viewership. He piques our morbid curiosity with increasingly stupid concepts: What if Trump supporters were actually part of an insidious cult? What if the witches from AHS Season 3 returned to battle the Antichrist in an underground disaster bunker? What if there was a cruise ship with a doctor on it? What if EMTs had to deal with a tornado made of BEES?! While several of his shows have aired on network and cable TV, Murphy is ideologically aligned with Netflix in pursuing quantity over quality. Naturally, he’s made several shows for the streaming platform.
Currently, Ryan Murphy has essentially evolved into his own creative empire. However, this development presents an issue. Previously, Murphy’s concepts were reinterpretations of popular culture and genre symbols, often humorous and occasionally captivating, largely due to strong casting choices. Nowadays, Murphy seems to be recycling his own content, with each new production becoming a repetition of Ryan Murphy-esque themes, constantly reused, reformed, discarded, and reused again until it loses all substance. It’s intriguing to contemplate a thought-provoking body-horror film based on Murphy’s creative journey.
Beyond everything previously mentioned, I must admit that I have little desire to hear Ryan Murphy’s views on “the Ozempic culture” given his seemingly repetitive viewpoint, presented this time through the lens of attractive men enhancing their looks by associating with each other. This becomes even less appealing when one of these men is Ashton Kutcher, who has been vocal in defending Danny Masterson, a topic currently back in the spotlight due to his close relationship with Sean Combs. Kutcher already carries a significant amount of controversy, and we haven’t even discussed his acting abilities, which have often been criticized.
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2024-10-05 00:01