The other day I was trying to find The Bachelorette on catch-up (omg the feels) and came across a new series a la Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story), Brad Falchuk (Glee, American Horror Story) and Ian Brennan (Glee – didn’t make the cut for AHS) called ‘Scream Queens‘. I had previously heard of the program through its actors – Emma Roberts, Ariana Grande, Abigail Breslin, Nick Jonas, Keke Palmer, to name a few – via social media, and based on this, was skeptical to indulge myself in the program.
Scream Queens is a slasher/comedy anthology series for TV, centred around the college sorority ‘Kappa Kappa Tau’ which is plagued by the red devil, killing off characters one by one in total and utter gore. In describing the show I feel a need to invent a word: ‘tropist’. The show is very tropist. It takes the tropes of a traditional horror/slasher and milks them to the point of comedy. A key moment in the the show that embodies this is when Dean Munsch (Jaime Lee Curtis) is sharing a room with another character, and declares she must play ominous slasher music in order to fall asleep, following which an attempted murder (see: Chainsaw Massacre) occurs. Taking what is a typically non-diegetic trope of a slasher film and turning it into a diegetic aspect of the narrative personifies and adds intention to these ‘tropist’ values belonging to the show. Also, it’s hilarious.
As my group is focusing heavily on genre and the way by which this may affect a premise, I found Scream Queens to be a refreshing reminder of what we originally aimed to explore. The show combines two genres and plays them out to their fullest, using camera, sound, acting, setting and lighting techniques so true to the slasher genre that it is at times painfully intentional and unrealistic. Yet somehow, it works. Similar to that of ours (four people living in a sharehouse), the premise of Scream Queens (American college sorority/greek life) is generic and has been depicted numerous times in film and television in almost every genre ever. It is the way by which the slasher and comedy genres are crossed and applied to the premise that makes the show what it is, influencing both the plot and the narrative. It excites me to see the way in which our project will progress depending on which genre we choose.
What is really interesting about Scream Queens is that although it is only in its first season, should it be picked up for more, it intends to be anthological, whereby each season will present a different story with a different set of characters, much like that of American Horror Story. This is a really fresh and effective way to keep a program from going stale, and allows for endless opportunities for writers and creators. This is something we never really considered for the future of Keeping Mum/Lord of the Land, and believe this is something that would be determined once our genre has been locked in. I feel as though an anthological structure would work well in the context of horror/potentially drama, but may seem a little disjointed as a sitcom.
Don’t be discouraged by the Disney actors – Scream Queens has some golden moments.
***At approx. 300 words in I had written an extra 150 words (of excellence) and clicked ‘save draft’ and it all disappeared. Forever plagued by endless lies and betrayal.
