Paranormal Media, Ghosts and Traumas

Paranormal media texts offer a fairly new, exciting ground to discover, re-tell and raise
questions about life, death and whatever (non-) existence comes afterwards. While the
themes of paranormal TV and film varies, the challenge is the same in that the producers ask
viewers to suspend their own possible disbeliefs, leave their scepticism behind and engage
with stories that are far from their everyday realities.

Hill notes that “recurring themes include the re-imagining of historical spirit forms or folk
legends for contemporary times” (Hill, 2011: 64) and one of the most recent examples of this
in television is American Horror Story (2011- ). The first season of this series reinvents the
traditional family drama in a gothic, haunted house while raising questions about infidelity,
sanity, devotion and obsession. However, the show still draws heavily on old and
contemporary, popular and general culture including a Frankenstein story arc, scenes of a
high school shooting and the Black Dahlia murders.

The figure and existence of the ghost in this show is not exclusively a continuation of life, but
more like a scene of possible redemption, punishment, revenge or even love. This reflects
the idea that people created the spirits and the afterlife as an answer to their fears of death,
the ultimate non-existence when unfinished businesses stay unfinished forever.

So while “interest in the paranormal had been piqued by TV programmes such as the X-Files
(1993-2002)” (Gold, 2009), series like the American Horror Story are already reactions to this
heightened interest in the supernatural. The programme even incorporates some of the
cultural rituals, practices and ghost hunts that were created with the marketability of this
sudden popularity already in mind. In a couple of episodes a bus tour, visiting famous
haunted houses becomes an important plot point and later fans of a deceased serial killer
are visiting the family home in the hope of encountering the murderer’s spirit.

Hill says “And in the cycle of culture, new products, services and events connect with a
never-ending search for unique experiences.” (Hill, 2011: 64) and it rings true in the sense,
that the base interest that was heightened by popular culture was reflected in people’s
desires to live through these chilling experiences themselves. Due to the rising popularity of
ghost hunts and fright nights, popular culture reacts by producing more and more paranormal
or supernatural shows. This completes the cycle of culture. So American Horror Story is both
a reaction to the existing public interest and an influence to seek out real experiences.

Bibliography:
American Horror Story (2011), FX, created by Ryan Murphy
Dixon, R. (2009), ‘How Britain Became a Nation of Ghost Hunters’ on Guardian Online
[website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/30/ghost-hunters-halloween]
Hill, A. (2011), ‘Paranormal in Popular Culture’ in Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits and
Magic in Popular Culture. London: Routledge, pp. 37-65.

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