So much rage. That is the overwhelming feeling after watching the latest episode of American Horror Story: Cult, which added a brand new layer to the already frenzied narrative and went on a tear about toxic feminism as viewed by the conservative male eye. Written and director by women, Rachel Goldberg and Crystal Liu respectively, this episode presented an often uncomfortable narrative that analyzed the frighteningly empowered—this time through a twisted historical context of Andy Warhol and Valerie Solanas, the radical feminist who tried to murder the artist in 1968. A polarizing episode, particularly at this time in our history, when the very concept of feminism and female power is being threatened, it will be hard to get this story out of your mind.
Let’s revisit everything that went down:
Valerie Solanas’s femininity is both her weapon and her currency in 1968.
It’s an interesting way to open Valerie’s (Lena Dunham) story, instantly demonstrating a duplicity of female nature. The episode begins with the radical feminist and writer prostituting herself in the back of a car with a man whose name does not matter. She’s trying to make a few extra bucks so she can purchase bullets to shoot Andy Warhol (Evan Peters), who we learn in a sharp 24-hour flashback has disregarded the script she gave him to consider. It was the last straw after repeated attempts to get him to see her as a viable force in the industry. Instead, he reconfirmed something that she always knew all men thought about her: she's just a pretty face to look at. She set about creating her most damning portrayal of the opposite sex, which would end up being the one thing that would immortalize her.
Harrison did not care about his wife Meadow at all.
While many of the characters this season have undergone a sharp transformation influenced by a deadly political cult, none seem to have changed so quickly and so drastically as husband and wife Harrison (Billy Eichner) and Meadow (Leslie Grossman). They seemed happy together, cheerful. But if there is anything show creator Ryan Murphy has excelled at throughout the series, it's highlighting the threat among the seemingly innocent. Harrison and Meadow have turned into two of the most dangerous people in this Middle America town. Even after Meadow opened fire in the middle of the day on a massive crowd and ultimately killed herself in last week’s episode, Harrison has shown no remorse or sense of sorrow whatsoever. When we go back to take a look at the moments leading up to her public hysteria, we see Harrison along with his boyfriend and Kai (also Evan Peters) corner Meadow and trap her—just when she was trying to escape the cult after finally realizing that Kai is a controlling nut. It’s difficult to reckon with the fact that the only way she could have released herself from the cult's grip is to kill herself. It becomes even more obvious that Harrison had no sympathy for her when he reads aloud a letter she supposedly wrote at a press conference citing her feminism as motive for the murders. It was so easy for him to be controlled by the cult that you have to question whether he cared about his wife at all. He, like so many others in the cult, was just waiting for the right time and right opportunity to reveal his hatred.
Social media has empowered people like Kai.
This is the most consistent theme throughout the season, which proclaims that people like Kai (presumably a metaphor for Donald Trump) have risen in power due to the effects of social media. When Kai is projected to win the election, he immediately turns to Twitter for validation. This is when he sees a retweet from Eric Trump, which gratifies him on a whole new level. He knows that a platform of Eric’s size can grow his follower count, drawing more attention (and potentially more cult followers) to him and also attract a massive number of detractors who will follow him for every opportunity to drag him online—boosting his profile even more. It’s a win-win situation for someone like him.
Beverly Hope has finally risen to the top of her career.
Well, that is one way to be your own boss. After a quick chat with the cult convinced her to have both her superior (Dermot Mulroney) and his young gal pal reporter (Emma Roberts) killed in a fit of rage after she’d been passed over for promotion countless times, we finally see Beverly Hope (Adina Porter) dominate the airwaves. The thing is, she only seems to be reporting stories that she is a part of—the murder at the amusement park, Meadow’s mass murder, and ultimately, Harrison’s murder.
Valerie Solanas was the zodiac killer.
As a way to further its narrative that behind every male accomplishment was actually the handiwork of a sharper yet more enraged woman, AHS: Cult presented the idea that contrary to popular belief, a woman was responsible for the zodiac murders. And that woman, as revealed by a woman named Bebe (Frances Conroy), was Valerie (the show obviously took some liberties with historical context to underscore the point it was trying to make). According to Bebe’s present-day account to the women of Kai’s cult, her girlfriend Valerie, in her fit of rage, created her notorious book “The Scumbag Manifesto” and proceeded to go on a massive killing spree of all men—and the women they kept—across the country. It was both an attack against heterosexual couples and men alike, tying it to the famous killer. But while the reported zodiac killer, a man, went on to achieve fame, she once again was suppressed and discarded because she was a woman—even after she walked into the police station and confessed.
Both Valerie Solanas and Andy Warhol are parallels to Kai Anderson, but only Andy Warhol is recognized as such.
Try as she did, Valerie was never seen as dangerous, as good, or as valued as Andy Warhol. But she did manage to achieve something he did: an unconditional cult following. With her wild rants against men and the women who loved them, she hooked a devoted following who would kill when she said kill, berate themselves when she told them to (only the two men in the group, but still), and believe every word she spewed as if their life depended on it. Andy suppressed Valerie, controlling her success, enraging her, and had everyone else eating out of the palm of his hand. Similarly, Kai suppressed Meadow and Beverly, driving them virtually insane while brainwashing men like Harrison.
Beverly, Winter, Ivy, and Bebe created their own women-only subgroup of Kai’s cult.
After being discarded and undervalued in Kai’s cult, the women decided to form their own group. Their first mission? Torturing and killing Harrison. They dismember him and leave the pieces of his body arrayed outside. It;s worth noting how peculiar it is to see Winter a part of this group. She seems to be straddling both sides, as Kai’s sister and a self-described feminist. It’s very suspect.
Valerie died thinking that her hatred for Andy—not her writing—would be the only way she’ll be remembered.
After alienating her entire group, including Bebe, Valerie continued her lifetime crusade against men. Typing away at her computer, she gets up and sees a vision of Andy in her apartment, which sets her off. She accuses him of killing her spirit as a writer, destroying her legacy, and preventing her success. She lunges toward him and of course misses, tripping and hitting her head hard on the table. Her gives her one last scathing remark: “Shooting me will be the only thing you will be remembered for.”
