A contemporary critique of the American nuclear family as represented in American Horror Story: Murder House
Translated title
Kandidatspeciale
Author
Jensen, Pernilla Rosenbak
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2017
Submitted on
2017-05-31
Pages
76
Abstract
Denne kandidatopgave er en psykoanalytisk undersøgelse af, hvordan den traditionelle amerikanske kernefamilie tolkes og kritiseres i den amerikanske samtid, som det formidles til et bredt publikum i Ryan Murphys 2011 FOX-serie American Horror Story: Murder House. Gennem nærlæsning af relevante afsnit anvender jeg Sigmund Freuds begreber—det ubevidste, de primære og sekundære processer (følelsesdrevne reaktioner vs. realitetsorienteret tænkning), gentagelsestvang (tilbøjeligheden til at gentage skadelige mønstre) og hans endelige model af psyken (id, jeg og overjeg)—samt Julia Kristevas idé om det abjekte (det, der udstødes for at markere grænsen for det acceptable). Som modbillede sætter jeg sociologen George Peter Murdocks definition fra 1949 af “kernefamilien” i en ramme af den amerikanske drøm. Analyserne viser, at serien fremstiller kernefamilieidealet som fastlåst i fortiden og i praksis uopnåeligt. I Murder House undergraves forsøgene på at leve op til idealet af kønsmæssig skævhed, en stærk afhængighed af kristne normer for “rigtig” familieførsel og en tilsidesættelse af grundlæggende, freudianske psykologiske funktioner. Resultatet er en destruktiv gentagelsescyklus: individer forfølger et ideal, der ikke kan forenes med deres begær og indre konflikter—ofte med dødelige konsekvenser. Afhandlingen argumenterer for, at Murdocks model fra 1949 ikke er blevet meningsfuldt revideret i forhold til nutidens amerikanske liv, og derfor kommer i konflikt med, hvordan familier faktisk fungerer.
This Master’s thesis uses psychoanalytic theory to examine how the traditional American nuclear family is interpreted and critiqued in contemporary culture as presented to a mass audience in Ryan Murphy’s 2011 FOX series American Horror Story: Murder House. Through close readings of relevant episodes, I draw on Sigmund Freud’s concepts—the unconscious; primary and secondary processes (feeling-driven responses vs. reality-oriented thinking); repetition compulsion (the pull to repeat harmful patterns); and his final structural model of the mind (id, ego, superego)—as well as Julia Kristeva’s notion of the abject (what is expelled to mark the boundary of the acceptable). I contrast these readings with sociologist George Peter Murdock’s influential 1949 definition of the “nuclear family,” set within the wider ideal of the American Dream. The analyses show that the series portrays the nuclear family ideal as fixed in the past and, in practice, unattainable. In Murder House, attempts to live up to that standard are undermined by gender bias, a heavy reliance on Christian norms of “proper” family conduct, and a neglect of basic Freudian psychological functions. The result is a destructive cycle of repetition: individuals pursue an ideal that clashes with their desires and inner conflicts—sometimes with lethal consequences. The thesis argues that Murdock’s 1949 model has not been meaningfully revised for contemporary American life and therefore conflicts with how families actually work.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
Documents