"American Horror Story: Freak Show"

David Bowie, suit designed by Freddie Buretti
 

Just when I was getting ready to dismiss last night's fourth season premiere of American Horror Story as too freaky, even for me, one amazing scene changed my mind: Jessica Lange singing David Bowie's "Life On Mars."

It's an oddly (very oddly) lovely and arresting 2 minutes and 53 seconds and when she stops singing (starting at 2:40 in the video) the look on her face captures everything we need to know about her character and all her lost dreams. (That and a truly heartbreaking moment when she asks her bearded friend, played by Kathy Bates with a wonderful Baltimorean accent, "is it too late for me?")

from "Monsters Among Us" episode, 4.1

"Life On Mars" as sung by Jessica Lange *


When I first saw this part last night I didn't think her voice sounded very good, but I listened again to the Youtube clip with my headphones and she's actually not half bad, though it's all about the visuals and her expression (oh, can that woman capture expressions.)

I hope her winning an Emmy for last season (a performance that wasn't nearly as good in 13 episodes as what happened in five minutes last night) doesn't hurt her chances for next year. No other actress is so good at playing seemingly invincible, sometimes cruel, women with a hidden vulnerability that threatens to undo them. She did this to perfection when she played a nun (both tormentor and tormented) in the second season of American Horror Story.

Just as Baz Luhrman deliberately went for anachronistic music with "Moulin Rouge" and "The Great Gatsby" so did Ryan Murphy with last night's AHS. This season is set in 1952 and "Life On Mars" was released as a single in 1973.

Jessica Lange singing the lyrics to "Life On Mars" (and the fact "Elsa Mars" is dressed just like Bowie) is the best "freaky" part of the show so far:

It's a God-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mommy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go

But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen

But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show

Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again

See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns

But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show

Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

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*The actress has sung before on AHS and in interviews for the second season admitted she's not the best singer, but I think there's a certain emotional "getcha" right at this point(if you see the video):

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show

Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show

Wikipedia has this to say about Bowie's song:

BBC Radio has described "Life on Mars?" as having "one of the strangest lyrics ever" consisting of a "slew of surreal images" like a Salvador Dalí painting.^[1] The line "Look at those cavemen go" is a reference to the song "Alley Oop", a one-off hit in 1960 for American doo-wop band The Hollywood Argyles.^[5]

Bowie, at the time of Hunky Dory's release in 1971, summed up the song as "A sensitive young girl's reaction to the media". In 1997 he added "I think she finds herself disappointed with reality... that although she's living in the doldrums of reality, she's being told that there's a far greater life somewhere, and she's bitterly disappointed that she doesn't have access to it".

I just saw that iTunes has released Jessica Lange's cover as a single! :)

 

Some thoughts from people on it:

 

Customer Reviews

😍🎶😍🎶😍🎶😍

     

by Heeeeeeey youu

It's a must buy!! I can't believe this is Jessica's last season in American Horror Story. She's so talented and having this show without her wouldn't be the same.

Jessica does it again!

     

by Brokeasajoke40299

Is there anything this lady can't do??? Whoever told her growing up that she can't sing definitely has egg on their face today. She rocked out in Grey Gardens, then of course the Name Game. Now she's done it again with Life on Mars. I cannot wait to hear what she's going to sing next.

QUEEN OF POP!!!

     

by Dr. Amon

Elsa Mars has come to slay and snatch your faves' weaves hunny y'all are not READY for Queen Elsa's music reign. Madonna who? Beyoncé who? Get with the winning team #Martians! Y'all faves better run for their careers, Elsa might not have legs but her talent and slayage will reach and devastate and pulverize your faves so they better start doing cardio cause Elsa is coming for their relevance.

The most recent episode of "The Big Bang Theory" was the funniest one so far this season. Snappy lines ("Is this a comic book store or a rave at the third little pig's house?") and a resurgence in unique character strengths (especially those of Amy and Sheldon) gave this the boost it's been missing the past few weeks.

Underneath it all, though, was something that got to me personally. When Raj revealed that he had told his new girlfriend about his one-time "hook up" with Penny, some of the gang started talking about the meaning of past relationships. Jokes about Penny's "long list" and Amy's non-existent one deflected from an issue that can be quite plaguing to some.

Too many relationships in a partner's past might make one squeamish, not enough or (gasp!) none can scare people off. There shouldn't be a magic number, but apparently there is. In a world where there is something called "the third date rule," though, being judged by someone for being "too" inexperienced (or wanting to wait for love) doesn't surprise me. That doesn't mean it's any less sad.

Also related to tv and love is Showtime's upcoming "The Affair." I am only thinking about watching because I adore Joshua Jackson from his time on "Fringe." Talk about squeamish...I have never been able to read any novels or watch anything to do with adultery without getting extremely upset over it, even though I've never been married and it's not an issue that's ever affected me directly.

Perhaps, it's because I have never been affected by it that I can afford to be so prissy about it. Ideally, I like to think that no one sets out to have an affair just to have one, that they are so willing to throw away their marriage without serious heartache. But I'm not that naïve and know if I saw the statistics on cheating spouses I'd probably rethink everything I believe about love.

I know it's also easy to say with the self-righteous conviction of Dana Carvey's Church Lady that you would never have one, but I truly don't think I would. I have spent way too many years wanting to find someone special (admittedly building it up way too much in my head), imagining how wonderful it could be, to throw love away. Again, though, that whole muck of "inexperience" throws itself in and I wonder if it's even okay to write about something I know so little of...

Showtime's "The Affair" airs Sunday, October 12th.

http://variety.com/2014/tv/reviews/tv-review-the-affair-1201322477/







 

Henry Fuseli's "The Nightmare"--sleep and dreams were common themes in his paintings

Last night I had a dream so bad and so real, once I woke from it, I made some tea and stayed up for fear it would start again if I went back to sleep. I can never get good dreams back when I return to bed, but with nightmares, it's entirely different...they come back with a vengeance.

I read a lot about dreams because they fascinate me and I want to figure out how to get rid of my bad ones or the ones that make me feel guilty. There are so many theories about why we dream, but one that goes centuries back and some people still believe is that they could be sent from God or the Devil. If that is true, then I'm probably in a lot of trouble.

Neurobiology is also used to explain REM sleep and our night visions. Most of my dreams are too plot-driven or emotionally layered to be the result of science. Yet, Freud's reading of dreams drives me crazy with his Oedipal focus.

One reason dreams can be disturbing is that we believe the events in them are actually happening while we are having them. According to Wikipedia:

The reason for this may be that the prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain responsible for logic and planning, exhibits decreased activity during dreams. This allows the dreamer to more actively interact with the dream without thinking about what might happen, since things that would normally stand out in reality blend in with the dream scenery.^[42]

I think guilt and repressed emotion play a huge factor in bad dreams. The more we repress things, the more they can show up when and where we least want them.

Here are some helpful websites I found while going online last night.

http://www.charminghealth.com/applicability/nightmare.htm

http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/blogs/nightmares-about-more-than-just-fear-new-study-finds

http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/p/dream-theories.htm

Ichabod Crane on credit cards...

Another tv show I've become quite fond of is Fox's "Sleepy Hollow." Tom Mison is just so endearing as Ichabod Crane and his views on contemporary society (he's been awakened from his own 18th century time into ours) are priceless:
 

"And that building is also a Starbucks?"

Ichabod: "That building used to be a livery stables."
Abbie: "Yeah? Well, now it's a Starbucks. Where they make coffee."
Ichabod: "And that building is also a Starbucks?"
Abbie: "Yep."
Ichabod: "Well, how many are there?"
Abbie: "Per block?"
Ichabod: "Is there a law?"   

 

"My God. Where did you procure such massive quantities of reserves? Is there a nearby citadel?"

Ichabod: "My God. Where did you procure such massive quantities of reserves? Is there a nearby citadel?
Abbie: "Supermarket—called Buy Plus. Buy in bulk, spend less; I will take you there someday."   

On the price of doughnuts:

Ichabod: "I understand, to you it sounds ..."
Abbie: "Insane when spoken out loud."
Ichabod: "No, what's insane is a 10 percent levy on baked goods. You do realize the Revolutionary War began on less than 2 percent? How is the public not flocking to the streets in outrage? We must do something."
Abbie: "Here's what we can do. No more firsthand accounts of witches or Founding Fathers or doughnut tax outrage unless you want to be sent back to the asylum."
Ichabod: "Point taken."
 

I think of all the new shows I've seen so far this season, I enjoy "The Mysteries of Laura" the most. Debra Messing is very likable (and realistic) as a woman balancing career and motherhood. 

There are so many special touches that make it endearing and not just another crime show. Laura's kids, for instance, would basically be extremely misbehaved "brats," if not for how much they love their mom and she them. 

Laura's ex (played nicely by Josh Lucas) has clearly made some bad mistakes as a husband, but the chemistry between Messing and Lucas is pleasant, instead of the nasty vibe the writers could have gone for with a divorced couple.

The critics absolutely, positively hate it and I suppose I can see some of their arguments, but the thing is "The Mysteries of Laura" seems sincere and is quite sweet at times and I just don't think there are enough of those kind of programs on tv right now.

I like that it's not perfect (though the mysteries could be stronger, it's more about the journey than the destination), that Messing's character is sometimes messy with her clothes and not a size 0 and (especially in the most recent episode "The Mystery of The Biker Bar")that she cares about people in a way that doesn't come across as overly sentimental or manufactured.

There may be no love from the critics, but ratings are decent so far and Twitter and blog posts suggest that lots of women definitely like it. As far as claims go that it's not particular feminist-friendly, I'm not going to worry about that right now unless something horribly archaic happens. :)


(For a look at how "The Mysteries of Laura" is doing in the ratings go here:http://thefutoncritic.com/ratings/2014/10/02/the-mysteries-of-laura-retains-93-percent-of-last-weeks-regular-slot-debut-in-adults-18-49-rating-838311/20141002nbc01/)