Motherhood and Mental Illness in American Horror Story
Horror usually has interesting perspectives on motherhood, whether positive or negative. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s “American Horror Story” has an abundance of motherhood storylines, but I think the mother of all mothers (so to speak) on this show has been Jessica Lange’s characters. Lange didn’t play an actual mother in the four seasons of the show that have aired so far, but her dominance on screen made her a mother-like figure for them all.
Since Lange will not be back for the next season, “Hotel,” I wanted to examine one of her strongest roles on the show. Read on for a look at the psychological aspects of motherhood in my favorite season of the show – Season 1: “Murder House.”
Warning: The following article contains spoilers
Constance Langdon (Lange) is who I consider to arguably be the most notorious mother of all the seasons of “American Horror Story.” She has four children (Tate, Beauregard, Addie, and an unknown/unidentified child), all of whom are mistreated by her in different ways. Beau is deformed and locked away in the attic. Tate became a school shooter. Addie has Down syndrome. And then there is the fourth child that is never revealed during the season, but I can only imagine how messed up her or she would be.
The scariest thing about Constance is at first I figured either A) she was so self-absorbed that she couldn’t see how her actions were psychologically destroying her children, B) she had low self-esteem and realized she was a terrible mother but didn’t know what to do to change herself, or C) she was a mix of both.
As the season went on, I started realizing more and more that Constance was dealing with a lot of psychological issues. We get a small taste of her back story, which includes growing up without a strong mother figure (and no sign of a father figure—at least, from what I can remember) and dealing with an unfaithful husband. Maybe she didn’t know how to raise her children because she grew up in an unstable household. Dealing with an abusive, cheating husband also could deter someone from being able to take care of her children, let alone herself. Anyone in abusive relationships of any kind (emotional, verbal, physical, or sexual) between spouses, family members, etc., can become extremely vulnerable and unable to thrive after getting out of the abusive situation.
I could also argue that Constance has narcissistic personality disorder, which is defined by the Mayo Clinic as “a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that’s vulnerable to the slightest criticism.”
She had her son Beau killed by her then-lover Larry just because she assumed Beau would be taken away from her based off of how she treated him. Tate had severe depression and other psychological problems, and he didn’t have a parent to step in to help him fight his own personal demons and tell him right from wrong. Unfortunately, Constance did not have enough stability in her own life to be able to do this.
Addie also needed a lot more attention with her intellectual disability; in one episode Constance references Addie to be a monster and said she would have had an abortion if she knew of her condition. She also became oddly jealous of Addie when Addie was getting attention from Constance’s then-boyfriend Travis. Constance is so obsessed with looks that Addie embarrassed her; it’s obvious how low her self-esteem is when she is lashing out at her children because her boyfriend is being nice to them. In fact, I think all of her children embarrassed her. She looked at them as being monsters because she could not face herself.
Constance shows a bit of humanity when she finally mourns over her failed parenting with Tate, and she was emotional when Addie died. She even told Addie that she was a pretty girl. These very few moments made it seem that Constance’s maternal instincts (if you believe in those) kicked in; but there were only a few of these moments unfortunately, so this made me think that she was uncomfortable with openly showing affection and empathy toward others. But as aforementioned, a lot of this has to do with her psychological issues and possible mental illness.
One of the very last scenes was of Constance holding her neighbor Vivien’s baby in a rocking chair. This is a very haunting image because we know her past history with children and can’t help but wonder how Constance will raise this child. I can only hope that Constance could learn from her mistakes and overcome her past.
Constance had failed relationships with her children, partners, and neighbors. She wanted so badly to be in control that she pushed everyone away, killed them, or had them killed. A lot of mental illnesses stem from environmental issues, including how and where children were raised. Constance’s children didn’t really stand a chance to be able to grow and thrive in the type of household they grew up in. Parents with mental illnesses or those that deal with psychological issues are definitely capable of raising healthy kids in healthy environments, but they just need to make sure they are stable enough themselves.
Constance is arguably the most diverse and interesting character Lange has played on “American Horror Story” in regards to her psychological character development. Let us know what you think about her in the comments section below!
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