By Elizabeth Valentin
Arts Editor
In the wake of the Las Vegas Shooting, the creators of American Horror Story made the decision to re-edit a mass shooting scene from the Oct. 10 episode. This is an attempt by the creators to show sympathy and sensitivity to the tragic event that happened only nine days before the episode aired.
Ryan Murphy, creator of the show, released a statement saying “I believe I have the right to air it, but I also believe in the victims’ rights, and I believe that now is not the week to have something explosive or incendiary in the culture.”
The scene would not be the first mass shooting scene that the series has portrayed. In season 1, Murder House, there is a school shooting that was inspired in large part by the Columbine shooting. The scene in question for this season was filmed months in advance, which indicates that the creators and producers would have had no way of knowing that something like what happened in Las Vegas would have taken place right before the scene aired.
This move by the creators has caused some debate regarding the necessity to remove or re-edit the scene. One group argues that this is something that was absolutely necessary to remove in order to show responsibility in the approach to the ways in which guns and gun violence are portrayed on television. In contrast, another group argues that this was not necessary and can be seen as irresponsible because to air the scene would be to use the platform that the show has to start a bigger conversation about gun control and gun violence.
Murphy did make it clear that the scene in question was meant to be clearly a statement that is anti-gun. However, he thinks that this is not the time to perpetuate any sort of violent behavior using guns in media.
The episode did air, and did include not one, but two shooting scenes. The episode begins and ends with the same scene, but more information is revealed about the scene in the second time it is shown. There is clearly the use of a gun in these scenes. It is easy to see people being shot and falling to the ground in the scenes. However, based on the nature of the show as a whole, these scenes are far less graphic and bloody than the show would normally be. The episode also ended five minutes early, which may be an indication of the editing that took place.
It would be interesting if there would be an opportunity for audience members to see the full unrevised scene in order to compare it to the scene that was aired on Oct. 10. It would provide some insight to the responsibility taken by the creators and producers in making this decision.
