Reflection
The Many Faces of Down Syndrome in American Horror Story
Viktoria Geldner
American Horror Story (AHS) may rightfully seem like the go-to example of the (ab)use of disability as a shorthand for monstrosity in media. However, the presence of Down Syndrome in AHS is actually much more complex.
This article will examine the roles taken on by Jamie Brewer, an American actress with Down Syndrome. It will provide an overview about how Down Syndrome is presented, through which roles, and later reflect on the different representations of the disability in AHS.
Down Syndrome and American Horror Story
AHS, which consists of 11 seasons, stars Jamie Brewer in four of the seasons. Brewer hereby acts in three different roles: as Adelaide (“Addie”) in season 1, Murder House, as Nan in season 3, Coven, reappearing in season 8, Apocalypse, and in season 4, Freakshow, as Marjorie. In the following, Brewer’s respective characters in the different seasons will be presented, providing an overview about the many faces of Down Syndrome in AHS.
Murder House
Murder House, AHS’s first season, is centered around the Harmon family who moves into a mansion in Los Angeles that is haunted by the people murdered on the property. Daughter Violet is one of the season’s main characters. Their invasive neighbors consist of the Langdon family with matriarch Constance, her son Tate, and their daughter Addie, played by Brewer as Constance’s youngest with Down Syndrome.
The Langdon family deliberately enters the Harmon’s house on many occasions, whereby Addie keeps telling Violet’s mother Vivien that Vivien is going to die. When Vivien, in a heated discussion, vehemently tells Addie to stay out of her house, Addie does not seem to understand and keeps asking whether she can pet Vivien’s dog.
On Halloween, Violet and Addie spend time in Violet’s room because Addie has hidden under Violet’s bed. When Violet tells Addie that Addie cannot keep breaking into the Harmon’s house, this, again, falls on deaf ears. Addie says that she wants to be “a pretty girl” and demands: “Make me a pretty girl. Like you, Violet.” Violet proceeds to put make-up on Addie. When Violet asks her how old she is, Addie answers that a lady never reveals her age, and upon Addie asking Violet if she is a virgin and Violet confusedly countering whether Addie is not, Addie contests: “Hell, no.” When Addie sees her face in the mirror for the first time, she exclaims: “Wow! I’m beautiful!”.
Once Addie is back home, Constance is furious about the make-up. Addie states again, crying, that she wants to be “a pretty girl”, to which Constance exclaims wailingly: “Well, you’re not a pretty girl! And you know it!”. It is hereby noteworthy that earlier Constance has locked Addie in a wardrobe full of mirrors as punishment. Constance goes on lamenting: “Oh, put her in a home, they said, even Daddy, but no, I couldn’t do that.” Addie contests: “I don’t want to be Snoopy! I want to be a pretty girl!”. This suggests that Addie has been dressed up as Snoopy many times for Halloween, recalling the notorious portrayal of people with disability as children. Constance retorts in a final outburst: “Do you know what they think when we walk down the street? There but for the grace of God, go I. You make them feel lucky. And they think I’m a hero. As though I had some choice!”. Addie then storms off.
Later, Constance joins Addie in her room. Addie says that she will not go trick-or-treating this year. Constance counters by saying: “It’s Halloween. Everyone gets a chance to be someone else. […] I thought you wanted to be a pretty girl.” She then reveals that she has bought a rubber mask with a woman’s head, so that Addie’s entire head will be covered. Constance also goes looking for some clothes of hers that Addie can wear, “maybe one of my old maternity dresses”.
Addie goes trick-or-treating and rings the doorbell of a house, despite a basket with sweets standing in front of the door with a sign saying to take one. A group of teenage girls arrives, dressed up as sexy pirates, clearly presenting the mean, but popular cheerleading girls archetypal in American culture. They ask Addie whether she cannot read and then call her crazy, swaggering away. It becomes clear that they are what Addie regards as “pretty girls”, so she runs after them, and is hit by a car when she crosses the street without looking. Constance tries to drag her back to the mansion, where Addie would have turned into a ghost, but Addie dies on the street outside, thus vanishing forever.
Coven
In AHS’s season 3, Coven, Brewer takes on the role of Nan, one of the witches, who has the rare power of clairvoyance. Nan is a very powerful, assertive, and foul-mouthed character who makes no attempts to conceal her desire to become the next Supreme, the coven’s leader, ergo the most powerful witch. She is not only clairvoyant but can also hear spirits and mind-control other people, even powerful witches.
Throughout the show, Nan persistently displays cruel behavior. Upon Madison, one of the antagonists, demanding Nan to prove her mind-control powers, Nan commands her: “Put out your cigarette. Now stick it in your vagina.” This can only be stopped by Zoe, another witch. Likewise, upon finding out that the mother of the neighbor Luke, which Nan has fallen in love with, who had previously suffered a car accident, has been suffocated by his mother with a pillow, Nan commands the women to kneel. Nan sends Zoe flying across the room with her powers and retains her pressed against a wall so that Nan cannot be stopped from taking revenge. Nan commands Luke’s mother to drink bleach, exclaiming “You have to be cleansed,” eventually killing her. Zoe later tells Nan that, regarding her mind-control powers: “I have only ever seen Fiona [the Supreme] do that”, meaning that Nan holds powers as strong as those of the Supreme, meaning she is strong enough to lead the coven.
Contrary to her cruel and powerful behavior, none of the other witches seriously consider Nan a candidate for the next Supreme. When Nan asks them about it, she is met with silence and storms off (after insulting them). Later, she states: “If I was the Supreme, I would only do good,” to which Zoe responds: “You don’t have a mean bone in your body”. This is also confirmed very drastically when two antagonistic, powerful witches have kidnapped a baby to sacrifice it to a sinister Voodoo figure as a ‘pure’ soul. Nan finds the baby but is caught by the witches. They then decide that Nan is a good enough ‘pure’ soul, too, and drown her as a sacrifice. Nan reappears as a ghost next to the Voodoo figure Papa Legba. Her first question upon seeing her dead body is: “Do I have to wear that outfit for all eternity?”.
Freak Show
In Freak Show, season 4, Brewer embodies the puppet of ventriloquist Chester Creb. Sometimes Creb uses a real doll, but later, when he drifts further into insanity, the puppet, in his mind, turns into a living character portrayed by Brewer, called Marjorie. Marjorie whispers violent ideas into Creb’s ear and has already made him murder his wife and her friend, turned lover, after he came back from the war. In Freak Show, Brewer’s role is cruel, sadistic, and full of hatred. In episode 12, character Maggie Esmeralda volunteers for Creb’s magic trick of sowing a woman in half. Marjorie starts influencing him again, until Creb’s rage takes over and he pushes through with the sabotaged ‘trick’, actually sowing Esmeralda in half, killing her. Marjorie is then seen laughing frantically and exclaims: “That’ll pack’em in, Chester!”. Chester turns himself in to the police and demands to be put on the electric chair.
Apocalypse
In season 8, Apocalypse, Nan from season 3, Coven, makes another reappearance next to Papa Legba. Upon seeing witch Cordelia, who became Supreme, she insults her after greeting her and tells her about hell: “Papa’s really nice to me. I like hell. It’s fun.” When asked what she does there, she contests: “I make trouble.”
Conclusion
Throughout the show, Brewer displays a wide range of roles that, in the majority, break with stereotypical representations of disability: granted, Constance tries to keep Addie in the role of an eternal child, but Addie rebels against it on more than one occasion. In Coven, Nan is extremely cruel and vengeful, despite also being labeled a ‘good enough pure soul’ and not being regarded an actual contender for the role of the Supreme. As Marjorie, Creb’s alter ego, Brewer is outright terrifying. Disregarding AHS’s difficult relation with disability, Brewer’s performances provide not only a refreshing counterweight, but also an interesting variety of unusual roles.