Seriously, How Did Nobody Realize Who Tate Langdon Was?
I'm currently rewatching the first season of American Horror Story. It's my favorite season of something that is probably my favorite TV show, but this time, at least once during the episode, I've had to take to Twitter wondering how in the hell nobody recognized Tate Langdon.
Tate is pretty much this universe's version of Columbine. There's only one of him, sure, but the showrunners took a lot of little things from Columbine, down to the main massacre being the library, the trenchcoat, "Do you believe in God?" (which... is an urban myth, but, eh, common Columbine mythos). Still, today, Columbine is one of the most infamous school shootings that's ever happened, though there have been deadlier ones since.
So let's talk about Violet. Violet doesn't realize until the ghosts of some of the children he murdered literally show up and tell her to look it up--speaking of, though I'm sure a lot of people my age (because that's about how old Violet is, the first season takes place in 2011, so she was probably born in '96, roughly) don't know the names of the Columbine shooters or what they look like, they all know what you're talking about when you say Columbine. But Violet showed zero recognition when the dead girl with a hole in her chest said "Westfield High." And Violet's a pretty macabre girl. You'd think she'd know.
But okay. I can forgive Violet for not knowing.
But Ben.
Assuming that Violet's around fourteen or fifteen, Ben would have probably been in college or just out of it in 1994. Westfield High would have been something that he would have seriously known about. And he didn't a) realize he had moved into their house, b) the mother was living right next door, and hadn't changed her name, and c) the kid he's seeing looks like and has the same name as the shooter, and describes fantasies of shooting his classmates. Also he has no pop culture references past 1994. He dresses like it's 1994.
Ben calls the cops, and says the name of the kid, and they're not like, "Sir, are you bullshitting me, that's a school shooter that was gunned down in that house almost twenty years ago." Nobody mentions it.
And let's talk about Tate himself. How.... does he think that nobody's going to recognize him? I mean, sure, sometimes he's not entirely cognizant about what's going on. But when he is, how does he... just keep being him? He's got to be one of the most famous (and relatively recent) murder house denizens. Like, sure, you can make the argument that he's got other things to worry about, but like--
And Violet's just fine with it? Like it's learning that he raped her mom that makes her go, this is too much. Not the dozen or so people he slaughtered. Violet woulda been a columbiner, all I'm saying. She's writing those terrible, disturbing Imagines on Tumblr. Jesus.
Tate is pretty much this universe's version of Columbine. There's only one of him, sure, but the showrunners took a lot of little things from Columbine, down to the main massacre being the library, the trenchcoat, "Do you believe in God?" (which... is an urban myth, but, eh, common Columbine mythos). Still, today, Columbine is one of the most infamous school shootings that's ever happened, though there have been deadlier ones since.
So let's talk about Violet. Violet doesn't realize until the ghosts of some of the children he murdered literally show up and tell her to look it up--speaking of, though I'm sure a lot of people my age (because that's about how old Violet is, the first season takes place in 2011, so she was probably born in '96, roughly) don't know the names of the Columbine shooters or what they look like, they all know what you're talking about when you say Columbine. But Violet showed zero recognition when the dead girl with a hole in her chest said "Westfield High." And Violet's a pretty macabre girl. You'd think she'd know.
But okay. I can forgive Violet for not knowing.
But Ben.
Assuming that Violet's around fourteen or fifteen, Ben would have probably been in college or just out of it in 1994. Westfield High would have been something that he would have seriously known about. And he didn't a) realize he had moved into their house, b) the mother was living right next door, and hadn't changed her name, and c) the kid he's seeing looks like and has the same name as the shooter, and describes fantasies of shooting his classmates. Also he has no pop culture references past 1994. He dresses like it's 1994.
Ben calls the cops, and says the name of the kid, and they're not like, "Sir, are you bullshitting me, that's a school shooter that was gunned down in that house almost twenty years ago." Nobody mentions it.
And let's talk about Tate himself. How.... does he think that nobody's going to recognize him? I mean, sure, sometimes he's not entirely cognizant about what's going on. But when he is, how does he... just keep being him? He's got to be one of the most famous (and relatively recent) murder house denizens. Like, sure, you can make the argument that he's got other things to worry about, but like--
And Violet's just fine with it? Like it's learning that he raped her mom that makes her go, this is too much. Not the dozen or so people he slaughtered. Violet woulda been a columbiner, all I'm saying. She's writing those terrible, disturbing Imagines on Tumblr. Jesus.
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