American Horror Story: Apocalypse: What’s up with the gender politics?

Stories about witches in popular culture inherently bring to mind questions of gender and power. How does American Horror Story: Apocalypse handle these themes?

American Horror Story: Apocalypse is finally starting to win me over a little bit. While I’m still bitter about the first three episodes being seemingly pointless, I’m willing to let it go as we keep getting more and more of the Coven witches. While season 3 wasn’t perfect, it did have some of my favorite characters, and I’m glad we are getting them back.

Witches in pop culture are often used as a metaphor for female power. Witches throughout history are often just women who go outside what a patriarchal society says women should be, and there is something exciting about seeing women on TV have powers and strength that real life women do not have. So, while Coven wasn’t perfect, it was a female escape fantasy that I enjoyed. Seeing Cordelia Foxx come into power as the Supreme and lead with both skill, strength, and compassion, was a great end to the series.

It’s not surprising that Apocalypse is taking these gender questions and metaphors even further. This season brings us warlocks, too. This wasn’t addressed in Coven, and the main male characters of that season were either out to kill the witches or at the mercy of the witches’ power. In Apocalypse, we learn that there are warlocks, and they have their own school. We also learn that they are not as powerful as witches and that no warlock has ever been the Supreme.

There is something cathartic in this reversal, to be sure. It’s always exciting to see a TV show, or any other kind of popular culture, where women have the upper hand. Even if it is just in a microcosm sense, it’s still exciting. There is definitely a place for women to enjoy seeing and fantasizing about a world where they are top dog, whether that is a politically correct thought or not, given the dramatic rhetoric in politics these days, it can be therapeutic.

But, these straight reversals can still leave a lot of questions. Where do transgender people fit into this world of witches vs. warlocks? What about those who are gender fluid or queer or some gender identity that doesn’t fit on the binary spectrum? Of course, it’s not possible to answer every question or go into nuanced detail about gender identities in this universe, but it does make one stop and wonder. This is also a fantasy story where the witches and warlocks will probably have to band together to defeat Langdon at the end of the day. Who knows how deep or well-thought-out the metaphors are supposed to be?

American Horror Story has often featured many queer characters, too. This season so far we’ve definitely seen more gay men than anything else, though there have been some queer women as well. It would be nice to see some queer witches, to be honest. This seems like an obvious thing to include, and I’m still waiting for it.

What about you? What do you think of the gender dynamics of the witches versus warlocks storyline that will be set up?