The Issue of American Horror Story Essay

The annual Emmy Awards attract a lot of audience to the screens of TV sets because many people want to be the first to know the names of the winners. It is important to note that the popularity of the Emmy Awards is connected with the fact that the nominated primetime shows entertain the millions of Americans each evening, and all these shows have their fans.

That is why, the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Ceremony which was on Sunday, September 23, 2012 drew the attention of TV fans and critics. The most controversial situation is associated with the problem of categories according to which the shows were assessed. The fans of American Horror Story accentuate the fact that the category for presenting the show was chosen inappropriately.

Producers of the show are inclined not to comment on the situation, and critics propose different explanations to the problem. Thus, examining the information about this controversial situation with determining the category for American Horror Story, it is necessary to pay attention to such aspects as the speaker or the person who provides his vision of the problem, the causes of the situation, and its consequences in relation to the fact the show has not won all the announced nominations.

To examine the aspects of the situation, it is significant to refer to different sources of information. The materials presented in the daily magazine The Hollywood Reporter and posted by the online provider of business news International Business Times were chosen to compare and contrast the approaches to the media coverage of the situation.

The Hollywood Reporter is oriented to the entertainment information that is why the information was presented in the form of commenting on Jessica Lange’s (the actress of American Horror Story) vision of the problem, basing on the interview with the actress.

Jessica Lange “took a firm no comment on whether the FX series would have been better off competing in the drama category”, but concentrated on her emotions in relation to the work (Goldberg). According to the first criterion, the readers of The Hollywood Reporter have the opportunity to observe the situation only from the point and position of one person.

That is why, this vision can be discussed as rather subjective. The material presented at International Business Times provides the viewpoints of several speakers interested in the problem. Thus, it is possible to examine the position of the producers, of John Landgraf, FX’s president, and of James Hibberd in relation to the problem of confusing categories (Zara).

One of the most important aspects to be highlighted is the causes of presenting American Horror Story in the category of miniseries when the show actually should be nominated in the drama category because of its format.

The article in The Hollywood Reporter does not provide the direct answers to the question of causes, providing the description of the situation with references to Jessica Lange’s words (Goldberg). However, the material at International Business Times provides the audience with several possible causes of the situation with references to different persons.

Thus, it is stated in the article, “many critics saw the move as a thinly veiled way to keep the show from competing directly with heavy hitters in the Outstanding Drama category, including AMC’s Mad Men and Breaking Bad and Showtime’s Homeland (Zara). Moreover, John Landgraf accentuates that “we always knew that American Horror Story was going to be a miniseries in the sense that we knew that it was a close-ended show” (Zara). It is possible to state that the question of real causes remains still open.

The fans of American Horror Story concentrate on the fact that the inappropriate category could influence the chances of the show to win the nomination. From this point, it is necessary to focus on presenting the consequences of the situation for the show. Thus, answering the question about the chances of American Horror Story to win the nomination in another category, Jessica Lange said, “I don’t know. That’s an area that I wouldn’t be able to speak to” (Goldberg).

When the position of Jessica Lange in relation to the outcomes of being nominated in the wrong category cannot be identified clearly, the position of the author of the material presented at International Business Times is rather clear. Stating that the controversy “ended with a thud on Sunday night when Horror Story lost to Game Change”, the author connects the choice of an inappropriate category for nomination with the show’s loss (Zara).

In spite of the fact the materials presented in The Hollywood Reporter and at International Business Times are dedicated to the controversy with categories at the Emmy Awards, the approaches to discussing the aspects of the situation are different. The coverage of the situation in two sources differs in three criteria which are the speaker, the discussion of the causes, and the analysis of the consequences of nominating American Horror Story in the category of miniseries instead of the drama category.

Works Cited

Goldberg, Lesley. “Emmys 2012: Jessica Lange Says ‘American Horror Story’ Like ‘Doing a Different Film’”. The Hollywood Reporter. 2012: 10.

Zara, Christopher. Confusing Emmy Categories Are The Real American Horror Story. 2012. Web.