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OK, let's everyone agree that it is the 21st century and the standards by which TV used to be judged don't really apply any more. OK, agreed. Now to learn how to appreciate so-called Hi Impact Programming we are going to compare and contrast this controversial series (which almost started a riot in England) with the American TV series named, appropriately, American Horror Story. Both are serials, that is they start a story and continue it. Both eschew conventional morality for a strange kind of anything-goes scripting, in which the audience never knows what is coming around the corner. And both are well cast, with the actors doing the best they can with what they have. But there the similarity ends. AHS, which is an object of reverence in the US and has won many awards, is dark, dirty, unrelenting, and, some might say, just plain mean. In AHS, the trick of surprising the audience is constantly used to depress the viewer and debase the characters. In Utopia, you see a different direction entirely. While both shows deal with evil, UTOPIA presents the story in bright bold colours, characters who never shy from expressing their humanity, and offers a narrative which suggests that tomorrow may indeed be a brighter day. None of this exists in AHS, awards and accolades notwithstanding, and while both offer a degree of gratuitous violence, AHS constantly congratulates itself for so doing, while UTOPIA never loses sight of the fact there may be a rainbow at the end of the storm. UTOPIA is, and was, one of the most engaging series ever produced. It is, and was, brilliant. American Horror Story is like watching the same traffic accident over and over until ultimately you realize that -- the real horror -- you LIKE watching traffic accidents.
score 10/10
A_Different_Drummer 31 July 2013
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2846056/ |
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22-11-2019 11:24:33
