“Scream Queens” first aired in September of 2015 through Fox Broadcasting Company. Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, the same producers of “Glee,” the comedy horror television series soon solidified its place in pop culture with many online not even knowing the title of the show.
Some of the most iconic quotes and references online are from “Scream Queens,” but many don’t even know it. Quotes such as: “Maybe, but I’m rich and I’m pretty, so it doesn’t really matter,” and references to the different numbered Chanels are the shows distinguishing points and ones that we have all heard. But what is “Scream Queens” truly about? Starring Emma Robers as the main Chanel, the story follows the sorority of Kappa Kappa Tau who are being threatened by the Dean of Wallace University. We are introduced to the sorority and the university through the eyes of Grace Gardener, played by Skyler Samuels, whose mother was a Kappa Kappa Tau alum. The main mystery comes into play through the reappearance of a Red Devil serial killer who slowly begins to kill off members of the sorority.
The term “scream queen” has long been a title tied to various actresses that gained prominence in the 1970s. Actresses such as Veronica Cartwright, Dee Wallace, and most notably, Jamie Lee Curtis, who also plays the dean in “Scream Queens,” all played characters in 1900s horror films. “Scream queens” refers to the conventional damsel-in-distress characters that we often see in horror films, more often than not a conventionally attractive young girl. We see this portrayed in “Scream Queens” through essentially all the characters in the series, but most apparently the Chanels, who are all young blondes in their late college years who are targets of the serial killer on campus.
But the show does not only run on the reference to this term, but even more so the satirization of common horror movie and film tropes. The series acts as a parody of horror movies and plots, not meant to be taken seriously. As it is also a comedy, you can’t help but not be scared at its most gruesome scenes due to the way it is being presented to the audience. It also satirizes the common mean girl trope, again through the Chanels. They drop numerous lines that most definitely would get them cancelled in the 2020s, and yet it’s so apparent that it is a satire the audience understands who the characters are representing. The Chanels are almost reminiscent of the Plastics from “Mean Girls” or Sharpay Evans from “High School Musical,” just to name a few.
Overall, “Scream Queens” was a pleasure to watch, especially for people like me who are too scared to watch “real” horror movies and shows but still want to experience one. It’s humorous, refreshing, and a good throwback to the old 2010s style of TV sitcoms. If you’re not bogged down with school work, I would highly recommend “Scream Queens” and throw it back to the good old 2010s.
