The seventh season of American Horror Story has given fans and followers a lot to look out for, including terrifying clowns and mass shooting episodes executed to perfection. Multiple phobias, a diverse projection of community and cult worship – it has everything.
Yet one of the most iconic things about this season is the blue haired, worn out looking avatar of Evan Peters, Kai Anderson, and women can't thank the creators enough for it
Also read: American Horror Story Season 7: Cult leader a queen bee? [SPOILERS]
So far it has been established that the maniacally obsessive Trump supporter is not only the leader of the clown cult, but he's notorious for feeding off of people's weaknesses. And come on, who doesn't love the quintessential bad boy?
But the usual, brooding bad boy charm isn't the only thing going for cult-lord Kai Anderson. He is bad and psychotic, but also extremely cultured and learned as well. Your classic Norman Bates meets the Beast from Beauty and the Beast.
He definitely isn't burlesque or flaunting a macho man physique to make women go weak in the knees, but trust Evan Peters to fill it up with his skills. No, Kai Anderson doesn't need to go shirtless and rock his abs; he has his own compulsive mannerisms and maniacal conviction about his tone to convince one to follow him.
Sure, his hair looks matted and he definitely looks like he could do with a shower or two, but considering the hipster obsession with looking dishevelled, women aren't complaining. He's a cult lord with people dressing up as clowns and murdering others upon his direction, for Christ's sake!
If you are still dubious about how the puppy-eyed 30-year-old actor could ever play someone this evil, in his own words, Evan explains Kai's Trump obsession to Thrillist, as: "Trump is the spark that's going to create the fire that's going to bring down the world. Kai is going to be the one who steps out onto the ashes and leads everyone, and makes the world what he wants it to be."
And how does he do that? He preys on insecurities and gives a ray of hope validating their feelings, simultaneously. Evan himself associates Kai's deliverance with ripping a band-aid off a wound that is yet to heal. "He cuts open the wound even more, so that you need him even more," claims the AHS alumnus, who has been a permanent on the show's cast for all seven seasons.
Even though Evan claims "he [Kai] is the most repulsive character I've had to play" it's not lost on us that after his last as intensely psychotic character, Tate Langdon (AHS Season 1: Murder House), this is probably the second most popular one among the female fans. And something about this tells us that today's pop culture feeds off on a latent hybristophilia.
It had all started with the Bonnie and Clyde syndrome. And then with the advent and revelation of multiple women swooning over and wishing to marry convicted serial killers like Ted Bundy, Charles Manson and Richard Ramirez, it's safe to say that the love and attraction towards the gritty, bad men has only intensified over the years.
Most of it could be stemming from the point of sympathy, as Evan points out in his interview with the Thrillist. "Because of everything that happened to him, he lost his mind," he said.
"In a way, I think you'll maybe sympathize or at least understand why he becomes the way he becomes and does the horrific things he does." Everybody wants to relate and figure out the bad boy, it seems. This obsession with the idea of fixing the broken is never ending too!
Be it Harley and the Joker or the passive Stockholm syndrome – the entire concept of finding happily ever after in an abusive sociopath, as bizarre as it might seem, is actually a deep rooted issue.
There are people who think the movies Buffalo '66' and Labour Day are relationship goals; and let's not even wander to Fifty Shades of Grey!
Here's the promo clip of AHS: Cult episode 6, for those who missed it:
