In Fox’s new horror comedy Scream Queens, creator Ryan Murphy takes on the white female archetype. Doing so, he reveals millennials have a problem — they can’t laugh at themselves.
Like any subculture, white culture — and particularly, white female culture — is littered with stereotypes. Pumpkin spice lattes, yoga pants, sororities, pretentious white privilege and catty cliques are tropes white females are burdened with.
Obviously not every white female is represented like this, but that’s stereotypes — they marginalize a group.
Instead of making a show about women who overcome these stereotypes, Murphy creates a world where women own them.
Chanel Oberlin, the main character and queen bee of fictional Kappa Kappa Tau, is pretty much the worst. She’s malicious, manipulative, racist, homophobic, entitled and sociopathic. Chanel has minions, a frat boyfriend and likes her pumpkin spice lattes extra hot.
Even though Chanel is the embodiment of every white female stereotype, I can’t help but wish more people in our generation were like her.
Chanel doesn’t waste time creating the illusion she’s something she’s not. She’s a white girl, and she’s proud of it. She’s not pretending her white privilege doesn’t exist.
She also doesn’t overlook the observation modern Greek systems can resemble class systems.
“Life is a class system,” Chanel retorts. Duly noted.
Most of the supporting white female characters also exemplify the white female archetype. They tweet, they travel in packs, love Taylor Swift and think they’re better than everyone else — especially people of color.
In a time where white people would rather pretend white culture and white privilege are nonexistent, Chanel Oberlin and her disciples put both front and center like one of Scream Queens’ many corpses.
It’s not subtle, but is it subtle in real life?
Critical feedback to Scream Queens is mixed. Slate’s Willa Paskin appreciated the humor writing it’s “spiked full of bubblegum and nutritious venom.”
Las Vegas Weekly’s Josh Bell didn’t agree writing, “Its comedy is ugly and mean spirited, full of hateful stereotypes and casual misogyny.”
Judging from Tumblr and Twitter, viewers are split too. Some viewers find the satirical mocking funny, while others — mostly white females from what I’ve observed — find it offensive.
But everything is offensive today.
Satire, even if some find it unoriginal or offensive, is an important part of social commentary our generation isn’t grasping. Satire is supposed to get people to reflect on ideas or societal issues in a lighthearted way. Millennials created a world where it is often misinterpreted and taken seriously.
We live in a PSA-ridden, “It Gets Better” society. Practically everything may be labeled sexist, racist, xenophobic or homophobic.
Celebrities — especially white ones — are expected to apologize whenever they say or do something that offends a particular group, even if they were cheeky or paying homage to a particular culture.
Why though? Why can’t we laugh at stereotypes without someone getting offended?
Let’s not beat around the bush. A lot of white people laugh at black stereotypes just like a lot of black people laugh at white stereotypes. Why is it no one laughs when the joke is about them?
Gay people and minorities are often portrayed in stereotypes on TV, but it’s rare for white stereotypes to be made fun of alongside the rest.
This is why Scream Queens is important. Its wit leaves no survivors.
The humor is equally distributed as well. The white girl jokes are just as funny as the “ratchet” jokes from the black girl, or the “bro-ner” joke about the closeted gay guy. Everyone is fair game, and they should be.
Life is better when everyone is able to laugh at one another and themselves. People who are offended by shows like Scream Queens should stop and ask themselves, “Why so serious?”
John Gavin Harp is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from St. Francisville, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @SirJohnGavin.