Elsa 'Life On' Mars

[Beezel]

Admittedly, I wanted to use one of Mordrake's deliciously scathing criticisms of Elsa for the thread title, but I thought I'd keep in mind  my hatred for Elsa is perhaps not universal. 

 

Personally, I just had an insanely visceral reaction to reading Lange's take on the character from this interview. 

 

http://www.eonline.com/news/596509/jessica-lange-on-her-american-horror-story-gifts-rich-characters-rock-star-moments-and-toys

 

Jessica on Elsa:

We're up to episode five, by now we've kind of explored her history and know how it all came down. It's good, there's a lot more that we go back to, but it's been just the most complete character I've played in years and years and years. With the singing and the past, the idea that she has tremendous love and care for these [people] who she refers to as her "monsters." She truly does and I think that's absolutely genuine. It's that kind of tragic flaw in a character when she's going to be her kind of innate, basic nature is being defeated by her own ambition. It's very kind of Shakespearean in a way.

 

 Just, ugh. I truly don't see any great "Shakespearean"-level tragedy in Elsa. How she lost her legs was tragic, but that's about it. Her quest for fame is  not a new and exciting motivation  and I don't feel like she's "loving" in any way. It's not even one of those situations where you see that she very much feels she's offering love but it's not the reality of the situation. I think she's solely motivated by her own self-interest and willing uses and  manipulates her "monsters" to serve her own ends. I mean look at how she lashed out at Pepper and her boyfriend. Look at the creepy way she uses Ma Petite as a doll for her own comfort. And not to mention, she very likely was willing to sacrifice Paul to teach the freaks a lesson (especially since she didn't seem to have actually bothered calling a ambulance for him).  I see her as very abusive and  I couldn't help roll my eyes all the way back in my head at her, "I just want to be loved."

Obviously not, since she didn't care at all that the freaks  took the time and effort to put together a whole birthday WEEK for her. I can see maybe she doesn't know how to love, which is unfortunate, but she's such a jealous brat about it, I find it hard to feel any sympathy for her. 

There was potential when they introduced the character,  but they've really squandered it, especially in this latest episode. I do wonder if they can turn it around, though my hopes are not high. 

 

All that being said, I  do tend to enjoy JL's musical numbers. 

Edited November 16, 2014 by Beezel

[editorgrrl]

Yeah, Elsa treating Ma Petite like her own personal hot water bottle is creepy. And putting Ma Petite in the corner while Elsa has sex with Paul?!

Speaking of which, didn't we see Jessica Lange's legs & feet moving during the sex scene?

I actually liked Elsa's wish to be loved. Her denial & delusions make her all the more dangerous. She thinks she's an ingenue rather than a baddie.

Edited to add I hope Ethel wrings Elsa's neck as promised.

Edited November 16, 2014 by editorgrrl

[editorgrrl]

From the "Bullseye" thread (Season 4, Episode 6):

While I applaud that this show is willing to have protagonists who are flawed, Elsa Mars is becoming too unlikable for me. I'm trying to remember where were at this point in Coven, but they tried to still have Fiona Goode be redeemable until the very end -- and when they weren't, she was over-the-top bitchy in a campy way that you were itching to hear every acid-dripped word of dialogue she had, expertly delivered by Jessica Lange. Perhaps Ethel vs. Elsa will be the last showdown?

[Avaleigh]

Maybe it's because I don't necessarily need or want characters to be likeable or root-worthy but I'm still enjoying watching the character of Elsa and don't really feel that she's all that similar to Fiona or Jude. I definitely see a lot of similarities to Constance though. For Constance the house and its ghostly inhabitants were her freakshow and I feel like there's a very similar feel to her relationships and overall personality that matches with Elsa. I think the main difference between the women apart from overall background and life experience is that Elsa sees herself as still very much in the star fame game whereas Constance could more or less acknowledge that she was a failure in this sense so her bitterness was tied up in that and the individual tragedies of her children. Elsa's bitterness stems from having survived being butchered and it seems like she might have got it into her head that it's because she's meant to be a star that she even survived.

[Beezel]

From the "Test of Strength" thread: 

 

Elsa has been cagey enough to flirt with the idea of letting Stanley murder the twins if it will get them out of her hair -- but remember, she loved Ma Petite more than she loved anyone else (as she told her last week in French). While we don't know their entire history, it's safe to say that Ma Petite was the closest thing Elsa had to motherhood or family, and she was the last thing that kept her humane.

 

 

I am actually looking forward to seeing  Elsa's reaction next episode for these reasons. Obviously there were issues with how she treated Ma Petite, but I do feel like the death could elicit some genuine sorrow from her, which will be interesting. 

 

For Constance the house and its ghostly inhabitants were her freakshow and I feel like there's a very similar feel to her relationships and overall personality that matches with Elsa. I think the main difference between the women apart from overall background and life experience is that Elsa sees herself as still very much in the star fame game whereas Constance could more or less acknowledge that she was a failure in this sense so her bitterness was tied up in that and the individual tragedies of her children. Elsa's bitterness stems from having survived being butchered and it seems like she might have got it into her head that it's because she's meant to be a star that she even survived.

 

 

 

I think this is spot on about the similarities between those characters, but I actually really enjoyed Constance. I liked that she had the black cloud of knowing that 4 of her kids (3 we knew about) were dead. She seemed pretty self-aware in her failings as a mother like you mention,so even though she was far from blameless, there was some genuine tragedy in her story. I would like to feel the same about Elsa ( and who knows maybe her response to Ma Petite will sway me) but I just feel like the show wants me to feel more  sympathy for her than I do. Which is hard since a lot what we've seen is either her treatment of the freaks, her intense jealousy, or her feeling sorry for herself because she's not famous. I actually like unlikable characters in this show or otherwise, but not if the character is mostly all unlikable, there needs to be layers there, as in the case of Constance, who was kind of a perfect balance of horrible and strangely sympathetic.

 

Also, agreed that I will be utterly disappointing if Ethel isn't the one to kill Elsa.