Contains spoilers!
Mike Flanagan’s Netflix anthology series The Haunting has caught the enthusiastic audience’s attention since the first season aired in 2018, The Haunting of Hill House. The first season was an adaptation of the 1800’s book by Shirley Jackson with the same name. The second season aired last year, and Mike made two intelligent decisions: he brought back the actors that had captivated us in season one and adapted – again – a classic horror book from three centuries ago. However, the second season of The Haunting brings a more modern twist than the first one did, making us reevaluate how much diversity we are accustomed to seeing in horror stories.
The second season of The Haunting, The Haunting of Bly Manor , is an adaptation of one of the most famous novellas of Henry James, The Turn of the Screw. With an 87% critics score and 64% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the second season tells the story of an American girl, Dani, who comes to England to work as an au pair for a wealthy family. Strange things start to happen regarding the two children Dani cares for, Flora and Miles. The children appear to be holding secrets from Dani and having conversations with the old au pair that — as far as the viewer knows at that point — left unexpectedly from the job.
Dani is the main character in this story. She has a troublesome past that haunts her: every time she looks in the mirror, she sees a ghost with glowing eyes. After a few episodes of following Dani covering up every mirror she has contact with, the character finally tells us what happened: she came out to her ex-fiancé as gay. A few moments later, he died in a car accident. Her sexuality has carried the guilt of breaking her best friend’s heart, which made her unable to move on – until she meets the gardener, Jamie.
Queer representation in horror
LGBTQIA+ representation in the horror genre is often full of prejudice. Most of the time, queer characters never explicitly say their sexuality – leaving it in the subtext for the audience to decide what they want to do with it. Usually, their sexuality is the reason they are killed, like in A Nightmare of Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Alternately, it is the reason why they went insane and are now serial killers.
The lesbian representation in horror has much to do with the stereotypical vampire woman. They are usually shown as sexual objects and do not have much character development. A vampire does not have to oblige to society’s norms anymore, and therefore, can explore their sexuality more openly. Even though this could be an opportunity for exploring the character’s sexuality, most movies use it as an excuse to fetishize lesbian relationships.
That is why The Haunting of Bly Manor is such a refreshing take on horror and LGBTQIA+ representation. Dani and Jamie’s relationship is the main romantic relationship in the show while also being the reason for their survival. Additionally, the creators did not fetishize the characters and their relationships — the only intimate scenes we see of the couple are when they are kissing. Many people claimed that this season told a love story, not a horror one. But these elements can work together – and they did.
How to improve even more
However, even if the series show a bit of forwarding thinking by making the main couple, and therefore, the main love arc queer, the show still has a few problems regarding the representation of the queer community. One of the clichés queer characters face in the last decades of horror movies is that they are brutally killed. The Haunting of Bly Manor does not do that to Jaime or Dani, but they do not get the happy ending they deserve. How this season ended fits the storyline they created, but it is something to be aware of.
Even if this season of The Haunting is not perfect, it should not be a series to stay away from. It still shows a beautiful love story of two women who happen to be in a haunted manor. And that they find the strength to deal with unknown forces and curses with each other.
