Teens scream for ‘Queens’

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Ryan Murphy has done it again. The creator of some of my favorite series, “Glee” and “American Horror Story,” has now satisfied fans once again with “Scream Queens.”

One quick question. How in the world does Murphy make the switch from an innocent, sing-along dramedy to a hair-raising chiller?

It seems that his latest series is the love-child of the two. And— oh, what the heck— let’s just throw in “Pretty Little Liars” and “Clueless” into the mix to account for “Queens’” dash of drama, suspense and satirical teen comedy.

Emma Roberts is the perfect actress for the series’ Queen bee. Roberts fulfills her role as the snobby, egotistical and ruthless sorority president Chanel Oberlin. Chanel is an uncanny replica of another role Roberts played in “American Horror Story: Coven,” Madison Montgomery.

“Surprise b*tch.” I guess we really didn’t see the last of her.  

Murphy and his team assembled a star-studded cast for this series, including Nick Jonas (Boone), Jamie Lee Curtis (Dean Munsch), Nasim Pedrad (Gigi), Keke Palmer (Zayday), Lea Michele (Hester), Ariana Grande (Chanel #2) and Abigail Breslin (Chanel #5). It’s nice to see the diversity the cast offers, although most of that is contributed from the supporting cast. The newest pledges to Kappa Kappa Tau include a string of social misfits. A girl who sports a back brace due to scoliosis (Michele), a deaf girl (Whitney Meyer), an Asian-American lesbian, and a black girl from “the hood,” or Oakland, California.

One thing that bothers me about the characters is that the show panders to minority stereotypes, which are often the butt of the joke— or better yet, insults— from Chanel and her minions. While the main cast is an ensemble of white people who play privileged characters, the supporting cast seems to satisfy the intentional satire.

The show’s creators has obviously caught on to the social justice movement which has lured a lot of teens’ interest. Sam, better known as “Predatory Lez,” often goes off on a tangent, ranting about social constructs and other inequities. In one scene, Chanel and her minions are catcalled at the college’s cafeteria and fight back in the name of feminism— but actually beat the  boys up— and receive applause from other students. The satire only feeds to many misconceptions revolving social justice, such as the confusion between feminism and misandry.

But, I’ll give more credit to the creators and hope that they are using thee satire to expose these stereotypes. They are pretty clever, after all. Chanel #3, played by Billie Lourd, always wears a pair of earmuffs, an homage to her mother Carrie Fisher— known to you sci-fi nerds as Princess Leia.

Between the TV-14 comedy and sexual content, the gory murder scenes (honestly, I’m spooked), and the vicious “Mean Girls” rivalry, “Scream Queens” is the next big thing with teens.