As I watched “Misfits” on Monday, I began to think about our fascination with the antihero. There are several American shows that feature an anti-hero as their main protagonist. The first network that comes to mind when I think of an antihero is FX which has shows like “Rescue Me” and “The Shield” are just a couple of the FX shows that feature this kind of character. Now who finds the antihero appealing? Who watches these kind of shows? Shows on FX are targeted at the 18-34 demographic and is split almost 50-50 between males and females. This sounds like the same type of demographic that the British E4 network pursues, which might make sense why a show like “Misfits” works so well.
“Misfits” features a unique kind of antihero. The 5 antiheroes of “Misfits” are not out to save the world after they get their powers. In what we saw, for the most part, their lives are almost unaffected. This was something that struck me as specifically british about the show. I was expecting the kids to have some kind of reform. It would make sense for these juvenile delinquents to gain special powers and to have some kind of discovery of conscious and amend their ways which ended them up with community service. This was the kind of story arch I was expecting once we watched the part of episode 1 where the premise of the show was revealed. I was surprised when we skipped the episode 6 and our antiheroes were still doing community service and were not a crime fighting team.
The show just struck me as inherently british. As we talked about in class, the characters were given fairly humble super powers. I was more impressed by what this show was not which is what made it so intriguing. There wasn’t some organization of superheroes trying to save the world and stop super villains with their new found powers. There wasn’t a mythology that the characters were destined to discover over the course of the show. There wasn’t even a moment where the friends had to choose between being good and being evil. Instead we were given something that just seemed to be more real. I appreciated the simplicity of “Misfits” and how it used the rebellious nature of the main characters to tell its message. The message that I got was: be yourself, not what others want you to be. I believe this was something that appealed to the audience on E4. If the shows on FX are any kind of indication, the 18-34 demographic finds complex characters appealing like those which are featured in “Misfits.” For this reason, “Misfits” is more than just a simple teen drama or a super hero story. It’s a story that featured five antiheroes trying to overcome their own personal struggles as well as handle their new found superpowers and that is a recipe for success.
As you pointed out, there’s been this big trend towards depicting the antihero in television, both here and in the UK. I honestly think that people just got sick of watching heroes that they couldn’t identify with or who were just TOO good. No one can ever be as good as a lot of TV heroes just like no family can ever be as put-together as the Brady Bunch. The antihero has flaws, usually flaws much worse than most audience members have, but is still able to overcome those flaws to do something that appeals to the audience members. After watching “Misfits,” an audience member can say, “I’m not in juvie and those kids were. They had a good message about being who you are and they’re more sketchy than I am. Therefore, the bar is low. I can achieve that.” No one can be Superman. Everyone can be/has been/will be a misfit.
I also think there is a fascination towards the anti-hero, specifically amongst the young adults who tune into the shows you listed, “Rescue Me” and “Misfits”. This idea really solidified for me when we watched the series one finale. We all rooted against “good”. I would be surprised to hear anyone in our class, or anyone else watching say they were hoping the misfits lost to the power of good. We actively cheered for their sex, drugs and profane language against the more pure ways they were being converted to. Why did we cheer for the “bad”? Why did we cheer for the anti-hero, like we always do? Nathan addresses this right before he dies, we cheer for them, and maybe even wish to be them, because we are young. This idea of “it’s cool to be bad” is not something we are above, or look down upon. It is a change from the common (American) do-gooder. Personally, I love this trend in television, representing the imperfect and flawed allows for the viewer to relate to some aspect of their life, instead of being alienated from the character and their fictional life.