As I watched “Misfits” on Monday, I began to think about our\u00a0fascination\u00a0with 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.<\/p>\n
“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 \u00a0the kids to have some kind of reform. It would make sense for these\u00a0juvenile\u00a0delinquents\u00a0to gain special powers and to have some kind of discovery of conscious and\u00a0amend\u00a0their 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.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0intriguing. 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\u00a0simplicity\u00a0of “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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I watched “Misfits” on Monday, I began to think about our\u00a0fascination\u00a0with 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 … Continue reading