UK TV Drama Analysis - Essay Example

Society’s Misfits Supervisor: Society’s Misfits There is the desire for every human being to lead a life that they have been dreaming about since they were children. Parents have drilled in to their children’s minds about the lives that they should lead and the direction they should take in making their life decisions. However, the question that most people ask is what would be the consequences if people were not to follow those directions and choose to go their own way. There is the feeling that life and destiny cannot be controlled and one will be forced to play the cards that life deals them. Most people would however like to change the cards that they were dealt, or at least sit down and have an eraser and be able to edit their lives and lead that which they feel to be the best; a life without struggle, pain or hardships. It is for this reason that the aim of this paper shall be to study the TV drama Misfits, and take a look at the way in which the characters react to life and the way in which they may be related pot real life experiences. Furthermore, the paper shall focus on the first two episodes of the series for a more in depth and precise look into everything. The plot of the story follows the lives of 5 teens that are caught for taking part in offences that have warranted them community service to the cut. These are Kelly Bailey, Curtis Donovan, Alisha Daniels, Simon Bellamy and Nathan Young. They are caught in a supernatural thunder storm that results in them gaining some supernatural abilities. The series was meant to follow the lives of the characters and mimic their characters in their behaviors so as to develop their powers. These powers are mean to focus on what the characters want from their lives but they are not able to get due to the decisions that they have made. However, not everything ends as they had wished. They are faced with decisions that are seen to follow them for the rest of their lives. These characters are drawn from the way in which teenagers and people in the world would love to be given another chance so as to ensure that the view that society has of them is different from what they are inside in terms of their character. Taking Kelly Bailey, played by Lauren Socha, is a character that is judged and feared buy society for having a body that is said to be manly and brute. She wishes that people stop looking at her through the scope of her physique but rather through the view that she is someone else that is different; she is not her skin or her body. In the storm, she gains the power of being able to talk and communicate with people through thoughts rather than words; telepathy. She is finally given the ability to look into the minds of people and change or at least get a glimpse of the picture that people have drawn of her in their minds (Channel 4, 2014). This should sound familiar to anyone that has ever been looked down up in their lives for the way that they look. The way in which she is treated before she gets into community service portrays the life that she had dreaded and the way in which her new found powers would help her. Society has a tendency of judging people based on their looks and how they are built rather than the way in which a person is and their character. Kelly’s troubles of being picked on have pushed her to accept her society-given character and play the role. The way in which the character is treated gives a clear view of culture that society has developed of viewing an individual on the basis of their physical attributes. This opens the door to the fact that author, Fletcher, stated that society has developed a culture whereby there is no way in which someone would be taken seriously unless they take their looks as seriously as their own work. This is proven by the way in which news has turned into a type of modeling competition where the news anchors race for viewers by dressing as provocatively as possible. The past should be taken as a stepping stone to the future, however, that is not the case for Curtis Donovan. He is a character that was supposed to participate and represent his country running games, however, a mistake where he opted to take the fall for someone on drug charges. This mistake leads him to get dropped for the team and is criticized. The public decides to look down upon him, claiming that his success in the sports was as a result of the drugs that he was arrested for consuming. It is with this that the character gets the power of super speed whereby he has the ability to run faster than light and further gets the ability to be abler to rewind time and get a do-over. This power gives him the ability to go back in time and undo the mistake and help him combat the feeling of regret that he has after the incident. Most people would argue that the power that he developed was the best thing that could have happened to him in his life because he was able to go back in time and redo his mistakes. He not only suffers from regret over the things that he has done but is as well tormented by the fact that he was punished for a mistake that he had not committed. This is a feeling that people know all too well. This is because they believe that if there was a way to redo all the mistakes that had been committed; their lives would be different than what they are experiencing. Society tends to look down at people that do not do as they are believed to. It is this scrutiny that people tend to forget that if they were on the other side of the microscope and having their lives studied and scrutinized for mistakes, they would as well crack under the pressure and wish for a redo (Clark, 2011). This is a common wish that everyone in the world wishes could come true, but that is not always in ones best interest. Taking Curtis as a proper example, one notices that with the charges that he was being charged with, he got into community service where he met Alisha, a fellow teen charged and sentenced to community service. This is the lady whom he ended up falling in love with and getting into a relationship with. Psychologists have discovered that the norm that society has of judging people based on the things that the government says are wrong is a perspective that would be termed as one that is not of the public but rather influenced. Death, such a chilling and cold thought that people are comfortable ignoring till they are on their deathbeds breathing their last breathes. Immortality would be a good thing at such a time wouldn’t it? Nathan Young is the character that developed such a power in the show. He was a child that was mainly ignored by most of his peers and enjoyed his life to the fullest. He did not want it to come to an end because he believed that he had a true and powerful role to play in the universe. He developed the power of immortality whereby he could not die from any injury that he got. He is considered by, most to be close to similar to another character; Simon Bellamy (Dowling, 2014). Simon was as well ignored in his circles and was considered to be a freak and was picked on by the larger and more popular kids in his school. He is seen to have the desire to turn in visible and not have to endure any of the troubles again. As a result, through the thunderstorm, he developed the power of invisibility. He manages to hide from all the troubles that he has in his life. These characters are portrayal of how brutal society mat be to those that do not seem to fit into their ways of doing things. The characters were treated like they were outcasts and were not considered to be equals with the rest. Simon took this to hearty and marred the view that society had of him to the way in which he was in reality and as a result he is even turned into an outcast at the community service center and no one wants to converse with him. The same goes for Nathan. He does not believe that life should be taken as seriously as the rest of his ‘detainees’ take it and he believes that what happens is part of a plan but he does not want death. Thus the reason he acquires the power. Society is the beast that we all would love to avoid because it is not one that has the best interest s of the entire society as a whole at heart but rather caters for itself. Alisha Daniels is the fifth and final character in the episode that is mistreated in her life for being a lady that was more conscious of her femininity than most would have desired her to be. She is looked down upon by society and is condemned to be a person that has a sexual attraction to all the people that she comes into contact with. This power is one that just shows her character. She has embraced her character that society has given her and turned into a lady that will always be attractive to all those that touch her (Fletcher, 2013). She is what people would call a ‘sex magnet.’ This character is one that does not believe in true love until she meets Curtis and she starts a relationship with him. She feels that there is more to her life than just being an object that people would just have sex with then say goodbye to in the end. She feels that the image that society has painted of her is not as true as she believed it to be and gives her relationship with Curtis a chance despite her powers, just to prove that he is one who is there to stay with her, not for the sex. In conclusion, society has different ways of criticizing people that are not of the same traits and behaviors as theirs. The UK drama premiered in 2009 and continued to the end of 2013 when it ended. The series was a show of how society looked down upon people and their behaviors and condemns them. However, one gets to see things there is nothing that is as worse as being termed as an outcast of society. The title and the theme of the drama shows how people that are exposed to this sort of discrimination are viewed. They are viewed as misfits. Title does give the viewer a feel of the characters and how they fit into society (Fletcher, 2013). The characters do not necessarily fit into society because they are misfits and as result of them having their abilities they do not fit into society fully. They have earned the tem misfits as shown in the title. References Channel 4., 2014. Abbey (Natasha OKeeffe). [online] Retrieved from: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/misfits/profiles/all/abbey-natasha-okeeffe [Accessed: 8 Apr 2014]. Clark, N., 2011. ‘Misfits’: An imported black comedy in orange jumpsuits. The Los Angeles Times, August 4th Dowling, T., 2014. Misfits and Wonderland: Seven Pups for Seven People. The Guardian. Friday 13th November 2009. Fletcher, A., 2013. Misfits series five will be shows last. [online] Retrieved from: http: //Misfits series five will be shows last [Accessed: 8 Apr 2014]. Read More