Nathan & Kelly ramblings
I finished my Misfits watch last night. All 13 episodes! I'm now completely up to date. And being that I'm finished watching, I can respond to daybreak777's meme asking new Misfits fans: What is your favorite aspect of the show and why?
Nathan: If men could suck themselves off then the female of the species would be surplus to requirements.
Kelly: This is why people kill you.
My favourite thing about Misfits is... Nathan. My close second favourite thing about Misfits is Kelly. As a Brit, I'm more interested in Misfits as a social commentary on deliquent youth in my country than it being a fantasy superhero show. Nathan & Kelly are both very recognisible archetypes of the ASBO generation. You can find Nathans and Kellys hanging around most street corners: the annoying prick and the gobby chav. If you look at them the wrong way then they'll probably yell something offensive at you. For the most part, Nathans and Kellys are amoung the most despised members of contemporary British society. Yet Misfits takes these two characters and humanises them; making them sympathetic, relatable and even admirable at times. They are two terrific anti-heroes of our times.
I'm not really interested in the powers aspect of the show except in how it amplifies the characters anti-social behaviours. Kelly, like a lot of chav girls, is aggressively paranoid that people are saying things about her and being two faced towards her. So gaining telepathy and constantly being aware of all the low opinions people hold about her just heightens Kelly's aggressiveness and contempt towards other people. Nathan being immortal is also character appropriate. Nathan is so obnoxious and lacking in inhibitions that he's pretty much a borderline sociopath, but at the same time Nathan is the life force of the show and as his mother says in an early episode he acts like nothing can hurt him. Nathan is a true libertine, he lives in the moment and makes the best of things, despite his crummy upbringing.
One of the main reasons I can sympathise with Nathan is that he's clearly the product of neglectful parenting and an unforgiving society. Nathan's dad was never there for him. His mother chose her boyfriend over him and locked him out of her house. Nathan has made several claims that he was sexually abused as a child, which could be true or it could just be Nathan crying out for attention. Everything that comes out of Nathan and his everlasting mouth could just be a cry for the attention that he never got from his parents. This also explains to me why Nathan loves babies. Nathan is giving these little children the love and concern that he always wanted for himself.
I also feel sad for Nathan because everyone thinks it's okay to treat Nathan badly. Like in the episode where the gang come to the community centre to find out that Nathan was beaten to death during the night. They all laugh about it and tell Nathan it's because he's annoying. So it's okay to murder Nathan for this reason. Nathan is the kid who gets arrested for stealing Pix-n-Mix, but really he got arrested being Nathan (i.e. being a prick). Since the introduction of ASBOs in the UK, being a prick is now a criminal offense and ASBOs can be used to mark someone - usually a young kid - out as an undesirable member of society. Nobody is really making any efforts to civilize or rehabilitate Nathan, apart from maybe Kelly in her way. Kelly slaps Nathan and tells him off whenever he acts like a dick (which is constantly), but she also sees Nathan as a human being who is homeless and penniless and stealing snacks from vending machines to survive. So Kelly invites Nathan to her house and cooks him chicken nuggets, showing that she actually cares for his well-being.
I'm really fond of the Nathan/Kelly relationship too, whether they end up as a romantic couple or remain friends. I do think they have feelings for each other but I can imagine it's very hard to be in a relationship with Nathan with him being a boarderline sociopath and all. I think Kelly sometimes feels like a big sister or surrogate mother figure to Nathan. While Nathan has previously ditched Kelly for prettier girls, I think it's a positive thing that Nathan is mostly attracted to Kelly's personality. I think Kelly is doing the right thing keeping Nathan at arms length for now because if they rush into anything too fast Nathan is likely to screw things up with his epic awfulness, whether he intends to or not. I think their bond really is the heart of the show.
Nathan: If men could suck themselves off then the female of the species would be surplus to requirements.
Kelly: This is why people kill you.
My favourite thing about Misfits is... Nathan. My close second favourite thing about Misfits is Kelly. As a Brit, I'm more interested in Misfits as a social commentary on deliquent youth in my country than it being a fantasy superhero show. Nathan & Kelly are both very recognisible archetypes of the ASBO generation. You can find Nathans and Kellys hanging around most street corners: the annoying prick and the gobby chav. If you look at them the wrong way then they'll probably yell something offensive at you. For the most part, Nathans and Kellys are amoung the most despised members of contemporary British society. Yet Misfits takes these two characters and humanises them; making them sympathetic, relatable and even admirable at times. They are two terrific anti-heroes of our times.
I'm not really interested in the powers aspect of the show except in how it amplifies the characters anti-social behaviours. Kelly, like a lot of chav girls, is aggressively paranoid that people are saying things about her and being two faced towards her. So gaining telepathy and constantly being aware of all the low opinions people hold about her just heightens Kelly's aggressiveness and contempt towards other people. Nathan being immortal is also character appropriate. Nathan is so obnoxious and lacking in inhibitions that he's pretty much a borderline sociopath, but at the same time Nathan is the life force of the show and as his mother says in an early episode he acts like nothing can hurt him. Nathan is a true libertine, he lives in the moment and makes the best of things, despite his crummy upbringing.
One of the main reasons I can sympathise with Nathan is that he's clearly the product of neglectful parenting and an unforgiving society. Nathan's dad was never there for him. His mother chose her boyfriend over him and locked him out of her house. Nathan has made several claims that he was sexually abused as a child, which could be true or it could just be Nathan crying out for attention. Everything that comes out of Nathan and his everlasting mouth could just be a cry for the attention that he never got from his parents. This also explains to me why Nathan loves babies. Nathan is giving these little children the love and concern that he always wanted for himself.
I also feel sad for Nathan because everyone thinks it's okay to treat Nathan badly. Like in the episode where the gang come to the community centre to find out that Nathan was beaten to death during the night. They all laugh about it and tell Nathan it's because he's annoying. So it's okay to murder Nathan for this reason. Nathan is the kid who gets arrested for stealing Pix-n-Mix, but really he got arrested being Nathan (i.e. being a prick). Since the introduction of ASBOs in the UK, being a prick is now a criminal offense and ASBOs can be used to mark someone - usually a young kid - out as an undesirable member of society. Nobody is really making any efforts to civilize or rehabilitate Nathan, apart from maybe Kelly in her way. Kelly slaps Nathan and tells him off whenever he acts like a dick (which is constantly), but she also sees Nathan as a human being who is homeless and penniless and stealing snacks from vending machines to survive. So Kelly invites Nathan to her house and cooks him chicken nuggets, showing that she actually cares for his well-being.
I'm really fond of the Nathan/Kelly relationship too, whether they end up as a romantic couple or remain friends. I do think they have feelings for each other but I can imagine it's very hard to be in a relationship with Nathan with him being a boarderline sociopath and all. I think Kelly sometimes feels like a big sister or surrogate mother figure to Nathan. While Nathan has previously ditched Kelly for prettier girls, I think it's a positive thing that Nathan is mostly attracted to Kelly's personality. I think Kelly is doing the right thing keeping Nathan at arms length for now because if they rush into anything too fast Nathan is likely to screw things up with his epic awfulness, whether he intends to or not. I think their bond really is the heart of the show.