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shadowkatHave pretty much decided not to go to the church concert tonight - it's cold, and I need a day and night just with me, before I deal with the apt search tomorrow - which is always exhausting.
Finished watching Misfits. Season 3 apparently will air in Fall 2011. Although I'm not sure how I'm going to see it - hasn't made it here as of yet. Nor am I certain, BBC America will pick it up. Wish it would - it's more entertaining than Being Human. Don't get me wrong, I like Being Human, but I also agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crossoverman's review in which he stated that they talk things to death. They actually out-do American Daytime Soap Operas in this respect, and believe me that is saying something.
Before watching the Xmas special/Season finale of Misfits S2, I watched No Ordinary Family - which is so filled with comic book cliches...I found myself rolling my eyes. And thinking, these writers need to stop reading Marvel and DC comics for source material. Misfits in comparison reminds me of edgier comic books. There was one done by Marvel during Warren Ellis run of the main title - during 2000-2002. Can't remember the name of it - but Misfits reminds me a great deal of it - both in conception and language.
Misfits for those who haven't seen this little gem (I saw it courtesy of the wonderfulflake_sake.) - is a story about six juvenile delinquents (I'm guessing early 20s) who while doing community service get hit by an electrical storm which gifts them with super-powers. The super-powers aren't exactly what they bargained for. In some respects this series does what Heroes should have done - which is explore how people handle power. And they are quite innovative about the types of power you could get.
Examples:
1. a gorilla gets the ability to become human
2. a boy gets the ability to manipulate dairy products - he can telekinetically move and control compounds in milk, yogurt, cheese, and cream. At first this seems relatively innocuous. I mean who cares if you can move milk. But if you drank any - he can kill you.
3. a guy gets the ability to become a walking talking video game - he thinks like a video game and kills people like he would in a video game.
4. an old woman gets the ability to be young
5. a woman has the ability to make others want to be chaste and pure and good
It's satirical in its humor, but not quite as mean or sharp as say Glee is. Also the characters remain the focus.
There's six main characters:
Nathan, Curtis, Barry, Alisha, Kelly, Niki.
And like most of the Brit shows that I've seen - it really dissects class cast system. Goes after it with a vengeance. More so actually than most American shows do. Which is the only major cultural difference that I see between US and Brit television series. The US doesn't quite have the same class consciousness as the Europeans do. I'm guessing it may be because we don't have an aristocracy or royalty. The closest we come is old financial wealth - such as the Hiltons, Rockerfellers, Hearst, and Vanderbuilts. But even that...isn't well, the Kennedy's got into that group, as did a lot of
Hollywood celebrities. So no, we don't have titles over here. In the US - education and money are the main indicators. While overseas - as Downton Abbey got across, there's something else going on.
I see it the movies and tv shows - particularly Merlin which I've been watching. Merlin spends a lot of time critiquing the English class system. When the US does a Merlin, that isn't really a focal point, which is why it sticks out. Same with Misfits - compare Misfits with Heroes, No Ordinary Family, Smallville, The Incredibles, and the Marvel comics - and what hits me is that Misfits is focused on class, difficulties of class consciousness and the fact that neither super-powers nor money will ever change that and you are basically stuck, also there's an old-world nihilism/cynicism that exists at the core of Misfits, which isn't really in US supernatural/super-hero tv shows. It's subtle, and you really have to have seen a lot of US super-hero tv shows and movies to pick up on it. But it is there.
People have commented on how difficult it would be for the US to do Misfits or a version of Misfits, and for lots of reasons, but I think the main problem transferring it - and I'm not really explaining this well, I know, is the cultural differences regarding the class theme and the angst of no longer being a super-power or king of the world. The UK used to be back in the Victorian Age and prior to WWII - a major contender. Now, it is a bit of a has-been, and at times, in watching its media - I sense a cynicism and wisdom that comes from having it all, and well, losing it. Which I don't think most Americans can wrap their minds around. Reminding me how incredibly young my country is in comparison to the rest of the world. When the US does super-hero shows - there's this profound sense of patriotism at the core, pride of country, and the American dream. But in the British version - it's more sarcastic. The tones are greyer. The powers more painful. Being a hero seems to come with getting one's hands dirty and often soaked with blood. A great line in the series is: "So, hypothetically speaking if we went public with our powers, what would happen if we say killed a few people. Probation officers. No one important. Or would be missed?" Response:"Well, we could either say that you acted in self-defense and they were clearly evil, bad people. OR...just hide the bodies and pay people off."
In Misfits - people get money, but they have no idea how to spend it, and they are always broke. The actors aren't clean and neat and pretty. The sex certainly isn't. The show has a rawness to it, as does Being Human - that you just don't see on US tv shows. Partly due to the fact that the US throws a lot of money at tv shows and I mean a lot of money. Writers on US shows whine about having a budget of a million, maybe two million and having to cut. In the UK - it's a lot less than that. They also make less episodes. So, the writing is often tighter.
Misfits fascinates me - because it is so endemic to England and London, and while several themes have universal appeal, a few feel central to that culture. I try to imagine what it would be like to live in a country that had a Queen or a King, that worried about and provided for a King or a Queen. I remember when I visited Wales collecting stories in the 80s, and wandering about talking to people.
The conversations were rather fascinating. They did not understand my politics. Because liberal in the US isn't quite the same as it is in England or Wales. They hated the English - which is very different than a New Yorker disliking well New Jersey. They felt the English were taking away their income, encroaching on their land and had been to some degree trying to ignore them and keep their culture and ancient language, which they told me predated English by several thousand years, alive.
This was in the 1980s and my memory of it is admittedly hazy. But by the same token, they loved their Prince of Wales and a had a picture of him in the pub, also loved their Queen. Just didn't like the Prime Minister all that much.
In the US - our Queens and Kings tend to be celebrities, actors and actresses such as Elizabeth Taylor or performers such as John Lennon. In the US - Paul McCartney can be treated like Royalty, Michael Jackson certainly was. It's a cultural difference that is slight, but you notice it watching tv shows from other countries. That ever so slight adherence to class system, old wealth, which...while existent here, is quite different.
The humor in Misfits...is both crude and absurdly funny. There's a hilarious bit in the Xmas episode, which is immediately followed by a touching scene of the gang singing an rather obscure Xmas carol.
It's actually not as critical towards religion as many US shows are - Glee has actually been far sharper in its criticism, as has True Blood. But it does provide sarcastic commentary on how people handle and seek out religion and how others capitalize on it. Which is very different from how I've seen US shows satirize religion. But it's hard to explain the differences.
Comparisons aside, sorry do this for a living hard to get myself to stop, Misfits stands on its own as a rather innovative depiction of what it is like to be 20 in a world where you can't get a job, can't afford a higher education, and just want to somehow survive. Living in depressing concrete buildings, with little trees, and an industrialized office park - the show has an anti-utopian contemporary feel to it. It's colors drab, orange often being the brightest. And the cast is amongst the most varied, multi-ethnic and multi-shaped. The women aren't skinny models off the cover of a fashion magazine, and neither are the guys. The look and feel real. And how they handle their weird powers is also real. Each power a metaphor for a personal issue they have to overcome. Often ironically so. Nathan has to overcome his fearlessness. And he does, eventually get hit with the horror of immortality. Curtis - racing backwards. Rewinding time only when someone he cares about needs him to. Alisha - a sexual tease, having the ability to elicit those feelings in everyone - making everyone want to shag her, violently so. Barry - wanting to hide, now able to, in plain sight.
And Kelly - wanting to know what others think of her, now able to do it without any problems.
At one point, Alisha says: "At least we never used our powers to hurt or rape anyone.." And Curtis replies, "well, except for you raping me with your power, and all those people we killed."
It's not a clear cut show. The characters screw up royally. But there's oddly enough a lot of hope in it. More than you'd expect. These are characters who don't have a lot, and drive each other nuts, but somehow ...seem to find something worth living for and keep struggling forward. The show seldom falls into sappy sentimentality like so many US versions do. Nor melodrama. Nor easy telegraphed jokes.
Yes, it is astonishingly crude in places - Nathan is a bit, ahem, rude - or rather he can give the cast of the Hang-Over a run for their money. But he's also oddly adorable and you realize that's well just a defense mechanism.
Well worth a view, if you get the chance or have access. And far better than any super-hero show that I've seen on this end of the pond.
Finished watching Misfits. Season 3 apparently will air in Fall 2011. Although I'm not sure how I'm going to see it - hasn't made it here as of yet. Nor am I certain, BBC America will pick it up. Wish it would - it's more entertaining than Being Human. Don't get me wrong, I like Being Human, but I also agree with
crossoverman's review in which he stated that they talk things to death. They actually out-do American Daytime Soap Operas in this respect, and believe me that is saying something.Before watching the Xmas special/Season finale of Misfits S2, I watched No Ordinary Family - which is so filled with comic book cliches...I found myself rolling my eyes. And thinking, these writers need to stop reading Marvel and DC comics for source material. Misfits in comparison reminds me of edgier comic books. There was one done by Marvel during Warren Ellis run of the main title - during 2000-2002. Can't remember the name of it - but Misfits reminds me a great deal of it - both in conception and language.
Misfits for those who haven't seen this little gem (I saw it courtesy of the wonderful
flake_sake.) - is a story about six juvenile delinquents (I'm guessing early 20s) who while doing community service get hit by an electrical storm which gifts them with super-powers. The super-powers aren't exactly what they bargained for. In some respects this series does what Heroes should have done - which is explore how people handle power. And they are quite innovative about the types of power you could get.Examples:
1. a gorilla gets the ability to become human
2. a boy gets the ability to manipulate dairy products - he can telekinetically move and control compounds in milk, yogurt, cheese, and cream. At first this seems relatively innocuous. I mean who cares if you can move milk. But if you drank any - he can kill you.
3. a guy gets the ability to become a walking talking video game - he thinks like a video game and kills people like he would in a video game.
4. an old woman gets the ability to be young
5. a woman has the ability to make others want to be chaste and pure and good
It's satirical in its humor, but not quite as mean or sharp as say Glee is. Also the characters remain the focus.
There's six main characters:
Nathan, Curtis, Barry, Alisha, Kelly, Niki.
And like most of the Brit shows that I've seen - it really dissects class cast system. Goes after it with a vengeance. More so actually than most American shows do. Which is the only major cultural difference that I see between US and Brit television series. The US doesn't quite have the same class consciousness as the Europeans do. I'm guessing it may be because we don't have an aristocracy or royalty. The closest we come is old financial wealth - such as the Hiltons, Rockerfellers, Hearst, and Vanderbuilts. But even that...isn't well, the Kennedy's got into that group, as did a lot of
Hollywood celebrities. So no, we don't have titles over here. In the US - education and money are the main indicators. While overseas - as Downton Abbey got across, there's something else going on.
I see it the movies and tv shows - particularly Merlin which I've been watching. Merlin spends a lot of time critiquing the English class system. When the US does a Merlin, that isn't really a focal point, which is why it sticks out. Same with Misfits - compare Misfits with Heroes, No Ordinary Family, Smallville, The Incredibles, and the Marvel comics - and what hits me is that Misfits is focused on class, difficulties of class consciousness and the fact that neither super-powers nor money will ever change that and you are basically stuck, also there's an old-world nihilism/cynicism that exists at the core of Misfits, which isn't really in US supernatural/super-hero tv shows. It's subtle, and you really have to have seen a lot of US super-hero tv shows and movies to pick up on it. But it is there.
People have commented on how difficult it would be for the US to do Misfits or a version of Misfits, and for lots of reasons, but I think the main problem transferring it - and I'm not really explaining this well, I know, is the cultural differences regarding the class theme and the angst of no longer being a super-power or king of the world. The UK used to be back in the Victorian Age and prior to WWII - a major contender. Now, it is a bit of a has-been, and at times, in watching its media - I sense a cynicism and wisdom that comes from having it all, and well, losing it. Which I don't think most Americans can wrap their minds around. Reminding me how incredibly young my country is in comparison to the rest of the world. When the US does super-hero shows - there's this profound sense of patriotism at the core, pride of country, and the American dream. But in the British version - it's more sarcastic. The tones are greyer. The powers more painful. Being a hero seems to come with getting one's hands dirty and often soaked with blood. A great line in the series is: "So, hypothetically speaking if we went public with our powers, what would happen if we say killed a few people. Probation officers. No one important. Or would be missed?" Response:"Well, we could either say that you acted in self-defense and they were clearly evil, bad people. OR...just hide the bodies and pay people off."
In Misfits - people get money, but they have no idea how to spend it, and they are always broke. The actors aren't clean and neat and pretty. The sex certainly isn't. The show has a rawness to it, as does Being Human - that you just don't see on US tv shows. Partly due to the fact that the US throws a lot of money at tv shows and I mean a lot of money. Writers on US shows whine about having a budget of a million, maybe two million and having to cut. In the UK - it's a lot less than that. They also make less episodes. So, the writing is often tighter.
Misfits fascinates me - because it is so endemic to England and London, and while several themes have universal appeal, a few feel central to that culture. I try to imagine what it would be like to live in a country that had a Queen or a King, that worried about and provided for a King or a Queen. I remember when I visited Wales collecting stories in the 80s, and wandering about talking to people.
The conversations were rather fascinating. They did not understand my politics. Because liberal in the US isn't quite the same as it is in England or Wales. They hated the English - which is very different than a New Yorker disliking well New Jersey. They felt the English were taking away their income, encroaching on their land and had been to some degree trying to ignore them and keep their culture and ancient language, which they told me predated English by several thousand years, alive.
This was in the 1980s and my memory of it is admittedly hazy. But by the same token, they loved their Prince of Wales and a had a picture of him in the pub, also loved their Queen. Just didn't like the Prime Minister all that much.
In the US - our Queens and Kings tend to be celebrities, actors and actresses such as Elizabeth Taylor or performers such as John Lennon. In the US - Paul McCartney can be treated like Royalty, Michael Jackson certainly was. It's a cultural difference that is slight, but you notice it watching tv shows from other countries. That ever so slight adherence to class system, old wealth, which...while existent here, is quite different.
The humor in Misfits...is both crude and absurdly funny. There's a hilarious bit in the Xmas episode, which is immediately followed by a touching scene of the gang singing an rather obscure Xmas carol.
It's actually not as critical towards religion as many US shows are - Glee has actually been far sharper in its criticism, as has True Blood. But it does provide sarcastic commentary on how people handle and seek out religion and how others capitalize on it. Which is very different from how I've seen US shows satirize religion. But it's hard to explain the differences.
Comparisons aside, sorry do this for a living hard to get myself to stop, Misfits stands on its own as a rather innovative depiction of what it is like to be 20 in a world where you can't get a job, can't afford a higher education, and just want to somehow survive. Living in depressing concrete buildings, with little trees, and an industrialized office park - the show has an anti-utopian contemporary feel to it. It's colors drab, orange often being the brightest. And the cast is amongst the most varied, multi-ethnic and multi-shaped. The women aren't skinny models off the cover of a fashion magazine, and neither are the guys. The look and feel real. And how they handle their weird powers is also real. Each power a metaphor for a personal issue they have to overcome. Often ironically so. Nathan has to overcome his fearlessness. And he does, eventually get hit with the horror of immortality. Curtis - racing backwards. Rewinding time only when someone he cares about needs him to. Alisha - a sexual tease, having the ability to elicit those feelings in everyone - making everyone want to shag her, violently so. Barry - wanting to hide, now able to, in plain sight.
And Kelly - wanting to know what others think of her, now able to do it without any problems.
At one point, Alisha says: "At least we never used our powers to hurt or rape anyone.." And Curtis replies, "well, except for you raping me with your power, and all those people we killed."
It's not a clear cut show. The characters screw up royally. But there's oddly enough a lot of hope in it. More than you'd expect. These are characters who don't have a lot, and drive each other nuts, but somehow ...seem to find something worth living for and keep struggling forward. The show seldom falls into sappy sentimentality like so many US versions do. Nor melodrama. Nor easy telegraphed jokes.
Yes, it is astonishingly crude in places - Nathan is a bit, ahem, rude - or rather he can give the cast of the Hang-Over a run for their money. But he's also oddly adorable and you realize that's well just a defense mechanism.
Well worth a view, if you get the chance or have access. And far better than any super-hero show that I've seen on this end of the pond.
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-27 06:21 am (UTC)I think you're right on class being a focus of the show that would be hard to translate to the US (or any other country really).I think sitcoms like Roseanne or Malcom in the middle probably come closest to what misfits is doing.
It's actually not as critical towards religion as many US shows are
I'm not quite sure I'd say that. US shows tend to be more focused on criticising religious fundamentalism, which is more of an issue in the US then it is in Europe (though it's becoming one). Misfits takes a more general hit against the concept of taking a religious moral in place of your own (however screwed up that "own" moral might be).
Yes, it is astonishingly crude in places - Nathan is a bit, ahem, rude - or rather he can give the cast of the Hang-Over a run for their money. But he's also oddly adorable and you realize that's well just a defense mechanism.
I love the crudeness of the show in so many ways. I hope this is one show they'll leave alone and not try to remake. Nathan occasionally just makes my jaw drop :). Also he totally got you, because Barry's name is Simon, only Nathan calls him Barry, pretending he doesn't remember his name (or really not remembering it, it's hard to tell).
I'm very much looking forward to S3 and of course I can send you a package again when the run is complete.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-27 10:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-27 02:19 pm (UTC)It's a very subtle slight difference, like between a child being cynical and an adult. The US is so young in it's worldview and at times, incredibly naive. You see it in our politics. And I really see it in the media - newscasts and tv shows. If you look at versions of say Merlin by US writers and Superhero tales vs.
those by the British, there's a clear difference.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-27 03:50 pm (UTC)It kills me that this isn't out in Region 1... I sent feedback to Amazon saying I know people who would buy it immediately if it was just available...
I wish I could send the suggestion to netflix.
I think all British TV show (all the good ones, you know what I mean) would at least be available in Region 1 DVDs.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-27 10:00 pm (UTC)Noticed it in Being Human - which they tried to transfer over and does not work and in Coupling - same problem. And those shows aren't nearly as class conscious as Misfits, Merlin and Downton Abbey are.
I think the closest we may get is Raising Hope. But the distinction still exists - which is while in Raising Hope - you will have intermingling of classes, it doesn't happen as much in British dramas - there's more of a divide. Also here, in the US the class distinction is based on "money" while overseas it's based more on birth-right, very different things. In Misfits, for example, they talk a lot about how they were born that way, while they can get money and live well - they are never get beyond that class. See this discussed on Doctor Who as well.
I'm not quite sure I'd say that. US shows tend to be more focused on criticising religious fundamentalism, which is more of an issue in the US then it is in Europe (though it's becoming one). Misfits takes a more general hit against the concept of taking a religious moral in place of your own (however screwed up that "own" moral might be).
I think you nailed the distinction. US shows are more critical of "religious" practices or dogma, and less of the concept of seeking religion as your sole source of morality and spiritual guidance - which Misfits critiques in an episode in S1 (the pure and chaste girl episode) and in one in S2 (the Xmas episode).
Although True Blood does talk about it a bit through Jason Stackhouse who seeks out the Fellowship of the Sun to find a moral center. And ironically - we see more morality and spirituality from the ancient vampire who is Eric's maker than from the founders of the Fellowship of the Sun. (So it does exist in US dramas, just isn't the focus).
I love the crudeness of the show in so many ways. I hope this is one show they'll leave alone and not try to remake. Nathan occasionally just makes my jaw drop :). Also he totally got you, because Barry's name is Simon, only Nathan calls him Barry, pretending he doesn't remember his name (or really not remembering it, it's hard to tell).
Hee, I got confused in the Xmas episode. The only one who calls Simon anything at all is Nathan, who keeps calling him and introducing him as Barry - and Simon has stopped bothering to correct him.
They've done an excellent job of establishing different quirks for each of the characters. Also not falling into soap opera traps - like who is sleeping with who.
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Very curious to see what S3 holds, since at the end of S2 - they went to get their powers back and it was strongly indicated that they would not be getting the one's they originally had, but something completely different. Simon could very well end up with Curtis' ability to rewind time, and Alisha could end up with the ability to teleport. Also is Nikki going to stay dead?
I'm guessing so...which is annoying, since I rather liked that character.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-27 10:07 pm (UTC)I think all British TV show (all the good ones, you know what I mean) would at least be available in Region 1 DVDs.
Sigh. Agreed. I'm getting my Misfits fix from a friend in Austria. You'd think they'd want to cash in on the American audience. Of course it may be a distribution/rights thing. Also apparently not all channels are the same. BBC-1 is the premiere channel and has shows like Doctor Who as it's flagship. While BBC-2 is a bit less big, and has Being Human. I don't understand their system but it is VERY different than ours. They pay a licensing fee for tv, and there aren't any commercials, and premium channels like Sky requires separate subscriptions as near as I can figure. Very different way of distributing media than we have.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 02:14 am (UTC)Since then they have tried to air Torchwood & Doctor Who in the USA close to when they air in the UK, but I still think they are clueless about other shows' potential popularity in the US. They all still think of media from decades past and aren't really aware of the realities of the internet.
It really wouldn't cost them much money at all to release the DVDs on region 1, and they could make millions.... (I really really want to own these and rewatch them at my leisure!).
no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 06:21 am (UTC)I think getting Nikki back might be motivation for Curtis to look for the person that has his power now. Can't tell if she'll be back or not though.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 06:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 12:10 pm (UTC)those are the only channels people talk about on lj or
are mentioned over here - ie. PBS will state the show they got was from BBC, or we get BBC America.
Hmmm...are BBC and SKY the only ones with distribution agreements with the United States?
no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 12:13 pm (UTC)network channel or distribution outlet/service in the UK. I'm guessing we only know about BBC and SKY because they may be the only ones with distribution agreements with United States?
Which would explain a lot. What content is exported and imported has a lot to do with distribution agreements amongst the actual distributors, which have little to do with the actual popularity of the content.
(And yes, that sentence gave me a head-ache too.)
no subject
Date: 2011-03-29 08:27 am (UTC)