{"id":5659,"date":"2016-05-18T05:59:53","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T00:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5659"},"modified":"2016-05-18T05:59:53","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T00:29:53","slug":"netflix-the-end-of-the-fucking-world-freaks-killing-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=5659","title":{"rendered":"What Netflix\u2019s The End of the F***ing World Tells Us About People We Label \u201cFreaks\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\nI<\/span>n the third episode of season two of Netflix\u2019s <\/span>The End of the F***ing World <\/span><\/i>(TETFW), a bedraggled Alyssa (Jessica Barden) loses it at James\u2019 (Alex Lawther) worn-out car and calls it \u201cthe bane of our life\u201d. Unaffected by her mini-tirade, James thinks to himself, \u201cIt\u2019s nice that she said \u2018our\u2019 life,\u201d touched by her assumption of their shared intimacy. It\u2019s not the kind of thought that most people who have just been hollered at would have. But then those are the <\/span>eccentric<\/span><\/a> charms of this show that has quietly scripted an affecting tale of unlikely love between two teenagers who would otherwise be enlisted into society as \u201cpsychopaths\u201d.\u00a0\n\nFresh off the cult of the first season, the Netflix series first addresses the cliffhanger ending and subsequently builds on it. But beyond the charms of its storytelling, what <\/span>TETFW <\/span><\/i>has over a span of two seasons managed to effortlessly question is the <\/span>socially acceptable<\/span><\/a> set idea of normality, rallying against conformity.\n\nTETFW<\/i> isn\u2019t the only show attempting to tackle sociopathy with a lenient gaze. There\u2019s also <\/span>Killing Eve<\/span><\/i>, which revolves around Villanelle, a manic contract assassin who revels in murdering people. If we were to go back in time, there are several films, like <\/span>American Psycho (2000), Natural Born Killers (1994),<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Taxi Driver (1976), <\/span><\/i>that have explored similar themes<\/span>. <\/span><\/i>Lately, Hindi cinema has also tried to move past the trope of villanising social outcasts \u2013 this year\u2019s <\/span>Judgemental Hai Kya<\/span><\/i><\/a> is a worthy example. The difference seems to be that over the last few decades, socially abnormal behaviour isn\u2019t instantly reduced to handicaps that must be exploited for shock, gore or vulgarity. Instead, as <\/span>TETFW <\/span><\/i>shows, they are mined as valuable traits of vulnerability.\n\nPerhaps, the most radical intervention of a series like <\/span>TETFW<\/span><\/i> is its disinclination to grade peculiarity. If you care to pay attention, words like \u201cpagal\u201d and \u201cpsycho\u201d are tossed around in our daily lives with nonchalance. The ones using it view habitual, behavioural deviations as qualifiers for medical conditions without bothering to acquaint themselves with any context. <\/span>TETFW<\/span><\/i>, cleverly, doesn\u2019t try to move the compass as much as it just tilts it. Both Alyssa and James become the lens we see the \u201cnormal\u201d world through: James\u2019 father seems ludicrously inept at everything except carrying a weak emotional core and Alyssa\u2019s mother is hopelessly in denial about her brokenness. On the face of it, both <\/span>parents<\/span><\/a> understand the geometry of palatable social behavioural cues, like smiling when speaking or following state-sanctioned regulations. But as the show progresses, our sympathies go further away from them.\n\n

TETFW<\/em> reminds us that it\u2019s okay to be yourself. That is not to say that violence drawn from rebellion is acceptable. It still isn\u2019t.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nTETFW<\/i> for instance, disarms its characters of social obligations. In one scene in the second season, Alyssa tells James, \u201cBonnie is weird, she does weird things. It\u2019s not that interesting.\u201d In the first season of <\/span>Killing Eve<\/span><\/i><\/a>, when a girl tells Vilannelle that she is a good person because she is \u201csad,\u201d she responds with an unflinching \u201cOh God. You are one of those profound kids\u201d. On countless occasions in life, I have wanted to tell off annoying children but have stopped short of doing so because it\u2019s not acceptable behaviour. <\/span>TETFW<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 reminds us that it\u2019s okay to be yourself. That is not to say that violence drawn from rebellion is acceptable. It still isn\u2019t. But the gaze of these two shows at least seeks to contextualise their choices if not understand the reasoning behind it.\n\nTETFW<\/em> is certainly wiser, for it rarely brutalises its set-pieces and bypasses the keenness to show sexual aggression. Not to say that no such thing happens in its world, but it is more keen on telling the story of two teenagers, who rarely smile, can\u2019t understand conventional wisdom or fail to bring themselves to care for rules. The second season, adds another arc of fellow oddball Bonnie, the self-assuming girlfriend of the man James murdered in the first season. Shows like <\/span>Killing Eve<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>TETFW<\/span><\/i> justify their existence in the current TV landscape that is dominated by the social butterflies because they tell us that <\/span>social awkwardness<\/span><\/a> isn\u2019t necessarily a prison people need to be broken out of. That, looking and behaving like everyone else isn\u2019t the end-all of our existences.\n\nIn fact, the second season of<\/span> TETFW<\/span><\/i> slowly transforms from a wicked and weird tale to a familiar tale of love, <\/span>longing<\/span><\/a> and woe \u2013 only it speaks a different language. Alyssa and James don\u2019t look into each other\u2019s eyes, hold hands, or look longingly at surreal views. They communicate differently, their feelings remain understated even in each other\u2019s presence. Not because they are distant, but because they are comfortable. They may not literally open their arms to each other but in supplementing each other\u2019s freakiness, they provide something that society\u2019s cold and conditional embrace wouldn\u2019t: warmth.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netflix\u2019s The End of the F***ing World tells us that social awkwardness isn\u2019t necessarily a prison people need to break out of. 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