Let's just agree that colledge boyfriend arc made no sense
November 28, 2011 7:09 PM Subscribe
Somehow I think this will be the last thing I see in this life.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:20 PM on November 28, 2011
posted by cjorgensen at 7:20 PM on November 28, 2011
Can someone let me know what emotions it's OK for a 40 year old man to feel about this?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:20 PM on November 28, 2011 [24 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:20 PM on November 28, 2011 [24 favorites]
Horace Rumpole, I'm older than you and I unashamedly think it's fantastic. I'm a little surprised that kids who aren't old enough to have really enjoyed Daria when it was on the air are so into it, but more power to them.
posted by adamrice at 7:22 PM on November 28, 2011
posted by adamrice at 7:22 PM on November 28, 2011
The one with Jane and Daria from the side at the table reminds me so much of Ghost World.
posted by shortyJBot at 7:27 PM on November 28, 2011 [14 favorites]
posted by shortyJBot at 7:27 PM on November 28, 2011 [14 favorites]
What you don't see is the seventy or eighty otherwise solid shots that were ruined by a couple of photobombing dillholes chanting "diarrhea, cha cha cha!" over and over again.
posted by cortex at 7:34 PM on November 28, 2011 [13 favorites]
posted by cortex at 7:34 PM on November 28, 2011 [13 favorites]
"Ghost World" is "Daria" with consequences
posted by The Whelk at 7:36 PM on November 28, 2011 [20 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:36 PM on November 28, 2011 [20 favorites]
We gave our (now) 12-year-old daughter the complete Daria on DVD when it came out. She tore right through them and loved them. I will take my parenting award now, please.
posted by jscalzi at 7:37 PM on November 28, 2011 [38 favorites]
posted by jscalzi at 7:37 PM on November 28, 2011 [38 favorites]
Can someone let me know what emotions it's OK for a 40 year old man to feel about this?
Hey, But-Head! Mhmmmhmmm. Diarrhea cha-cha-cha! Heheheheh. I wonder if the Maxx is on after this. The Maxx is cool.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:38 PM on November 28, 2011
Hey, But-Head! Mhmmmhmmm. Diarrhea cha-cha-cha! Heheheheh. I wonder if the Maxx is on after this. The Maxx is cool.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:38 PM on November 28, 2011
That is a really terrible Daria wig.
posted by Diablevert at 7:39 PM on November 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Diablevert at 7:39 PM on November 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Does it make me less of a man to admit I was proud that my Everyday outfit (black v-neck with white collar and red jacket) was JUST WHAT JANE LANE WORE? Cause I totally did.
posted by The Whelk at 7:43 PM on November 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 7:43 PM on November 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Horace Rumpole: Can someone let me know what emotions it's OK for a 40 year old man to feel about this?
I keep trying to make "SQUEEEEE!" sound more masculine and adult, but it just sounds weird. So I'll go with a quiet "SQUEEEE!," hidden behind your hands, held as if you were a school girl with a crush, and your eyes open in excitement, but not too open, like you're frightened about how excited you are. That would be weird.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:53 PM on November 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
I keep trying to make "SQUEEEEE!" sound more masculine and adult, but it just sounds weird. So I'll go with a quiet "SQUEEEE!," hidden behind your hands, held as if you were a school girl with a crush, and your eyes open in excitement, but not too open, like you're frightened about how excited you are. That would be weird.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:53 PM on November 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
"Ghost World" is "Daria" with consequences
So right.
posted by sweetkid at 7:54 PM on November 28, 2011
I'm still waiting on the muscovite cosplayer recreation of "Clone High."
OK, not really, but still...
posted by sysinfo at 7:55 PM on November 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
OK, not really, but still...
posted by sysinfo at 7:55 PM on November 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
From the humorless commenter on the bottom of the second link:
~Lizmoohno 1 day ago
Looks like a little boy in a wig. Also the Suicide Girls did a Daria and Jane shoot.. naked.
ummmm...why was THAT link not provided in this otherwise wonderful FPP? :-)
posted by reformedjerk at 8:02 PM on November 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
~Lizmoohno 1 day ago
Looks like a little boy in a wig. Also the Suicide Girls did a Daria and Jane shoot.. naked.
ummmm...why was THAT link not provided in this otherwise wonderful FPP? :-)
posted by reformedjerk at 8:02 PM on November 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
We gave our (now) 12-year-old daughter the complete Daria on DVD when it came out.
La la LA la la.
posted by eriko at 8:11 PM on November 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
La la LA la la.
posted by eriko at 8:11 PM on November 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
Can someone let me know what emotions it's OK for a 40 year old man to feel about this?
"WTF? The cartoon that I was too old to appreciate is now something that fully grown adult hipsters are too young to have seen?"
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 8:14 PM on November 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
"WTF? The cartoon that I was too old to appreciate is now something that fully grown adult hipsters are too young to have seen?"
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 8:14 PM on November 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
How weird. I just sent my (mostly) unwatched Daria DVDs back in the mail to Netflix today. I wasn't ready for so much 90's.
posted by sourwookie at 8:17 PM on November 28, 2011
posted by sourwookie at 8:17 PM on November 28, 2011
If I can get a Nostalgia movement around Downtown I could die happy
posted by The Whelk at 8:23 PM on November 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:23 PM on November 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
The pics are cool, but it's really bugging me that Trent's shirt is the wrong shade of green.
posted by nooneyouknow at 8:24 PM on November 28, 2011
posted by nooneyouknow at 8:24 PM on November 28, 2011
Daria was a truly brilliant show.
However that guy there is an awful Trent. Not even close. About a trillion times too clean-cut and fratty.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:27 PM on November 28, 2011 [8 favorites]
However that guy there is an awful Trent. Not even close. About a trillion times too clean-cut and fratty.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:27 PM on November 28, 2011 [8 favorites]
Also for a show that was all about people who wear vintage and/or aggressively don't care about clothes, everything looks way way too much like to came straight from the dry cleaner/costume closet.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:29 PM on November 28, 2011
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:29 PM on November 28, 2011
Damn, I wish I had photos back from the year I went as Daria for Halloween. My hair is a little blonder these days, but otherwise I could totally be in this photoshoot!
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:43 PM on November 28, 2011
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:43 PM on November 28, 2011
Daria is, much like its MTV sibling, appreciable on a completely different level from an adult perspective.
It turns out she was just as much a brat as Beavis and Butt-Head. A different kind of brat--a smarter kind, anyway--but a brat nonetheless. This fact was completely lost on me when I was consciously emulating her attitude in grade nine.
(I had a friend in high school who, for all intents and purposes, actually was Daria. She had the attitude and the look. Hi, Sara!)
posted by Sys Rq at 9:00 PM on November 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
It turns out she was just as much a brat as Beavis and Butt-Head. A different kind of brat--a smarter kind, anyway--but a brat nonetheless. This fact was completely lost on me when I was consciously emulating her attitude in grade nine.
(I had a friend in high school who, for all intents and purposes, actually was Daria. She had the attitude and the look. Hi, Sara!)
posted by Sys Rq at 9:00 PM on November 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
Note, Daria was a high school student but most of her fandom came when they where in middle school, discuss.
posted by The Whelk at 9:07 PM on November 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:07 PM on November 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
It turns out she was just as much a brat as Beavis and Butt-Head. A different kind of brat--a smarter kind, anyway--but a brat nonetheless. This fact was completely lost on me when I was consciously emulating her attitude in grade nine.
There is a whole episode where Daria works this out - the one with the cardboard box.
posted by pompomtom at 9:13 PM on November 28, 2011
There is a whole episode where Daria works this out - the one with the cardboard box.
posted by pompomtom at 9:13 PM on November 28, 2011
Too expressive.
posted by Malice at 9:34 PM on November 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Malice at 9:34 PM on November 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also for a show that was all about people who wear vintage and/or aggressively don't care about clothes, everything looks way way too much like to came straight from the dry cleaner/costume closet.
I liked how clean and pressed they were, because it made them look even more like a cartoon.
posted by heathkit at 10:00 PM on November 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
I liked how clean and pressed they were, because it made them look even more like a cartoon.
posted by heathkit at 10:00 PM on November 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
There is a Daria wiki.
Rule 34 is for porn. What's the rule number for wikis?
posted by dirigibleman at 10:25 PM on November 28, 2011
Rule 34 is for porn. What's the rule number for wikis?
posted by dirigibleman at 10:25 PM on November 28, 2011
It's just called The Wiki Rule. (Warning: TVTropes.)
Also I just watched "Boxing Daria" and I hadn't realized previously that it was a weeping openly episode.
posted by darksasami at 10:34 PM on November 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also I just watched "Boxing Daria" and I hadn't realized previously that it was a weeping openly episode.
posted by darksasami at 10:34 PM on November 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Much as I would love to see the second and subsequent pictures, I can't, because the piece of shit deviantart mobile site has placed a banner ad over the next button.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 11:10 PM on November 28, 2011
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 11:10 PM on November 28, 2011
It's a sick, sad world.
posted by robcorr at 11:11 PM on November 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by robcorr at 11:11 PM on November 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
THEY'RE STILL YOUNG! IT'S NOT FAIR!
posted by codswallop at 12:44 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by codswallop at 12:44 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Mrs. Example and I still quote Daria to each other:
"I don't have low self-esteem. It's a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else."
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:49 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
"I don't have low self-esteem. It's a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else."
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:49 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
I am fond of quoting Jane's maxim about shopping, as a hunt for objects, replacing an evolutionary need that we still have to hunt for food.
I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, as people tend to not realize I'm fucking around when I do it.
posted by cmyk at 3:19 AM on November 29, 2011
I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, as people tend to not realize I'm fucking around when I do it.
posted by cmyk at 3:19 AM on November 29, 2011
Somehow I think this will be the last thing I see in this life.
If that's supposed to be Brittany (why no Quinn?), they got the big vacant eyes amazingly right.
posted by psoas at 4:14 AM on November 29, 2011
If that's supposed to be Brittany (why no Quinn?), they got the big vacant eyes amazingly right.
posted by psoas at 4:14 AM on November 29, 2011
If that's supposed to be Brittany (why no Quinn?), they got the big vacant eyes amazingly right.
That's Dr. Ichiro Irabu from Kuchu Baranko, I believe.
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:04 AM on November 29, 2011
That's Dr. Ichiro Irabu from Kuchu Baranko, I believe.
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:04 AM on November 29, 2011
Not trolling, genuinely ignorant: What is Daria and why do people love it so? In the last year or two I've been hearing more and more about it, but I have literally no awareness of what it is, except that probably it's a TV show.
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:29 AM on November 29, 2011
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:29 AM on November 29, 2011
What is Daria and why do people love it so?
Something you need a TV to be aware of.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:33 AM on November 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Something you need a TV to be aware of.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:33 AM on November 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Rory: the TVTropes description here is actually a good one, because Daria was essentially a collection of tropes. A spin-off from Beavis and Butthead, it tracked the life of a smart, slightly depressed teenaged girl in suburban America. Broadly, the humor came from Daria and her artistic friend Jane's old-soul deadpans in response to the collection of high school character and situational clichés around them - Daria's popular younger sister, the mean-girl cheerleaders, the brainless quarterback and Jane's garage-band slacker older brother, on whom Daria develops a crush which she knows to be utterly ridiculous.
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:49 AM on November 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:49 AM on November 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Okay, if you take a close look at the dariawiki, you'll find someone familiar there. Go ahead. I'll wait.
Yup. That's ME!
As for rule 34, as a joke, my now husband (also a Daria fan) and a rougish band of us created Lawndale After Dark, a Daria Porn site. We did it mostly as a prank, but hey, I think it came out great.
My husband and I met in the Daria chat room and we've been married for nearly ten years now.
So SQUEEEEEEE!
BTW, absolutely LOVE the pix. So. Freaking. Good.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:07 AM on November 29, 2011 [10 favorites]
Yup. That's ME!
As for rule 34, as a joke, my now husband (also a Daria fan) and a rougish band of us created Lawndale After Dark, a Daria Porn site. We did it mostly as a prank, but hey, I think it came out great.
My husband and I met in the Daria chat room and we've been married for nearly ten years now.
So SQUEEEEEEE!
BTW, absolutely LOVE the pix. So. Freaking. Good.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:07 AM on November 29, 2011 [10 favorites]
Trent is number one on my list of cartoon boy crushes. The guy in the shoot doesn't quite nail his essence.
posted by padraigin at 6:33 AM on November 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by padraigin at 6:33 AM on November 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
We gave our (now) 12-year-old daughter the complete Daria on DVD when it came out. She tore right through them and loved them. I will take my parenting award now, please.
Wait I'm sorry they finally CAME OUT ON DVD?
I'm pretty sure I signed an actual petition about that in college.
posted by little cow make small moo at 6:53 AM on November 29, 2011
Wait I'm sorry they finally CAME OUT ON DVD?
I'm pretty sure I signed an actual petition about that in college.
posted by little cow make small moo at 6:53 AM on November 29, 2011
Yeah part of the explosion in Daria-stuff has been it *finally* hit DVD last year. The music rights had it tied up forever - like a lot of MTV shows actually.
posted by The Whelk at 6:55 AM on November 29, 2011
posted by The Whelk at 6:55 AM on November 29, 2011
Yeah part of the explosion in Daria-stuff has been it *finally* hit DVD last year.
Well, I know what I'm asking for for Christmas.
One of my first internet hangouts was a Daria message board. I must have been about thirteen, and strived to be Daria-like in all ways.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:23 AM on November 29, 2011
Well, I know what I'm asking for for Christmas.
One of my first internet hangouts was a Daria message board. I must have been about thirteen, and strived to be Daria-like in all ways.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:23 AM on November 29, 2011
The music rights had it tied up forever - like a lot of MTV shows actually.
Which is why the Beavis And Butthead DVDs are only the story segments (which bore me) and none of the riffing on videos bits (which were awesome).
posted by sourwookie at 7:47 AM on November 29, 2011
Which is why the Beavis And Butthead DVDs are only the story segments (which bore me) and none of the riffing on videos bits (which were awesome).
posted by sourwookie at 7:47 AM on November 29, 2011
So did they get the rights to the music, or edit the DVD Daria episodes around them?
posted by mikepop at 7:56 AM on November 29, 2011
posted by mikepop at 7:56 AM on November 29, 2011
Just for some perspective, I like to figure out the "current" ages of fictional characters. If we assume that Daria was say, 14 during the series premiere, that would make her 29 now. We have all the ingredients for a "where are they now" retrospective,
posted by happyroach at 8:19 AM on November 29, 2011
posted by happyroach at 8:19 AM on November 29, 2011
She was 16 in 1999, so - yeah, that's about right.
Wow.
posted by running order squabble fest at 8:30 AM on November 29, 2011
Wow.
posted by running order squabble fest at 8:30 AM on November 29, 2011
"Could a family of GHOSTS be living in your house...RENT FREE? Freeloading familial phantoms, NEXT, on Sick Sad World."
posted by windbox at 8:40 AM on November 29, 2011
posted by windbox at 8:40 AM on November 29, 2011
Can we commission a shot where Daria and Jane disembowel Tom Sloane? I'd like that.
posted by bibliowench at 8:56 AM on November 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by bibliowench at 8:56 AM on November 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh wait Daria and Tom =
Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls.
I've disapproved of this pairing in two different shows now.
posted by The Whelk at 9:04 AM on November 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls.
I've disapproved of this pairing in two different shows now.
posted by The Whelk at 9:04 AM on November 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
I thought Tom Sloane was perfect. The plotline about him was completely realistic--and the type of writing that elevated Daria above simply a parody of high school.
Time to go ask my family for Daria DVDs for Christmas.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:20 AM on November 29, 2011
Time to go ask my family for Daria DVDs for Christmas.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:20 AM on November 29, 2011
I always thought Trent was cute, but as a character firmly established as straight and therefore pointless to pine over, my crush was reserved for the nameless and voiceless guy in a blue high collar jacket behind her in class.
posted by No1UKnow at 10:25 AM on November 29, 2011
posted by No1UKnow at 10:25 AM on November 29, 2011
Which is why the Beavis And Butthead DVDs are only the story segments (which bore me) and none of the riffing on videos bits (which were awesome).
Maybe if you bought them a decade ago. They're the whole show now.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:29 AM on November 29, 2011
Maybe if you bought them a decade ago. They're the whole show now.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:29 AM on November 29, 2011
Daria was a fantastic cartoon, and like others here, I had misgivings about the Tom storyline, but I can't help but wonder it was a problem with the show or the viewer:
Someone taking interest in their best friend's boy/girlfriend is a completely common circumstance, especially in high school, but out of character for Daria, if for no other reason than BEACUSE it's so typical.
Daria is portrayed as the lone voice of intelligence and reason (aside from Jane and a scant few others) amid a sea of teenage stereotypes, with petty, superficial problems. It works as a protagonist for a show; socially withdrawn and/or misanthropic types can relate to her easily, but this high-mindedness is a form of solipsistic arrogance: the world Daria lives in is painted as she sees it: she is surrounded by mindless fools who are all in her way. On several occasions there is scorn towards her own best friend Jane for doing things like wearing makeup, thinking about boys, not being as "deep" as her (she's an 'art' freak, not a 'brain' like Daria. Also while Jane is not especially talkative herself, is more prone to self expression, and doesn't appear as weighed down by malaise, ), or actually taking enjoyment in things that other people might.
Daria fancies herself as an outcast, a vanguard, but in reality she's something of a coward: to borrow a line from Nicole Blackman "Stop saying you've done nothing wrong, because frankly you haven't done much of anything." it's revealed in various fantasy sequences, and especially her short story about her family playing cards together in the future that she WANTS peace and happiness, but she feels trod on by a corrupt world. Were she content to merely exist on the fringes of civilization, she'd be more like Trent. The issue is, she doesn't see it as something within her, she wants the world to change for her.
As high school draws to a close, she finds her defense mechanisms to begin failing as life starts to change, and she starts to see her comfort zones disintegrate: she realizes that her and Trent can never be, not just due to age, but because his aloof, detached nature doesn't mesh with hers: Daria's problem isn't that she doesn't care, she cares too much, and no one can understand why. It's easy to internalize depression/anxiety of her sort as a kind of arrogance and selfishness ("I have a fan club, everyone in the world is a member, but it's a secret. Don't tell them, ok?") As touched on in the last paragraph, while Jane is her best friend, there's a certain level of contempt Daria has for her: in their pairing, Jane is the "pretty" one, the more "normal" one, and when she gets a boyfriend and deprioritizes her time with Daria, it clinches her suspicions that Jane is "one of them"
Tom, while arguably a cool, intelligent guy, was the antithesis of everything the pair had come to value: he's rich, he's "normal", he's popular and confident, and though it's a beater, he drives a Benz. He clearly has a non-exploitative penchant for "freaks" because at heart he's something of a "freak" himself: a suburban Prince who has no interest in the crown waiting for him. Jane isn't the intellectual type he's after though, and he ends up with Daria, after causing considerable static between the two of them.
The mere event of "Daria gets a boyfriend" was seen as a heel-turn by a lot of fans, but I think it speaks to a deeper fear, shared by both the viewer and Daria. Again, Daria takes her sense of confidence from her alien and atypical nature: she hates other girls for being slaves to their emotions, and finds the clumsy courtship of high school boys to be pathetic, but Tom comes along and screws all that up: she was embarrassed about her crush on Trent, but she's downright *angry* at herself for letting herself fall for Tom (the first time they kiss she immediately exclaims "Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!")
With that fairly common act, she's taken a MAJOR step out of her fortress: her effortless cynical cool came from the knowledge that unlike these other foolish 'mundanes', while she keeps herself separate from social norms, she's never really done anything *wrong*... until now. She's shown herself to be just as capable of emotional clumsiness as the rest of her compatriots, and her selfish nature finally shows itself when it grows to the point that she deems herself better than even her own best friend. She's shocked and disgusted at her own behavior, and this time she can't snark it away or blame anyone else: both of them had a bond based on being marginalized by others, and now she's done the very same.
It WAS a jarring storyline, and frankly a bold move plotwise, but it wasn't poorly executed, and provided (IMHO) some of the best episodes in the series. I think the biggest issue with the Tom storyline is that the people who spent however many seasons seeing Daria as a reflection of themselves had to watch themselves finally fuck up, and by extension, learn that being the smartest, most cynical person in the room does not make one above reproach.
That's my read on it anyway, I admit it's been a few years since I've seen the show.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 10:30 AM on November 29, 2011 [34 favorites]
Someone taking interest in their best friend's boy/girlfriend is a completely common circumstance, especially in high school, but out of character for Daria, if for no other reason than BEACUSE it's so typical.
Daria is portrayed as the lone voice of intelligence and reason (aside from Jane and a scant few others) amid a sea of teenage stereotypes, with petty, superficial problems. It works as a protagonist for a show; socially withdrawn and/or misanthropic types can relate to her easily, but this high-mindedness is a form of solipsistic arrogance: the world Daria lives in is painted as she sees it: she is surrounded by mindless fools who are all in her way. On several occasions there is scorn towards her own best friend Jane for doing things like wearing makeup, thinking about boys, not being as "deep" as her (she's an 'art' freak, not a 'brain' like Daria. Also while Jane is not especially talkative herself, is more prone to self expression, and doesn't appear as weighed down by malaise, ), or actually taking enjoyment in things that other people might.
Daria fancies herself as an outcast, a vanguard, but in reality she's something of a coward: to borrow a line from Nicole Blackman "Stop saying you've done nothing wrong, because frankly you haven't done much of anything." it's revealed in various fantasy sequences, and especially her short story about her family playing cards together in the future that she WANTS peace and happiness, but she feels trod on by a corrupt world. Were she content to merely exist on the fringes of civilization, she'd be more like Trent. The issue is, she doesn't see it as something within her, she wants the world to change for her.
As high school draws to a close, she finds her defense mechanisms to begin failing as life starts to change, and she starts to see her comfort zones disintegrate: she realizes that her and Trent can never be, not just due to age, but because his aloof, detached nature doesn't mesh with hers: Daria's problem isn't that she doesn't care, she cares too much, and no one can understand why. It's easy to internalize depression/anxiety of her sort as a kind of arrogance and selfishness ("I have a fan club, everyone in the world is a member, but it's a secret. Don't tell them, ok?") As touched on in the last paragraph, while Jane is her best friend, there's a certain level of contempt Daria has for her: in their pairing, Jane is the "pretty" one, the more "normal" one, and when she gets a boyfriend and deprioritizes her time with Daria, it clinches her suspicions that Jane is "one of them"
Tom, while arguably a cool, intelligent guy, was the antithesis of everything the pair had come to value: he's rich, he's "normal", he's popular and confident, and though it's a beater, he drives a Benz. He clearly has a non-exploitative penchant for "freaks" because at heart he's something of a "freak" himself: a suburban Prince who has no interest in the crown waiting for him. Jane isn't the intellectual type he's after though, and he ends up with Daria, after causing considerable static between the two of them.
The mere event of "Daria gets a boyfriend" was seen as a heel-turn by a lot of fans, but I think it speaks to a deeper fear, shared by both the viewer and Daria. Again, Daria takes her sense of confidence from her alien and atypical nature: she hates other girls for being slaves to their emotions, and finds the clumsy courtship of high school boys to be pathetic, but Tom comes along and screws all that up: she was embarrassed about her crush on Trent, but she's downright *angry* at herself for letting herself fall for Tom (the first time they kiss she immediately exclaims "Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!")
With that fairly common act, she's taken a MAJOR step out of her fortress: her effortless cynical cool came from the knowledge that unlike these other foolish 'mundanes', while she keeps herself separate from social norms, she's never really done anything *wrong*... until now. She's shown herself to be just as capable of emotional clumsiness as the rest of her compatriots, and her selfish nature finally shows itself when it grows to the point that she deems herself better than even her own best friend. She's shocked and disgusted at her own behavior, and this time she can't snark it away or blame anyone else: both of them had a bond based on being marginalized by others, and now she's done the very same.
It WAS a jarring storyline, and frankly a bold move plotwise, but it wasn't poorly executed, and provided (IMHO) some of the best episodes in the series. I think the biggest issue with the Tom storyline is that the people who spent however many seasons seeing Daria as a reflection of themselves had to watch themselves finally fuck up, and by extension, learn that being the smartest, most cynical person in the room does not make one above reproach.
That's my read on it anyway, I admit it's been a few years since I've seen the show.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 10:30 AM on November 29, 2011 [34 favorites]
This fact was completely lost on me when I was consciously emulating her attitude in grade nine.
I'm trying to process the idea that people saw Daria as a positive role model, not as a satire.
posted by Yakuman at 10:54 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm trying to process the idea that people saw Daria as a positive role model, not as a satire.
posted by Yakuman at 10:54 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
we where 14.
posted by The Whelk at 11:01 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 11:01 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Indeed, whe were.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:03 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 11:03 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Misty water-colored memories
Of the whey we were
posted by cortex at 11:06 AM on November 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
Of the whey we were
posted by cortex at 11:06 AM on November 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
I would actually say that the show didn't surround Daria strictly with stereotypes, at least not by the end. The brainless cheerleader, Daria's shallow sister, and Daria's parents get fleshed out and revealed as much more than the cutout figures they seem. Jane's cool family is also chaotic and lonely sometimes. Jane herself is not as cool or together as she looks.
posted by emjaybee at 11:11 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by emjaybee at 11:11 AM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh, the crush I had on Daria when I was, yeah, 14 or so. Oh, what I'd have given for a girlfriend who was just like her.
This led into my life's very first "be careful what you wish for" lesson.
posted by Zozo at 11:25 AM on November 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
This led into my life's very first "be careful what you wish for" lesson.
posted by Zozo at 11:25 AM on November 29, 2011 [3 favorites]
Um guys, we're right here.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 1:43 PM on November 29, 2011
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 1:43 PM on November 29, 2011
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posted by maryr at 7:16 PM on November 28, 2011