Daria Conclusions

Here are my thoughts after revisiting Daria.  I watched most of the series a couple years ago when I found it on You Tube, but otherwise I hadn’t seen any of it since it was last on MTV in the late 1990s and early 2000s–the approximate years I was in high school.

• First of all, it was kind of a surprise to me to realize that the series was on when I was in high school, because Daria is of course in high school, yet I never thought of us as being the same age or at the same point in our lives.  This might have something to do with her not being real.  Or maybe it was because she’s a cartoon character who took five years to finish just her last couple years of high school and I did the whole thing in the traditional four.

• I said this in my earlier post, but I think it’s interesting how Daria is supposed to be so different, yet it’s composed almost exclusively of stereotypes who rarely surprise you.  I didn’t know anyone even half as extreme as any of these characters when I was in high school, but Daria is a comedy and it’s not really about real life.  But, stereotypical characters, in their extremes, are very good for satirizing this real life.

• Daria herself is really so unlikeable.  Her voice is at least as annoying as her sister’s and she is a total Debbie Downer.  The most realistic thing about the series is that she only has one friend.  It is strange how you grow to love her anyway.  I guess she’s just one of those people who is who she is and you either accept or reject her.

• Right from the start she does show she’s human through her crush on Jane’s brother Trent.  One of my favorite quotes is when Jane says to Daria, “Watch out for the girl with the red face, who’s forgotten how to walk.  Oh, never mind.  That’s you.”  She has no illusions about Trent being anything but a total out of it slacker, but she has a crush on him anyway.

• I like the dynamic between her parents where Daria’s Dad is struggling in his career, while her Mom is doing so well.  It seems really common for the time or maybe it just seems true of my family dynamic.  He cooks frozen lasagna every night and she comes home just in time for dinner.

• I love the way Daria’s Mom, Helen, says “Daria.”  Or just talks in general.  It’s like, “Daaaarrrrrrrrrrrrria” every time.  Everyone seems to have such an interesting voice, completely unrelated to their actual location.

• I like the idea that Daria is so principled and so rigid in her idealism, but generally too lazy and unengaged to actually do anything.  At one point, Jody calls her out for it.  She’s called out for it at several points, actually, and she’s contrasted against Lane and Trent who are slackers and Jody who is far more practical.  Her idealism rings true for a person in high school and it’s called into question, but not destroyed.  I think it could have been trampled on a bit more, but there’s still college and post-college for that rise and fall.

• Daria is not exactly a goody goody like Rory Gilmore, but I saw a similarity in their stories.  Rory’s values and image were challenged when she took up with Dean after he was married, and it’s similar to Daria’s involvement in Jane’s breakup with Tom.  I don’t think that Daria took enough responsibility for that and it seemed right to me that Jane took a long time to forgive her.

• When Daria starts dating Tom, it’s so interesting the way she starts saying all the kinds of things she would have rolled her eyes at before.  She worries he doesn’t like her enough and doesn’t take her places and all of that stuff that seems more likely to come out of Quinn’s mouth.

• Daria really treats Tom like crap.  I appreciated the way she has a hard time being in a relationship at first, because she has a lot of walls up.  That seemed right for her.  But, she breaks up with him so many times and shuts him out all the time and gets mad at him for the slightest things and he has to apologize to her at least a million times.  She basically holds him to the ridiculous standard set by her principles, but when she messes up over and over again, he forgives her even if she just barely mumbles that she’s sorry.  It’s true to her character, but it’s not always so clear why Tom likes her enough to endure all of her waffling.

• I like Daria and Jane’s friendship.  It goes through some challenges, but they survive.  The way they get mad at each other without really having a blowout and then become friends again with a mushy moment seemed more realistic to my friendships, at least.

• Quinn and the Fashion Club get a surprising amount of screen time.  I like the way that Quinn basically walks all over guys and has no interest in a long-term relationship, and instead stresses more about her friendships.  I’m over the women hating women theme, but in high school it works.  It’s a result of the perfect storm of uncertainty, competitiveness, and insecurity.  I love Sandy’s (president of the Fashion Club) passive-aggressive one liners.  I also love Stacey.

This is a must watch, totally worth the cost of the whole series.  I was really sad to reach the last DVD and now I’m starting the series over again.