I've been curious about something for quite some time. For a show aimed at and charactered mostly by teen girls, on a network no one over 16 can tolerate, why are a significant portion of Daria fanfics, websites, and ng postings written by late-teen and up guys? Not that I'm complaining. A veteran fan of mostly "guy" shows (x files, star trek, anything by charles/burrows/charles), I know what it's like to enjoy a show that isn't aimed at you. I appreciate the male Daria fan's plight of relating to the show, and I also enjoy the male fans' imput to the Daria web presence. (I think I've read every fanfic C.E. Foreman has written.) But I'm still confused as to why you guys are here. So here are my theories.
One is that guys aren't as naturally inclined to sociability as girls, leading you to feel as isolated as Daria is. But I don't know if I buy that. As far as I can tell, guys who aren't social enjoy it. (OTOH, so does Daria...)
Another possibility is that guys who like Daria are guys who were the anti-Kevin Thompsons in high school. And since guys aren't as social as girls, non-athletic, non-popular guys who aren't wild about school don't make an effort to connect with other non-atheletic, non-popular guys who also aren't wild about school. So you end up feeling isolated and find yourselves relating to Daria, who has only found one other person, Jane, with whom she can connect.
This all relates to my theory that men are more driven to fit in than women. (If this wasn't true, then why do you all wear jeans and a t-shirt every day instead of trying to make a fashion statement?) The guys who don't try to fit in feel isolated and become Daria fans.
Another thing: you men despise emotions. While Daria is a highly emotion-driven show, Daria herself displays the impassive, apathetic facad guys believe is the height of coolness. In short, you wish you could be as masculine as Daria. ;)
So, am I right? Please tell me what you think about this, I'm curious about this portion of the male psyche.
Ice Queen
x~x~x~x~x "And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaslessly into the past." (Gatsby)
Wouldn't be too sure about that. Whenever I flip past MTV while channel-surfing, there's usually large crowds of college students on the screen. And, of course, *somebody* has to be in the cast of Real World & Road Rules. MTV is geared towards college students. They just attract a huge crowd of "wow, this is soooo kewwllllll" watchers in middle school and high school (just like Nickelodeon's TeenNick block attracts hordes of 12-year olds). Of course, I'm sure they know this very well and use it to their advantage. Aim trendy advertising to an older crowd, you get a huge younger crowd trying to be cool.
jessica, who much prefers VH1 to MTV, thus making her utterly uncool....which she likes very much
On Mon, 09 Jul 2001 03:59:42 -0400, Christopher Morton wrote:
Exactly. No hidden agendas, no big psychological mystery here. "Daria" is simply a very good show, and good shows attract enthusiastic fans. Some of them make websites, some of them write fan fiction, others create artwork based on it. I've no doubt that some of Ofnone's theories apply to some guys, but I don't believe that they apply to the majority.
Know all men by these presents, that the aforesaid "Firah" did write in news:Uyo27.36919$[email], on the date of 09 Jul 2001:
The truly scary thing is that the ostensibly real one, 'Britney,' is neither as appealing nor as convincingly human as the ink-and-paint one, Brittany. Ms. Taylor is also less mercenary than Ms. Spears; compare her reaction to being turned into a walking ad for Ultra Cola to Ms. Spears's gleeful embrace of the Pepsi marketing empire. Maybe Ms. Spears should hire some of the writers from 'Daria' and see if they can give her a personality - now *that* would be a challenge.
If I recall correctly, Brittany Taylor's main objection to the Ultra-Cola can cheerleader's uniform is that she couldn't move in it. "I can't feel my arms." I don't seem to recall her making any objection to mercenary motives.
As for Britney Spears, g'valt, who cares about her? In 2 years she'll be as dead as the Spice Girls. Remember them? Neither do I.
Hw�t! We have heard of the glory of [email] (Steve Cross) that wrote news:9ilh51$gjt$[email], on the day of 12 Jul 2001:
Well, her first response was "Oh, Kevvy, it's terrible! How can I face the world?", but in any case I didn't mean to suggest that she was consciously less mercenary than Ms. Spears, and if the Ultra Cola executives had put her in the Brittany Spears outfit she might not have objected, and I might not have either, pig that I am. In fact, if Pepsi had used Brittany for their ad campaign, someone other than Bob Dole might have shown some interest. ^_^
I envy you, sir. I am cursed with a memory that retains images of each and every ten-second pop sensation ever, even ones I couldn't stand (and for the record, it was Ginger, Sporty, Baby, Scary, and Posh. *Shudder*). Why, I still remember and can differentiate between Debbie Gibson and Tiffany. Then there was Samantha Fox (a somewhat better parallel to Brittany than Britney Spears!), Bananarama, the Belle Stars, and all the other BritPop sweethearts...
Heck, I remember Nancy Sinatra's duets with Lee Greenwood (my father owned the album). Oh, I *wish* I could forget...
Hw�t! We have heard of the glory of chika that wrote news:[email], on the day of 15 Jul 2001:
Well, the U.S. has yet to apologize for Jerry Lewis and the Osmonds, so don't worry about that. (One of my all-time favorite scenes from "The Goodies": Graeme shows Tim and Bill the collection of parts he's building the ultimate dog out of. He opens a box that dazzles them with blindingly bright light - it's Donny Osmond's teeth! Tim reacts in horror. "You're using parts of real people! [beat] And Donny Osmond!")
Mark Steese a/k/a Corvus Marinus who stays away from the Jolly Rock, whatever he does
On 16 Jul 2001 19:06:03 GMT, [email] (Corvus Marinus) wrote:
Nevermind that, we have yet to appologize for Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Pauly Shore and Carrot Top, the cultural equivalents of the Thirty Years War.
Chris Farley wanted to be another John Belushi. However, Belushi became a comic genius first, THEN he destroyed himself with drugs and alcohol. Farley at his best showed promise of becoming a second Belushi, but he got the steps backwards.
Hw�t! We have heard of the glory of Christopher Morton that wrote news:[email], on the day of 16 Jul 2001:
Actually, C*rr*t T*p is the cultural equivalent of the Antichrist: the living embodiment of everything that is unholy in the world of comedy. Once I feared to speak the name of P*uly Sh*re, lest I accidentally summon his unholy presence; that was before I looked on the evil that is C*rr*t T*p.
Now, when is Canada going to apologize for Tom Green?
I could've sworn that guy was dead or on drugs. Guess not (the dead part anyhow), as he's on those collect call commercials. Ugh. How old is he? I vaguely remember his show on Cartoon Network, but that was 7 or 8 years ago. He always seemed to be pretty young, though he has more wrinkles now.
jessica, who prefers the British humor BBC America airs, like Monty Python and Blackadder
Hw�t! We have heard of the glory of [email] (Jessica) that wrote news:[email], on the day of 16 Jul 2001:
According to us.imdb.com, he was born in February 1967, which makes him 34. He's a Florida native, so maybe he just spends too much time in the sun.
I love the BBC America channel! Our cable company went digital last year and started carrying it. My favorite new shows are "Jonathan Creek" and the original version of "Men Behaving Badly" - I dig Caroline Quentin. (And I'm a little too much like Gary, unfortunately!)
I love them now, since they started airing Monty Python more often. A&E stopped showing Monty Python's Flying Circus a while back and I was quite deprived. Before, though, they didn't show much that I cared about, except the news. It's much more fun to watch the BBC World News than American news. Must be the accent.
Hw�t! We have heard of the glory of [email] (Jessica) that wrote news:[email], on the day of 17 Jul 2001:
And so far as I can tell, BBC America doesn't bleep the (extremely mild) obscenities or edit out the occasional nudity, which A&E used to do. They also show uncensored episodes of Absolutely Fabulous and The Young Ones - Comedy Central used to censor both of them.
I think it also helps that the BBC doesn't have 'news superstars' like we do. The attitude that Rather, Brokaw, Jennings and the rest project is very annoying - sort of an "I'm saying this, so it must be important!" attitude. The BBC newsreaders just do their job. It's refreshing, really.
Eh, I'm not a huge fan of news broadcasts anyway. I'd rather read the newspaper (now, if we got the newspaper delivered, that would be pretty nice.....instead, I read news articles online). I had never thought about the 'news superstars' before, though. That attitude is a bit obnoxious. Some radio announcers get that sense of overinflated ego in their voice. You just want to slap them. Though, really, I'm just a sucker for nice voices. Tom's voice on Daria is wonderful. I love it.
Yes. I don't usually keep up with voice actors' names, so I end up just nodding my head and smiling if the subject comes up. Hmm....I like Trent's voice too. ::looks over on Outpost Daria:: Different person, though. I like most of the voices on Daria. They fit quite nicely.
Blackadder was one of those rare series that improved from one series to the next instead of getting tired, with Blackadder IV being an all time classic with it's sarcastic look at the senselessness of WWI.
Jonathon Creek was a refreshing take on crime series, a sort of update on the old Agatha Christie murder mystery, with a stage magician instead of Poirot solving the crimes. I liked how in some episodes the baffling nature of the crime was due to a devious criminal, but in others it arose purely by accident, like the one with the woman who crawled into Caroline Quentin's wardrobe and died.
ITV's "Cracker" with Robbie Coltrane was another good crime series -- it's very rare that ITV comes up with a decent bit of television too! -- also the Canadian-made "Adventures of Shirley Holmes".
Hw�t! We have heard of the glory of Shez that wrote news:[email], on the day of 26 Jul 2001:
I agree with that. The end of the last ep of the fourth series was quite a shock, the first time I saw it - it felt more real to me than many 'dramatic' anti-war statements I've seen.
The last ep of the third series ("The Three Gamblers") was an especially good example of that. The series also had a lot of eerie moments (esp. the episode I just mentioned). I love the interplay between Jonathan and Maddy; it's a refreshing change from the slavish devotion the detective's friend usually shows (Watson and Hastings, for example).
A&E used to show 'Cracker' but it was one of those shows I never got around to watching - I do that a lot, unfortunately. I don't know if anyone's currently showing it. We do have a channel that shows 'The Avengers' - *all* the episodes, in order. It's fun to see the show go from a competent but fairly boring spy drama to a witty, suspenseful TV classic. Patrick MacNee and Diana Rigg make such a great team! It makes me happy to see that *some* of the programs I loved as a kid are still worth loving...
I think that ending had the same effect on most folk. Apart from the charge across no mans' land, the question has to be asked; I wonder what the plan was that Baldrick had just before the charge?
Hw�t! We have heard of the glory of Chris Morton that wrote news:[email], on the day of 17 Jul 2001:
Hmm...I seem to recall a 'Sylvia' cartoon in which the Devil explains that while people think Hell is going to be a place of witty torments, it's really like being stuck in a line to buy Van Halen tickets, being the oldest person in the line, and having the kid in front of you spill soda on your shoes. Sounds about the right kind of place to run into C*rr*t T*p.
Hmm...C*rr*t T*p is the only man to render "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" unfunny! Coincidence?
Know all men by these presents, that the aforesaid "Firah" did write in news:hyj27.10606$[email], on the date of 09 Jul 2001:
I know I do! I was just channel-surfing one Sunday morning a couple of years ago and I heard an announcement that 'Daria' was coming up next; I was vaguely familiar with it, so I decided to watch to episode to see if it was any good. I was immediately impressed by the writing and voice acting, and by the end of the show ("The Lost Girls") I was completely hooked. Thankfully, MTV was still showing daily reruns at that time, so I was able to catch up on the entire series, and the more I saw of it, the more I loved it.
It never occurred to me that the show was aimed at teen girls, any more than another of my favorites, 'King of the Hill,' was aimed at Texans, or "Homicide: Life on the Street" was aimed at Baltimore homicide detectives. MTV evidently thinks differently, but I doubt that's how Glenn Eichler and Susie Lynn planned it.
I like to think that Daria's fanbase has lots of class. ^_^
"You have to give them some credit. The women's movement, the
anti-war protests. At least people believed in stuff back then."
That's why some guys old enough to be her Dad like it.
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******Martin Edwards.****** |
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Come on! Nobody's gonna drive that lousy freeway when you can take the Red Car for a nickel
There are only a few select shows which have aired in the history of television which has value other than simple entertainment. Daria happens to be one of them. The character Daria is someone who can actually see the world around her as it really is, something which is lacking in most people (by most, I mean approx. 96%) can't do.
Most TV shows that have "genius" or "supergenius" characters do not handle them well or believably. They either have them be just like everybody else, but getting better grades; or give them superhuman powers combined with total social ineptitude (Urkel, for instance).
_Daria_ is one of a very few shows I've seen which was able to believably depict a teenaged genius (*), and the struggle she has learning to deal with the limitations and accept the virtues of the people around her, only a few of whom are at or near her level. Daria is perceptive, but not omniscient; intelligent and well-informed, but believably naive; talented, but inexperienced and realtively unskilled.
She's not simply a normal girl with better grades (**). And she can't do anything which is not believably within the capabilities of an exceptionally bright and morally courageous teenaged girl. She is a realistic person, such as we may have known ... or been.
And this transcends gender. Daria is human first, female second, though she is quite capable of being feminine.(***) Smart guys and girls both like, and identify with Daria. (Many smart guys, and some lesbians, may wish to romantically _meet_ someone with her _positive_ attributes (****), but that's another issue).
In conclusion, we like Daria because we see ourselves in her. We identiify with her struggles to retain her integrity in a world that often seems mad.
(*) _Roseanne_'s "Darlene" was another, and I believe was one of the inspirations for Daria. Interestingly, Darlene had _Jane_'s talent -- she was an intuitively gifted artist. Darlene's boyfriend and eventual husband, who was roughly her intellectual equal, had Daria's -- writing.
(**) Jodie pretends to be, but Mack knows, and Daria has learned, that this is at least partially an act on her part.
(***) Most notably in "Monster", "Rose-Colored Lenses", "Pierce Me," "Lane Miserables", and "Dye Dye My Darling", IMO.
(****) Season 5, in particular, highlighted some of her _negative_ ones.
And thus she also refutes another set of false premises about the gifted child (or the nonconformist in general) not just in media, but in everyday life: that it's somehow an either-or battle in which they will get over everything life throws at them with nary a yawn, "not being one of us" any more, or else they will become tormented souls who'll some day break down and confess to craving "normality".
Me, I watch because I can identify with Daria. Even though I'm probably Jake or Helen's age, I still remember feeling unable to fit in and "be like everyone else" in high school. And I, too, had (and still have) moments of having low esteem for everyone else.
"Daria" has interesting characters, witty dialogue, and allowed the Morgendorffer girls to evolve as people. The show never preached. It took risks. Some didn't work (the musical). Others did (changing Daria's appearance in "Through a Lens Darkly," the suspense of "Boxing Daria").
The bottom line is, I have a good time watching "Daria." I think that's why anyone, male or female, watches it.
Joe
Men who never make passes At women who wear glasses Are asses. -- Rita Rudner
Preface: Pardon my English. It isn't good enough for a message this long, complex and abstract.
"Ofnone2153" kirjoitti...
One reason might be the fact that even though the gender distribution among the Internet users has recently turned in favor of females, an average male user is still more tech-wise than an average female user. This gives us a head start when it comes to on-line "publishing".
Literate 15-20-year-old young man + Internet -> Web site, unexceptionally
No need to tell me that, *sigh*. Why on Earth did YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) choose to air the first three seasons of "Babylon 5" at Sundays 11pm or even later? Why did they choose to place "Daria" just before a dating-fashion-clothes-makeup-giggle show aimed for teen and pre-teen girls? I simply skipped that section of the schedule. It was a pure coincidence that I happened to see the opening scenes of "Daria" -- I explain the reasons why this was so important for me later on.
[moved the following section here from the end of the message:]
I have thought this issue myself, too. The question was: "Why do I like this show as much as seem to?" I'd think that the appeal of the show is based on two factors:
a. Emotional issues: the viewer feels relation towards one or more characters of the show.
- Daria is an "intellectual outcast", "teen misfit" and so on. She doesn't care about PE, fashion, dating, etc.
- She has a cynical and rather negative attitude towards life. And her choices of literature aren't definitely helping ("Howl").
- The problems she faces are often intellectual or ethical in nature. Lowest common denominator in action.
b. Entertainment value: the scriptswriters and the viewers share the same sense humor, drama and points of intrest.
- IMO the main characters of the show offer a perfect combination exaggerated characterization and realistic human factors.
Comedy of situation used sparely.
The rest of this message more or less personal, not too insightful and thus a terrible waste of bandwidth. If you're in a hurry, you might want to skip it.
I'll sign that. Sports clubs are often the only activities that the town offers to the late-teens. If you've never been to sports, where should you go to meet people? And what if you'd prefer a *discussion* instead of a simple chit-chat?
As I said above, I had to see the opening scene to get addicted. Why was that? First of all, our household doesn't have a cable nor a satellite dish, so basically we are limited to the four national channels. After the "high school" day I typically read the newspaper before anything else. When I finish, there were usually only 5-10 minutes of "Daria" remaining. Four channels. Sure, I occasionally watched the tails but because I suffer a condition that makes it hard for me to identify and recall people, I wasn't able to get a hang on the idea.
Then one day I came home a couple of hours earlier than usual because our teacher got sick and wasn't able to find a replacement. I was reading a book on the sofa but the unusual theme song caused me take look at the TV screen. The scenes from the PE lessons -- so similar to mine, except the fact that we usually played Finnish baseball -- caught my attention. Now I also knew who was the main character and her name, which made it easier for me catch the plot.
Do I feel related to Daria? Sure. (Quotes courtesy to Outpost Daria, the first Daria site I ever stumbled across. The reason why I decided to look for a Daria site is an another story ;)
<#101> Daria - Did we move? Jake - (laughs) I'm just saying you don't make friends as easily as... uh, some people. Daria - Quinn, for instance? Jake - That's not what I meant... necessarily.The point is, the first day at a new school is bound to be difficult... </#101>
Well, I have a mainstream brother. Enough said.
<#104> Daria - Would this qualify as an extracurricular activity? Mr. O'Neill - Of course. Daria - Then I'd like to register as a conscience objector. </#104>
I tend to keep extracurricular activities at minimum. For some reason they seem to have a tendecy to blow up at your face.
<#113> Helen - Daria, just once why can't you smile when somebody takes your picture? Daria - I don't like to smile unless I have a reason. Helen - Daria. People judge you by your expressions. Daria - Yes. And I believe there is something intrinsically wrong with that system, and have dedicated myself to changing it. </#113>
When taking my confirmation class photos, it took 15 minutes and 20 shots for the photographer to catch some kind of a brief smile. And after all that fuss, my parents chose to not to use that picture because it looked like "*unnatural*".
<#203> Daria - Um, okay. But even though you don't like this identity, somebody comes along and steals it from you. Jake - And you're upset. You earned that resentment, it's your right. Daria - Well, it's more like, you didn't want this identity, but if they take it away, you've got nothing. What do you do? </#203>
Nothing.
<#213> Daria - This list of books... I've read all of them. Mr. O'Neill - Oh, no. Um, would you like to pick another book to read then? Daria - I guess. Mr. O'Neill - Wait, brainstorm! Instead of trying to read a story for its moral dimensions, what if you wrote a story with moral dimensions? </#213>
Is this some kind of an international guideline for teachers? "If the student has shown excessive extracurricular devotion to the subject, give him/her a special task three times as hard, and of course without any kind of a compensation."
<#301> Daria - Suppose you were well known for not caring what other people think of you, and then suddenly you did something that showed maybe you do care a little about what other people think of you. Would that invalidate everything you'd done and said up till then and make you a hypocrite? </#301>
Yes.
<#306> Helen - Daria, you're not dedicated to finding a job at all, are you? Daria - On the contrary. I'm willing to spend as long as it takes: weeks, months, years... </#306>
Actually I used almost the same line, with almost the same results: I ended up as "accounting operator". In other words, a glorified typewriter. And with student rates, of course. Dammit.
First of all, 'cos we can. Second, 'cos we're too lazy.
Might be take case in US, but there can be -- and there are -- cultural differences. Based on what I've heard, Finnish society seems to be much more tolerant. In Finland, you can't become a total outcast no matter how cynical you are.
Probably because Daria is a teenage girl, and the schedulers didn't grasp that in many respects, she's the "anti-teen" (or at least anti- the image of youth created by many advertisers: actually in her idealism and passion she's _very_ much an adolescent).
Apparently the YLE site search isn't working properly. I just tried using a Google search limited to the yle.fi domain instead of the site engine and immediately came up with this excerpt from the YLE TV 1 Spring 2001 program guide for the Young:
<CITE http://www.yle.fi/tv1/juhlakausi/kevat/nuoret.htm> Daria ke klo 16.10
Ykk�sen iltap�ivien vahvan animaatiokaartin pitk�ik�isin j�sen on sarkastinen Daria. Teinien ikuisia ongelmia - ymm�rt�m�tt�mi� vanhempia, h�lm�j� luokkatovereita ja idioottimaiselta tuntuvaa maailmaa - pohtivasta sarjasta l�hetet��n ensin uunituoreita jaksoja nelj�nnelt� tuotantokaudelta ja sen j�lkeen kolmas tuotantokausi uusintana. </CITE>
Which translates into:
"Daria on Wednesdays 16:10 (4:10pm)
The oldest member of the YLE's solid collection of animated afternoon shows is sarcastic Daria. The eternal problems of teens -- foolish parents, stupid classmates and world that seems idiotic -- are the issues discussed in this show. Brand new episodes from the fourth season will be aired first and after that there will be a rerun of the third season."
Based on that description, it's rather hard to tell whether they really understood the intellectual and anti-teen-archeotype aspects of the show. After all, Daria *has problems* with her parents, classmates and outside world, but because of *different reasons* than the mainstream teens.
"Target audience" is a meaningless concept invented by marketing execs trying to make themselves look useful.
Quality programing is quality programing and, if given any sort of chance, will attract an audience.
Network themes no longer matter. Viewers will turn to whichever channel the show they want airs on. People who watch IRON CHEF don't care if it's on Food Network, Comedy Central or PAX; all they care about is that IC is on "this station at this time." DARIA is no different.
Are they? Do you have statistics to back this up? Have you counted them all? Several use gender-neutral handles. Have you asked each poster/author his or her age and gender?
They're untested hypothosises, not theories.
These are all untrue and are really nothing more than sad gender stereotyping based on outmoded Victorian and Edwardian social ideas. I can easily introduce you to a few dozen people -- men and women -- who disprove each of them.
And you haven't really stopped to look at the way men dress these days, have you.
Hell, have you even talked to any guys who watch Daria before doing this?
And what marketing exec in his right mind would pitch Daria as targeted programming?
"In this show we show a youth of higher-than-average intelligence seeing right thru the corporate establishment; the supporting cast is used to ridicule the notion that the style of your clothes, your looks or your adherence to the 'in' crowd matter, or that acquisition of products can lead to fulfillment."
"Harry, the agency's biggest clients are clothes, car, and hair-care-product makers"
"Um...."
(Hypotheses) But finding someone who knows the difference is heartening and who cares how you spell it.
<IMAGINARY_AD> Mr. O'Neil - The book Daria was reading was 'The Chess Garden' by Brooks Hansen. This book and lots of other books seen in 'Daria' are available at www.bookstore.moc/daria/ . (the URL is also displayed on the blackboard) </IMAGINARY_AD>
Another thing, they know that a significant portition of the viewers don't watch MTV regurlarly and it would be hard to persuade them to do so. Therefore they could even accept ads from their competitor channels. Also, with a proper advertising campaign you can sell just about anything to just about anyone.
<AD> If you don't succeed the first time, try again. Try again, again, again, again, again and again. [pause] And then you finally realize [pause] it's just advertising. Sprite. Image is nothing. Obey your thirst." </AD>
1. I LOVE all the characters, and can, to some degree identify with each, to a different degree. Each character is like a different side of my humanity. It's like Enneagram. 2. I find certain characters good looking (i won't say which *grin*) 3. I normally watch VH1 if i watch anything music-related. I can't get M2 w/o having to pay for digital cable, which is just WAY too much when i can use that money for more important stuff. 4. I identified with Daria in high school, just like the character Jeremy Duncan in "Zits" 5. The show had something magic about it. Beavis and Butthead had a little of that magic, Animaniacs had that magic. The Simpsons has that magic. I think part of that 'magic' is the ability to make anyone laugh, at any intellectual level. Making intellectual jokes, and also throwing in other pop culture jokes (e.g. "This is like that R.E.M. video, only you can't read everyone's thoughts"; "Thank God") Calling a cybercafe alt.lawndale.com when most Americans were still discovering the net, let alone, making a USENET joke was also part of that magic. The show was for everyone. 6. As long as teenagers are watching garbage on TV "They bake cookies by day, but they really heat up at night, g-string grannies, on the next sick, sad, world" and teenagers refuse to conform and take a little shit for it, yet somehow manage to actually be a little popular, Daria will live on in our hearts and minds with new episodes! 7. damnit, this went from a why I, as a guy like it, to why the show is good....*laughs until coughing, and walks back into the ether of the internet and returns to lurking*
A lot of people have brought up this idea about the unpopular schoolkids retaining a hold of that unpopularity into adulthood which allows them to identify with Daria.
I can see that. I'm the product of a poor family that had to scrape to keep ends together, especially after the divorce which left me and my sister pretty much full time with my mother and her new boyfriend, neither of whom earned much. It wasn't unusual for both of us to have to go to school wearing old or badly fitted clothes, and on top of that we were both smart, what in Lawndale is known as "Brains". My sister got lucky in that she ended up linking with a large group through her music, but in my case, I went to a pretty shitty school, and what few friends I had were generally as unpopular as me.
At the time, it was all too easy to see the effect, but the cause eluded me until after I left school, finished college and did my time on the dole. It not only gave me time to think, but on the few encounters with other school colleagues, if that is the right word for them, I noticed a marked change in attitude in them. Basically they had grown up and now realised exactly how stupid they had been in persecuting me and others like me, mostly because these same people were now doing boring, menial jobs like cashiering, shelf stacking, postal delivery, things that didn't take much brain, and many of them knew that this would be their life's mission.
However it took Daria to put it all into perspective for me. The series basically showed the interplay between the unpopular folk like me, and the popular airheads. It even included the not-unpopular but smart people that I would encounter, who would pay lip service to my cause yet when the time came to stand out, they blended in with the rabble to save their own butts from the castigation I regularly got. Yes, if you want to draw parallels, I WAS Daria.
The whole experience made me cynical before my time, made me uncomfortable in crowds, made me somewhat of a loner. My use of the internet and some of the activities I have stumbled into in later life have softened this all up, but certainly my twenties were effectively ruined by my experiences, just as my teens were ruined by self-centered egomaniacal half wits. I have few contacts with people from my schooldays now, and the school itself has been bulldozed, something which I applaud.
I like Daria, the series, because it is funny. I also like it because it clears the air about my own disaster of a childhood. Apart from that, I like Daria, the girl, because she is much of what I aspired to be when I was that age. I wanted to do things on my terms and not be judged by lesser mortals just because I didn't wear the right cut of trouser or the right colour top or because I sucked in sports or I hated the latest music fashions. I wasn't perfect, but I didn't need idiots repeatedly pointing my imperfections out.
Overall, children are cruel. They have no tact, and will use the tiniest excuse to try and discriminate between themselves with no thought to the effect of this. It's where the bully starts learning to bully, the racist starts hating other races, the prima-donna first pumps her ego up. All this and more goes on in the playgrounds of the world, and so far only Daria has had what it takes to expose this to the world. The only problem is that Daria has no solutions; as Helen rightly states, she covers it up with a cynical joke and nobody gets to know what she really would like to see. Perhaps that is the only real fault to the whole thing.
Sorry that was so long, but I needed to get that out.
A similar thing happened to me except I got lucky. I won a scholarship to croydons top school and basically got at least acceptance from people there ue to everyone being brains. I also do menial jobs as a sideline in my holidays so I get to see a full spectrum of people (12 hours a week cashier at J Sainsbury's and 35 hours a week movers in the community college).
I don't know. I like Daria because it's funny and slice of life. I've always been attracted to slice of life type stories in comic book or cartoon format because it isn't how cartoons usually are done in america, and I find that very novel. I love the voice acting, I can do other things and just *listen* to Daria. It has the best voice cast I've ever heard in a cartoon series, period.
I think that men have a social pressure to be less emotionally expressive, and they'll subconsciously take any opportunity to express themselves and their emotions about things in other ways creatively, or just watching shows like Daria. I love slice of life cartoons because they represent a life and drama I'd like to experience myself sometimes.
My roommate loves Daria, too. He's very social and outgoing. He was never an outcast, he was very popular in school and still is now. He finds the show extremely funny. I think we are all excited by the characters, since they are so well written.
You might ask why fan artists for any fandom (anime, furry, toons, trek, etc.) are completely dominated by men, but the highest concentration of *good* artists are female. I'm totally guessing numbers here, but it seems to me like 60% or more of all female fan artists actually are good, but only 20% of males are. But fan art on the net and in printed fanzines has an 70/30 male to female ratio. Someone explain THAT one to me, and you might have an answer to why so many guys like Daria.