Gifted

I saw Gifted for the first time today, and then of course rewatched it to make sure I got my fill of Daria for the day.

I wouldn't rate it a great episode per se, I mean I wasn't overenamoured of the story line, but it struck me that it served to convey two important things.

One was the shallowness of the fashion club members friendship, they're basically empty people who are just posing, even to each other, there's no affection, they're friends only to cover up their isolation from the world which contrary to how it seemed in previous episodes is actually even greater than Daria's. I mean, at least Daria has one real friend. Quinn has none at all, and neither do the other fashion club members. I understand more fully now Jodie's comment about how Quinn makes her so sad, how Daria's film about her captured a kind of despair. Although I sort of agreed with the sentiments at the time, I was thinking more in a judgemental way, ie. we should despair of people being so shallow. I hadn't realised that Quinn's world really is an empty and despairing one, or would be if she actually faced up to reality, as she has to (albeit only for a moment) in "Gifted".

The other thing that struck me was Daria's explicit acknowledgement that she's a sensitive person who acts like she does because she too can't face up to the world: "I'm too smart and sensitive to live in a world like ours ... maybe I do miss out on stuff but this attitude is what works for me." That whole exchange with Jodie tells us so much about Daria that we've been left to just surmise from previous episodes I've seen.

What a bleak world they live in. No wonder it's my favourite programme!

-Shez.

Shez wrote in message ...

I think there's an equal moment of truth in "Monster," when Quinn, pleading not to be humiliated in Daria & Jane's film, admits that she has glimpses into the emptiness of the Fashion Club's conversations, but that being the popular girl is all she's good at. The gesture that accompanies that speech is very telling, as is her "books and stuff" and "little paintings" to dsecribe a world that she realises Daria and Jane have, but she doesn't.

For me, the great moment in "Gifted" is Daria's response to being pressed to name her goals. Exemplary.

I count "Gifted" as my favourite episode; there are five that I've not yet seen.

Martin.

On Sun, 6 Dec 1998 20:10:12 -0000, "Martin Sylvester" wrote:

Maybe on a "Daria as a character" scale. But Fair Enough was 20 times as funny!

___

Uh-oh, someone just put me in a position of responsibility! The day has suddenly turned sinister...

Another Nugget of Knowledge from the Wonderful World of Kyle(TM), ICQ#12773280

Kyle of writes:

Good point, I'd forgotten it's a comedy. I have a habit of doing that, I sort of expect all shows to have a few laughs in them, and tend not to treat sitcoms any differently from conventional dramas, unless they're really quickfire a-laugh-in-every-line type of show, like Caroline in the City.

It's like, someone once dissed Melissa Joan Hart saying "all she's done is star in two unfunny sitcoms", but I didn't see the fact that they weren't funny as a problem. In fact I don't think I ever laughed at her Clarissa show but this didn't stop me liking the underlying themes. I don't always laugh at Daria either (though it does makes me laugh sometimes, unlike Clarissa) but I enjoy it immensely anyway, it's a well-rounded slice-of- life show with humour, pathos, tragedy, etc etc.

I guess I just don't really agree with the pigeonholing of shows as "drama" or "comedy" or whatever, a good show rises above classifications and has everything mixed in there somewhere, but in the right places and in the right quantities. That's the strength of classics like Blackadder (particularly the WWI series that's just finished a rerun on the BBC), it can be hilarious but the hilarity is often a veneer to an underlying tragic theme which adds depth and poignancy to the whole thing, and makes it all the more vivid and worthwhile.

Daria is like that too, it has the underlying tragedy of human existence, which sort of gives a raison d'etre to the humour, people laughing in the face of adversity. If Daria wasn't a tormented soul, then her humour would be vacuous, like the fashion club.

-Shez.

On Mon, 7 Dec 1998 01:53:14 +0000, Shez wrote:

That's why I think "Daria" works so well when compared to something like "My So-Called Life", which was a drama. Plus, the writing on "Daria" is top-notch, which helps just a teensy-weensy bit. :-)

Martin (to send e-mail, remove the "nospam" from my e-mail address) ---- "Don't worry. Today it's brains, tomorrow pierced tongues, then the next day, pierced brains." - Jane Lane ---- Outpost Daria: Your Online Database for All Things Daria! http://www.concentric.net/~systech/daria/