#305 Comments, questions, SPOILERS

For those of you who need some space . . .

10

20

30

Enough!

First, "The Lost Girls" was the perfect title, I've got to admit that. But this ep. was not a funny one, and I'm not sure it was meant to be. The high point for humor was Jake's talk about "edge." It was a "plastics" moment; ahh, The Generation Gap. The problem's that the entire show was about Val (-ium), rather than Daria or any other character we're interested in. Why's that bad? Ans: Val's just plain annoying -- she must have said "jiggy" at least as many times as Cupid said "Dude" in #303. And it's hard to laugh at Val, she's so much more deserving of pity. The script goes out of its way to show her insecurity, going so far as to have her get dumped on the phone on screen and almost have a breakdown over it.

So if she's not there for comedy is she our villain? Maybe, but she doesn't come across as a scam-artist cynically manipulating the public. She actually seems to believe in the teen "culture." Look at how upset she is when Sandi doesn't approve of her clothes. "Coolness" is the idol Val bows to, so if anyone's been taken in it's certainly her. She is, sadly, not so entirely unrealistic in our youth-worshipping culture.

Although the this ep's premise was much like #106, Val' s just no Romanica. Of course that doesn't prevent Daria and Jodie from treating her as if she was. The criticism of her as a thirty-something writing for teens is rather ironic considering "Daria" is created by thirty-something writers for a teenage audience, and the ad execs pay their salaries too. At the end Daria's accusation is that the values Val promotes are negative ones, and she should be using her influence for good, but come on, what "good" values would Daria like Val to espouse? Her whole point behind this article was that "Smart is Cool" meaning it's OK to be smart, even good to be smart, which you would think would be a message Daria might approve, but you'd never know it from her attacks. In short, we're asked to condemn Val for failing to send the very message her project in Lawndale planned to express. How is this fair or logical?

Similarly, I'm tired of Jodie's attacking people for not being "multi-cultural" enough. You can't satisfy this complaint. If you so much as suggested to Mrs. Landon that Jodie's culture was any different from Daria's I'm sure she'd take offence. And how could Val be more multi-cultural anyway? Picture Val wearing dreadlocks with a Black-Green-Orange "African Pride" T-shirt and talkin' Ebonics. I think Jodie would still be offended. And what if her magazine did start publishing "Ethnic-interest" pieces? Why then she's "exploiting our heritage for her profit." I wish the show would resist this uncitical PC insistence on "multi-culturalism," (aren't there some people you don't want handling you culture?) but some topics appear to be sacred cows even to Daria's sarcasm.

It may sound like I'm trashing #305, but that's not my intention. I'm trying to spell out these arguments and decide just how sincere the writers are about these apparent "messages." So I'll ask all of you, are they preaching at us or mocking their characters as "they" preach?

As always -- BB

BB England said:

It had its funny moments, but I think it was intended more as drama than comedy.

Jake was basically right, though, which is what made it all so funny. "Edge" is almost a meaningless concept, especially as expressed by marketers ... as Daria pointed out in the very same scene.

What Val tried to represent, and what she was really like, was the whole point of the episode. And I'm glad that somebody finally said it on TV, and amazed that MTV (the prime venue of real-life Vals) was the channel to portray the reality with such wicked honesty.

She's a Fashion Clubber all grown up and having to face the adult consequences of actions that in one's early teens are usually cost-free, or bourne by somebody else.

The whole point of that scene was that it showed that her values were inappropriate ones; that in reality they led not to joy but to suffering. The way she described it, by implication the situation she was in (pregnant, or having had an abortion of a child from a man who then dumped her) was the direct result of her senseless pursuit of youth and unwillingness to think things through.

In a sense. The real damage people like her do is that they mass-market an unrealistic, self-destructive concept of "youth" both to teenagers and to society at large. The reason for the focus on "edge" is that in reality "living life on the edge" (i.e. at the brink of disaster) is a good prescription for some very bad consequences. To the extent that "edge" means anything, it is *not* really a very positive thing.

And note that in the episode we see Val suffer some very bad consequences, for some "edgy" behavior.

That's the true tragedy of Val.

Which was ironic, since of course Sandi was putting her down simply because she was a possible alternate source of authority on "cuteness." Note that Sandi does this to Quinn, too.

Yup. Hook, line, and sinker.

On 25 Mar 1999 14:41:13 GMT, [email] (JBassior) wrote:

I have to agree. And unfortunately, I know plenty of women (think thrity-five and above) who are just as harmed by this cultural insistance on youth. Just ask your mother. Most women fear getting a gray hair more than anything, and will spend a lot on cosmetics in a desparate attempt at hiding their age; and then _still_ aren't satisfied. So instead of wearing their gray hairs like the badge of life experience it is (like men stereotypically do, though, these days, there are even _men_ that will cover up their gray; it's a shame, it is), people do their best to cover up their age. I seriously believe this American at least, Western at most, youth obsessed culture has resulted in a lot of unhappy people.

B.B. England wrote:
(SPOILERS)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

I think the criticism of her was founded more on her advocacy of seemingly fun, actually destructive values in her writing for teens.

Intelligence? Honesty? But y'know, Val wasn't Daria's responsibility, and throughout the episode Daria resents the fact that this annoying person has been foisted upon her and that Daria's expected to be grateful for this. Daria spent most of the episode holding her tongue, even trying to be nice once or twice, but in the end she just couldn't take any more of the BS. All she did at the end was tell Val the truth, as she saw it, about Val's life and basic nature.

Heh, Jodie was just being a smart-ass, and doing so in a way that nobody could condemn without risking charges of political incorrectness. In case you haven't noticed, Jodie has a wry sense of humor, probably deep down almost as sarcastic as Daria's own ... she just suppresses it to avoid being unpopular. I doubt Jodie had much admiration for Val.

That was why she made it. And of course you can satisfy it, you just have to step out of the whole PC nonsense and assert that you have no responsibility to be "multi-cultural" anyway. Jodie knew that Val would never risk doing anything that non-conformist.

Mrs. Landon did, repeatedly, in "Gifted".

Heh-heh, maybe Jodie was hoping that Val would make a fool of herself that way, inspired by her criticism.

It does. Note how in "Gifted" the show made fun of Jake and Helen's frantic (and hypocritical) toadying to the Landons solely because of their race? They can only go so far though ... we live in a culture which is hysterical about racial issues and if they too openly made fun of the PC sacred cows the show would be cancelled, and "Downtown Julie Brown" or some other annoying person inflicted on us in its place. Maybe even (shudder) "Val".

Both. As always in the best social satire.

Sincerely Yours, Jordan