I remember an earlier newsgroup post dealing with how the adults tend to be foils for Daria because they are dominated by one characteristic that Daria happens to possess as well. So, I was wondering about the teen characters in Daria (other than Daria herself), and I thought maybe they are also foils for Daria, but in their case, it's because they exhibit (at least) one outstanding trait that Daria * doesn't * have. Would you agree with that assessment or not?
Belle Book
Belle Book said:
not?
Yes.
In Jane's case, for instance, it's impulsiveness.
In Tom's, it's social poise.
In Quinn's, it's concern with popularity.
In Jodie's, it's leadership ambition.
Mack's may be a mirror of Jodie's.
In the case of the others, they differ from Daria in more than a few ways. Kevin and Brittany, for instance, are almost _anti-_Darias -- Brittany's notable good traits (compassion and kindness) are ones not prominent in Daria's own personality.
Quinn and Jane are sort of special cases, simply because of their unique relationships with Daria.
Jane is sort of the inverse of Daria. Jane wants to experience all of the high points of life, and accepts the risk of the low points in order to get those highs. She's willing to do things on a whim or try something new just on the off chance it'll be fun (plan the school dance, join the track team, talk to guys she thinks are cute, talk to the new girl in the self esteem workshop). Daria, on the other hand, is so afraid of rejection that she's unwilling to try anything new unless forced to. She's so afraid of the lows that she won't risk trying for the highs. So Jane helps Daria gradually learn that it's ok to take chances.
Quinn almost is Daria. The biggest trait the two have in common is that they both fear being rejected by other people. But while Daria does this by trying to drive people away before they can reject her, Quinn works make people love her (at least what she thinks is love; she mistakes "guys want to date me" with "guys like me" and "girls want to be like me" with "girls like me"). This apparently goes back to events in the "Boxing Daria" flashback. Daria's unusually high intelligence makes it difficult for her to relate to the other children, so she reacts by shutting them out. Quinn sees that Daria's behavior upsets their parents, and so she strives to be everything Daria isn't in an effort to gain Helen and Jake's love. Added to this is the way Quinn reacts to Daria's intelligence. As she says in "Monster", Daria is good at intellectual stuff, and Jane is good at her art, but being popular is the only thing she thinks she's ever been good at. It's only recently, first with David and finally with encouragement from Daria (which is probably the biggest factor in Quinn admitting Daria is her sister), that Quinn has started to realize she had more potential than she thought she did. By the same token, it's only recently that, thanks to Jane and Tom, Daria has started to realize that she had more potential to actually find people who don't reject her for being who she is. Finally, they both have their "suit of armor" -- a mask that covers up their true hopes, dreams and fealings. Daria's is sarcasm and apathy (as Helen points out in "Write Where It Hurts"). Quinn's is superficiality and talking a mile a minute about nothing (the contrast between "Speedtrapped" and "Camp Fear" gives a good example of this: when she's in the car with just Daria, Quinn is willing to relax and talk normally; when she's in the Tank with Jane, who she doesn't know that well, and Trent, who is not only a guy but is older and a little scarey looking from Quinn's point of view, she tenses up and starts babbling about whatever she sees out the window just so she won't have to actually talk to them).
Daria wants things, but is afraid of failing, so so doesn't try to get what she wants. Jodie on the other hand knows what she wants and works hard for it (the bulk of Jodie's extracuricular activities are actually things that she wants to do, rather than things her parents force on her).
Mack's is patience. He cares enough about Jodie that he understands how important her future goals are to her (even if he does sometimes feel like he's taking second place in her life). He's even willing to put up with Kevin's stupidity just to try and keep him out of trouble.
The curious thing about Kevin and Brittany is that, even though both of them will do or say insensitive things, they only do so out of pure thoughtlessness. There is no actual malice behind their actions. Even when Kevin cheats on Brittany, it's not done out of any desire to hurt her (the way his mind works is, "I'm the QB so I'm suposed to get lots of girls and Brittany will understand that"). The same with Brittany ("What Kevie doesn't know won't hurt him").
Kevin has social acceptablity. He has a lot in common with Daria, actually. Just like her, Kevin has a natural gift, and his parents have encouraged him to develop it. But the key difference is that Kevin's gift has made him popular, while Daria's made her have difficulty relating to other kids.
Brittany has a very shiny and outgoing personality. But like Daria, there's something lurking under the surface. Daria's outwardly cold, hard and cynical shell masks a deeply emotional, caring, shy and wounded romantic soul inside. With Brittany, there have been hints that her outwardly bouncy and happy persona may hide something else. She apparently has some sort of natural killer instinct, and can react angrily when provoked. Given the way her father and brother both seem to have some uncontrolled rage issues, Brittany may share that trait. If so, it's entirely possible that her uncanny resemblence to Ashley-Amber is something she set out to do on purpose (especially if she believes that the reason her mom left is because she used to act the way Brian does now). This is all just speculation, of course.
I think with Tom it may be that where Daria is actually close to her family (even is she doesn't show it) and has trouble dealing with other people, Tom is alienated from his family (he is extremely uncomfortable anytime anyone mentions his family, and his verbal sparing with Elsie appears to be much harsher than anything Daria does with Quinn or Jane does with Trent) but has a fairly easy time talking to other people.
"...there are evil men in the world, truly evil men. Sometimes we hear of them, but more often they work in absolute darkness." Stephen King, _'Salem's Lot_
Very, very good pscychoanalysis, one of the best I've ever read of the 'Daria' characters, with the exception of Tom (I think in his case, it was embarassment of his family's wealth and position, hence the Pinto and the rusted Jag--he wants to try and be just a "regular" guy). This is one of the reasons why I'm sad to see 'Daria' end, IMHO, a season too early. "Is It Fall Yet?" only scratched the surface in telling us about Tom and his family. Maybe "Is It College Yet?" will say something more...? Thanks. -Steven Galloway
I suspect that when IIFY was written, Eichler et al hoped for a season 6, and planned an episode or two featuring Tom's parents and sister during both seasons 5 and 6. Combining Daria's senior year into one season meant some things had to go.
M Man
When Daria and Jodie's parents meet him, the reaction is along the lines of "Tom SLOANE? As in the fabulously wealthy and influencial Sloanes? Oh, we are absolutely thrilled to meet Angier and Kay's son, so we can walk on eggshells around you and shower you with empty compliments about your familiy -- not you, just your family, since that's who we really care about -- in the hopes that you give them a good report about us." He's extremely uncomfortable when this happens, and given that he's pretty much an adult now, he probably wants people to either accept or reject him for who /he/ is, not who his parents are. It's probably the same reason he hates going to his parents' parties and social functions. He likely feels like a fashion accessory for his his parents to show off. So he drives a beat up car (likely one he scraped together the money to pay for on his own rather than accepting any handouts from his parents) and hangs out in places where no one has heard of the Sloanes and the people will hopefully judge him as "just Tom" and not as "Angier and Kay's boy".
"...there are evil men in the world, truly evil men. Sometimes we hear of them, but more often they work in absolute darkness." Stephen King, _'Salem's Lot_
I can really hear Daria's mom saying just this, right up to the comma after 'son', when it turns into hyperbole.
I think you are exactly right.
BA wrote:
Yes, she is in many ways Daria's opposite, especially when it comes to taking risks. And being impulsive -- Jane's impulsiveness is probably her own worst enemy in many ways. Daria's fear of rejection may help prevent her from being too reckless.
I'd also add the fact that both are very uncomfortable when it comes to sex to what you've just said about the similarities between Daria and Quinn. It's been suggested that Quinn's strategy with guys might be a way of keeping guys from getting too intimate with her.
True, although iirc, Jodie apparently really wanted to be a ballerina, and her parents wanted her to be successful either in the corporate world or in the world of policy. But even though her taking on so many extracirricular activities might be the result of pressure her parents place on her, at least most of her activities are of her own choice.
I admire Mack just for having to put up with Kevin's calling him "Mack Daddy". It must drive Mack crazy! :)
You're right about both Kevin and Daria having natural gifts which their parents encourage. However, there's a more fundamental difference -- he's very stupid, and we know Daria isn't stupid at all.
But speculation that's not far off from what we know about Brittany.
And in Tom's case, most of his feeling alienated from his family is probably due to the fact that people fawn on him once they learn he's a Sloane. He probably just wants to be liked for who he is, not for his family. As for Elsie, she's definitely more direct in expressing any discomfort she feels about the way people fawn over their family than Tom is, so maybe that's why their verbal sparring is harsher.
Belle Book
I must have missed that one. From "The F Word"?
And Daria is very ill at ease when dealing with other people, while Kevin isn't.
Daria's intelligence is her gift, while Kevin's skill at foot ball is his.
Very likely, yes.
The only real description we've ever had of Elsie's personality is when Tom reffers to her "faux jadedness." If this description is accurate, it may be her way of dealing with the presures of being a Sloane, the way Tom's semi-rebelliousness is for him. If, at some age, Elsie learned that most people were nice to her just because of how much money and influence her parents have, it may resulted in her deciding that if no one really cared about her, then she shouldn't care about anyone else. Where Tom tries to escape his parents' world, Elsie simply hardens herself to it and dives straight in. She may be no more happy at these social events than Tom is, but voices her displeasure by playing the "spoiled little rich girl" role to the hilt.
"...there are evil men in the world, truly evil men. Sometimes we hear of them, but more often they work in absolute darkness." Stephen King, _'Salem's Lot_
BA wrote:
No, not in "The F Word" -- I saw that episode. It might have been in "Gifted" -- which I missed -- but I actually read it in the Daria Diaries. She wrote an editorial about living up to one's potential and in it, speaks of how a striving child learns that she can't be all things to all people. She didn't name any names, but I strongly suspect she was talking about herself.
You're right about Daria being ill at ease when dealing with other people, while Kevin most definitely isn't. And yes, intelligence is Daria's gift, while skill at football is Kevin's gift.
I never thought of the possibility that Elsie's "faux-jadedness" is simply the result of her hardening herself to the pressures of being a Sloane, though I will admit I did think it was her way of voicing discontent.
Belle Book
Not that choosing the activities your parents force on you helps very much. My parents never forced anything on me, but some of my friends' parents do. Those friends call and whine at me all the time. "I hate my job, I don't want to take AP whatever, I think I'm gonna drop out of soccer." It puts a sickening mentality into action. A state of mind that leads you to just work on resume-building instead of what you really like. That attitude leads to self-destruction, usually because your other friends have decided to murder you several times because you won't quit bragging about your GPA. (Sorry, bitter topic right there.....connected with a very long story....) If you aren't bitter from what your parents pushed on you, you're burnt out or you're proud to be a trophy on the bookcase. But if you're lucky, you turn out perfectly fine (if mildly neurotic about straight lines). Jodie probably will. Friends of mine will not.
jessica
Jessica wrote:
Well, I hope Jodie turns out better than your friends did.
Belle Book