THIS CONTAINS "IS IT FALL YET" AND (MAYBE) EVEN SEASON 5(!) SPOILERS!! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TURN BACK NOW! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - After IIFY, I posted a message saying I thought I saw a season 5 development coming - The Landons' bid to join the Sloans' country club being threatened on racial grounds.
I just noticed something in the book "The Daria Diaries". In the Chamber of Commerce-style map labelled "Welcome to Lawndale", there's a "Sedimentary Rock Country Club and Links" with the notation "Membership not restricted. At least, no-one's been able to prove it in court".
I belong to a Country Club, believe me, the type of people who dawn bed sheets and hoods, and go around terrorizing black people are not exactly the type of people who join a country club,
The only prejudice you will really find in a typical club is financial, If you can pay the innitiation fee and dues and are presentable, you are welcome. There are actually seven cats and three dogs consitered to be full members of my club,
Rich Elitists don't care what colour your skin is, they only care how much money you have. It would appear the Landons are sophisticated and financially well off, There are probably very few clubs that wouldn't want them.
I find you are judged on how you talk, how you dress and what you drive, I find skin colour is seldom even consitered.
The thing is, I've heard of too many cases just like this occurring, and very recently (late 90's). Several all-white country clubs have blackballed black aspirants. A club in Bloomfield Hills (very rich!) outside Detroit blackballed such a man who was a VERY high-ranking executive of General Motors, exactly the sort of member they usually seek out. After a public scandal , they let him in. There were NO other reasons to bar him - none that they could explain, or even tried to. This is not the only case, in Detroit or elsewhere.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that your club, and most clubs, are not like this. But the Sloans' club is obviously very exclusive and old money, and not typical. Like the Bloomfield Hills club.
The Daria writers are setting up SOME sort of plot development with this country-club theme. Any other ideas on what it might be?
Jodie finally cracks under the endless pressure from her parents and begins to engage in major rebellion. Her actions create a "black mark" (no pun intended) on the Landon's social ststus and the club rejects them.
That's a good possibility. Another one is that somehow the Morgendorffers are responsible for the Landon's rejection and Jodie's rebellion. Keep in mind that the Sloans were attempting to invite Daria's parents to a function in IIFY; I would not be surprised if they tried it again and this began a chain of events that lead to disaster. I mean, it's about time that Jodie rebels in some fashion.
I agree with your assessment of Jodie. Her parents have been putting WAY too much pressure on her to excel, though I can probably understand why they do so -- they probably think that they're helping her avoid some of the problems they faced, but they don't realize that her goals might be different from theirs. And she's doing WAY too much already, too! It's about time she rebelled against their expectations -- although I hope she doesn't get into drugs or anything like that. THAT would be disastrous.
Nah. Jodie is way too smart to do anything that stupid. I have a feeling it's going to be connected to the country club somehow and it will involve Daria. Or it could be a school matter. Some instance where Jodie is forced to take a stand perhaps. Again it's all speculation.
Good point. Jodie definitely seems too smart to do anything that stupid, and if she WAS going to get involved in drugs, she probably would've done so a lot earlier than about 17.
Because she's been such a good little girl for so long, when she does start telling her parents "No", as all teenagers must at some point, to some extent, she's going to have to bear up under more in the way of consequences. The feelings of shame and disappointment they'll heap on her will be the worst, on top of thins like groundings, punishments, and being forbidden to hang out with those two girls from school who must be having a bad influence on her.
I don't think that Jodie would do anything seriously stupid, such as getting into drugs or promiscuity or even really messing up her academic future. I think one of the main reasons why she wouldn't do this is that she has Mack, who is a stable pillar of her existence.
Without Mack, she might not be able to keep her sanity.
I don't think Jodie would ever rebel ALL THE WAY, either. Deep down, she's too much like her father. She really is ambitious. No way she'd ever be a slacker. She might, however, choose different dreams for herself than what her father has.
Has anyone thought of another source of rebellion in the family - Jodie's mother, Michele? In "Of Human Bonding" we found out that Michele had quite a business career going, was pushed into full-time motherhood by Andrew, and DOES NOT LIKE IT.
Not that she'd abandon the youngest kids. But she might put them in daycare and go to work, over Andrew's objections. And she won't like it if he tries to make her fulfill the image of a "country-club wife" on top of motherhood.
(By the way, although I started this thread with the idea that their country-club application will see trouble, I DO think that, in the end, they'll get into the club.)
Is she ambitious? I haven't seen anything in the series that shows that. She seems put upon more than anything. Although of course she wants to get good grades. The question is what else does she want?
Well, she did gravitate to Daria in that episode and she wasn't crazy about being at the convention. But she has submerged her rebellion for the sake of peace in the family.
I think it would have to be something major to push her to do that. Perhaps it may involve Jodie's rebellion, if they ever go through with that in season 5.
I'm certain they'll get in. But what will happen with them when they do? And will it affect Jodie in any way?
On a connected note, I'd love to see kid sister Rachel one of these days. If Michelle is seething with rebellion and Jodie's disgruntled, what must Rachel be like?
You know, Daria's family seems less troublesome when compared to some other families -- mainly the Lanes and the Landons. On the one hand, Daria's parents try to be involved with their daughters (even if they mess up), while the Lane parents definitely prefer the "hands-off" approach, which has harmed their children to a large extent -- only Jane seems to have escaped without major damage. And in the case of the Landons, there's too much pressure put on Jodie. Helen may put some pressure on her daughters, but not half as much as the Landons (particularly Andrew Landon) put on Jodie. Looks like the Morgendoffer family is situated between the extremes of the Lanes on the one hand and the Landons on the other.
And then Jodie (who's reasonably easygoing) has to deal with a mother who has such a huge chip on her shoulder that it's a wonder she can walk upright. It reminds me of a bas joke I heard once: Michelle confronts an astrophysicist. "Black hole? Are you insinuating that blacks are dense and suck?" Then she confronts a road crew worker. "Blacktop? So you're saying blacks should be stepped-on?" I have to wonder how Jodie feels about her mother's confrontational attitude.
Without a lot of ambition of her own, I think she would have long since caved in under the pressure and gone off in a self-destructive direction - drugs or promiscuity or something. I've seen that so often in real life under similar circumstances.
There's not even a HINT of REAL rebellion, even when Daddy's not watching. Just fairly low-level, even if constant, complaining about her workload.
In Gifted, she voluntarily stands up to speak about what she wants to do as a career, a firm geared to minority start-ups. That sounds pretty ambitious to me.
Indeed. If she says she intends to start company that'll help minority start-ups, which would by definition itself be a start up. So she's saying that although others need help, _she_ doesn't. I'm not saying she couldn't do it, it just sounds a bit cocky.
I'm reminded of the somebody talking about hi-tech start-ups who basically said you can't make a success without the lessons learned from having at least one company come crashing down round you.