Comments from those who don't watch.

    A friend and I were at work, talking about Anime. He's a bit of a fan,
and I haven't watched much Anime to speak up, I do enjoy animation aimed at
people too old for Poke'mon. I mentioned enjoying Daria, and he said
(referring to my personality, I'm sure) "Oh, I bet you would. If Daria
walked in here, I wouldn't have to ask, I'd just see about getting you two
wedding bands." Another friend stopped calling me Eeyore in favor of "The
male Daria".
    As someone who hasn't seen every episode, doesn't own any of the
merchandise, and who even finds much of the banter here a little far fetched
and silly, (in particular, speculation as to the inner feelings and
motivations of cartoon characters) I must say I'm a little surprised by
these comments. Anyone else find friends and family drawing parallels
between you and Daria?
-mike

My parents think I'm like Daria.

My friends see me as Jane.

I prefer to see myself as Johnny Rotten, Courtney Love, and Billy Corgan fused into a teenage girl.

~Aabi And I know it was wrong when I said it was true That it couldn't be me and be her inbetween Without you... ~Robert Smith Inbetween Days

"Suzie Q. Doe" wrote:

That's an interesting visual. Especially since:

a. I once had a crush on Johnny Rotten b. Courtney Love is one of my musical idols c. I don't care much for Billy Corgan, but I can't say anything bad about him 'cos he invited Simon LeBon up to duet with him on the '81 Duran song "Nightboat" d. Thinking about all this and combining this with an image of a teenaged girl is...well...intriguing, to say the least

LI

Well, that's how I see myself. I'm vain.

Hopefully, others will someday see me that way.

~Aabi

And I know it was wrong when I said it was true That it couldn't be me and be her inbetween Without you... ~Robert Smith Inbetween Days

OK, maybe you're bit reserved about inner feelings etc...that is a very daria-esque response. ;) as a writer, or course I would. I have no reservations about crushes on cartoon characters. Love is love, man. (relax, it's mostly a joke).

Yes, I have been compared to Daria - I actually had her look minus combat boots in h.s. and resumed it in college. Same dry expression,too. When I first saw the show, I thought someone had followed me around or stole my h.s. diaries or something.

ThatPerson

Michael Moseby said:

Why do you find "speculation as to the inner feelings and motivations of cartoon characters" any more silly than speculation as to the inner feelings and motivations of any _other_ fictional characters? Does presenting something in the format "cartoon" automatically rob it of dramatic depth, while live actors somehow magically endow it with such?

Jordan S. Bassior wrote in message ...

feelings

something

Dammit. I thought I fixed that. I suppose now that I'll have to have my high ranking contacts in the NSA arrange to scour the internet for people that have found flaws in the reasoning in that post.

I agree. Speculation as to the inner feelings of other fictional characters is also quite silly. Sometimes I feel it's even rather silly to speculate about the inner feelings and motivations of the actual characters in my so called "real" life. If that means I am no longer a compass to those that choose to speculate about such things, I suppose that is a cross I will have to bear. -mike

Michael Mosebey said:

Why? Insofar as a character is well drawn, that character is _consistently_ drawn -- in other words, the character displays actions, dialogue, and thoughts which are consistent with an internal life and genuine consciousness. This is not totally unreasonable, since the character is running as a subprogram in the writer's brain. All writers have experienced this: that you know a story is really working when the "characters seize control" -- this means that the subprograms have become elaborate enough that the writer's main consciousness can no longer fully predict what they will do. In other words, they are demonstrating "emergent properties."

Jordan S. Bassior wrote in message ...

thoughts

is

the

consciousness

So all writers suffer from MPS?

    They may be demonstrating emergent properties, but they are _not_ real.
Daria is a television show. As such, it is a product of a number of writers.
Each of these writers have different life experiences, different
personalities, and as such will draw the characters in a different manner.
Character behavior is further normalized by group discussions, which include
checks for consistent behavior and continuity. In the product of all this
activity you find the characters we all know and love. The characters are
more complex, but are still not real.
    Because these characters are not real, then they cannot have their own
inner motivations and thoughts. These characters are paper, and plastic and
paint, and words. They have no inside. The character has only action, and
the action is a result of the writer's motivations and thoughts.
    I feel a circular argument coming on. I think we've put forth our cases,
and I can see your point.
-mike

Michael Moseby said:

They don't "suffer" from MPS -- they _benefit_ from the ability to create and run their characters as mental "sub-programs." The MPS schizophrenic has no control over this, and does so whether he wants to or not. The writer does, and does this intentionally to create interesting characters.

Ever wonder why _real_ personalities are "real?"

(Hint: a real personality is _also_ a program being run in someone's brain!)

They are "real" in the sense that a _fictitious character_ can be real.

The whole _point_ of good character construction is to create a "verisimilitude" (truth-seeming) that they _do_ have an "inside". When we analyze fictional characters, we're playing a game of "let's pretend": in this case "let's pretend" that this person is real.

If the result is internally inconsistent, so that the character does _not_ seem "real" when analyzed, we know that we are encountering "bad characterization." If the result is internally consistent, so that the character _appears_ to have a life apart from his creator, we know that we are encountering "good characterization."

As someone who _has_ written fiction, and read a _lot_ of it, I feel like I'm trying to explain "greenish-blue" to a color-blind person. Please don't take this as an insult, but have you ever tried to write a long story, with multiple characters? Or read a complex novel?

After watching a few eps last year (when I finally got cable again after 5 years without), I got the feeling that if I lived in Lawndale and knew Daria and was anywhere near her in age, I'd ask her out. I just feel like we're soulmates. We share a lot of the same interests, an introverted nature, and a similar sense of humor. Also, I have a slightly more positive outlook than she does, so I think I could help her lighten up a bit.

In this universe, I happen to be 50. Alas.

Steve Cross

I am constantly referred to as The Misery Chick - this even happened before I started watching Daria on a regular basis. I wrote an advice column for my college's newspaper entitled The Misery Chick where all I did was give people sarcastic bad advice - of course the people too stupid to realize I was making fun of them loved it.

Basically, I'm Daria with more ambition... Daria meets Dagny Taggart.

Sara

Dagny Taggart. What in blazes? Another Ayn Rand reference. Be still my heart.

--ferriswiel "SM" wrote in message news:[email]...

fetched

Actually, I think that there are usually a few Ayn Rand references per week in this ng.

-as a side note, it is preferable that you reply to posts after, not before the original content. This makes it much easier to read and allows you to remove irrelevant parts of the previous posts. :)

Sara

"SM" wrote in message news:[email]...

my

Fantastic. I'll do just that.

--ferriswiel

SM wrote:

*nods*...she and Douglas Adams is way popular here, it seems. In fact, if it weren't for this newsgroup, I would've never read Ayn Rand OR Douglas Adams. None of my lit instructors have ever discussed either of them, not even in passing.

Thinking the two should sorta be the official authors of atd,

LI (breathing a sigh of relief that she's finished tonight's assignments)

SM said:

Yeah, too bad that Dagny Scott doesn't post here any more. I miss her.

I've been called the "male Daria" too. My friend (I guess you could say he's the male Jane) brought it up in sophomore year when I bought a green jacket (I still wear it...and I have glasses too). So I started watching the show and found that Daria and I are eerily similar. Over the past two years (I'm a senior now) I've been called "the male Daria" at least a handful of times by different people. I pride myself on it actually. Oh, and if she *was* real, I'd ask her out. But where are two introverts going to meet each other?

Oh, sure. Guys at my school call me Daria all the time (I call them undereducated masturbating masogenists, and they leave me alone for a few days.) On a frustrating note, there's a girl at my school with brown hair and glasses and she's a busty-looking cheerleader with a sqeak in her voice. She just moved here from Connecticut. Just my luck, eh?

Michael Mosbey wrote:

One of the players in my D&D campaign - Dave - recently worked in a restaurant, where a fellow waiter nicknamed him 'Davia'. He's also been called 'Davik of Vulcan' and 'Davmandred of the White Ajah' (a Robert Jordan/Wheel of Time reference). At least he's consistent. ;> Robert

"You're maudlin and full of self-pity - you're magnificent." Addison DeWitt, in "All About Eve"

DSteiner said:

Do they mean to _insult_ you by calling you "Daria?"

(genuine question: I wouldn't mean it as an insult if I said it).

LOL!