Spoiler for Episode #501 Plop Plop Fizz Fizz

I tried to follow up to a post two days ago and lost my connection midway through, and I just discovered the backup file this morning, so I'm going to try this again. :) I apologize if I'm now responding to a subject that has "moved on," and my remarks about Quinn are repeated in another post.

<Filler blather that doubles as spoiler space> Ah, last night was bliss. After months with no Daria, getting to plop down on the couch and saturate my brain for 3.5 straight hours was deee-lightful! And I'd never seen "the Lawndale Files" before --laughed my butt off at that one. Boy, didn't UpChuck look *evil* sitting up in that tree with the flashlight under his face? Whew! </blather> . Let's throw in some more spoiler space for good measure: . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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It was just too... black and white (or green and yellow), or something. We'll put aside my own personal objections to marketing soda in the school for kickbacks, which is that soda is BAD for you (all sugar and chemicals and swinging blood glucose levels -- encouraging kids to drink it is encouraging onset diabetes) and concentrate on Daria's objection to the principle of the thing. With the initial proposal of easily accessible soda machines and modest advertising, I was kind of with Jodie on that. Yeah, it's sleazy, but given that the school couldn't get funding from "proper" sources, it was an acceptable price to pay for maps that represent current world geography. However, in its quest to validate Daria's principles (and I admire her for them, don't get me wrong), the episode took the situation to its ludicrous extreme, and I don't think that's necessarily realistic. There are many areas in life where there is a potential for abuse, but there is also potential for mutual benefit if the parties in charge act honorably. The episode didn't want to address that at all, and yet I think this would be an interesting point for Our Heroine to ponder.

Of course, it's too much to expect that Ms. Li would ever act honorably. Someone mentioned how interesting it will be if the head of the school board decides to further investigate the goings-on at Lawndale High, and I agree.

Now now, let's not throw up our hands too quickly. The kind of growth and change Quinn experienced in IIFY takes awhile to "set in." Even people who actively WANT to change slip back into old, familiar habits and routines along the way. The seed has been planted. It may not sprout overnight, but you just watch and wait. There HAS to be some sort of reckoning after her assertive and intelligent remark to Sandi in DeMartino's class at the end of IIFY.

"What're you bitching about now?" Cracked me up and shocked me too. Tom's not intimidated by Daria's crustiness. He gets around her walls by pretending they're not there, and his sharp, rather witty observations challenge her to think outside of her comfort zone. Gee, I can only think of one other person who's ever done this for Daria with any regularity -- Jane.

It's true that she didn't add anything to the episode, but I've been so anxious for her and Daria to work things out, that I was just happy she was in the episode and SPEAKING to Daria. I am so worried about those two -- their friendship has been forever altered, and I'm hoping they can both accept that and still continue to grow and bond and all that good stuff on the next level.

Eventually, it's going to occur to Daria that she would never have had the opportunity to get to know Tom (or any guy) well enough to form an attachment if it weren't for Jane. Jane puts herself out there and risks getting to know people; Daria hasn't learned to do so yet. Jane, in effect, did all the legwork for Daria and Tom's relationship. Once that dawns on Daria -- whooaaa, Nelly -- that's going to be hard!

I hope they all pull through. I like Tom a lot (love his voice, actually), but I'm not sure yet if he and Daria are really "couple-compatible," or if he's just the first close male friend she's ever had, and what tends to happen naturally in those situations, well, happened naturally. :) I have this future vision of the three of them, all hanging out at the Pizza King as old friends and giving each other advice about their non-mutual respective love lives (in between sardonic observations of the unwashed masses, of course).

-Ashley

Ashley D Ford said:

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Especially on the scale the football team was drinking it :)

Me too. Though, of course, the soda-can globe was a bit of a shocker ...

Though actually, for once it wasn't totally her fault. It's obvious that Ms. Li was startled by the talk of sales quotas, and the things she was being asked to do to sell the soda. In the end she got sucked down (into the soda) by her own greed.

Plus, Quinn had only a few lines, and all they really showed was that she wanted to talk to her family about her opinion of proper party wear, which is hardly conclusive one way or another.

Yep. Knowing Tom is definitely a good thing for Daria.

Incidentally, Trent did the same thing for her occasionally, in earlier episodes.

I believe we're missing the whole point here that public school is mandatory. Why should a captive, institutionalized audience -- especially of children -- be exposed daily to corporate advertising? I've seen a lot of casual comments about this to the effect of "eh, so what?" So what is, these kids -- in real life as well as in Daria -- have no choice about being there.

"You drink soda, don't you?" Yeah, I choose to drink soda -- I don't choose to be locked up in this minimum-security prison all damn day.

The square globe I saw as a great metaphor -- for how corporate agendas beat facts all out of shape, even in schools where we pay taxes and kids are forced to attend to insure that facts are passed on accurately from one generation to the next.

That to me was the biggest problem with the whole episode -- even beyond the fact that it was shot through with really, really incorrect information about global and local politics. It never came to any kind of moral conclusion about any of this, but rather ended with Daria a spectator to Li's downfall through her own clowinsh behavior. Unsatisfying.

Not only that but -- MTV makes all sorts of hooey about getting young people to vote, get involved, etc. And then, along comes this object lesson and argument for not giving a crap because you can't change things anyway. Very useful.

Again, apart from paying taxes -- which large firms manage to avoid strenuously -- businesses and their marketing departments ought to have no part in the compulsary education process.

x

Al B said:

SPOILERS for #501: Fizz Ed
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They shouldn't be. That's precisely what I meant with my reference to Guardian vs. Trader survival system conflicts here.

Schools are "guardians" -- they exist for the benefit of the students, to arm them with the intellectual weapons they need to survive. To this end they are granted coercive power over the students. To then try to sell the students things abuses this coercive power.

forced

Soda can shaped globe, actually. But I agree, it was a great metaphor :)

Imagine DiMartino trying to show a "great circle" on THAT thing! :D

However --- the Superintendent of Schools wouldn't have been there if Daria hadn't visited him and lit a match under his shoe. So -- she _did_ make a difference :)

Ashley D. Ford wrote:

That might be the reason why the episode was so black-and-white. Ms. Li's just not capable of acting honorably, and the ad guy may well have known it -- I wouldn't be too surprised if he did know it.

Your comment about Tom challenging Daria the same way Jane did is probably dead-accurate. Daria would rather not interact with people too much, and sometimes a friend -- or in this case, a boyfriend -- is needed to help her interact when she needs to.

Jane doing all the legwork for Tom and Daria's relationship -- very interesting. And also not intentional. I mean, while Jane did want Daria to get to know Tom better, I'm not certain it was as a boyfriend. After all, Tom was first introduced to Daria fans as Jane's new boyfriend.

I don't think anybody knows whether Daria and Tom are really "couple-compatible". My guess is they are for the moment, but I'm not so certain for the long run. Oh, and I love Tom's voice, too (courtesy of Russell Hankin. Thank him for the voice).

Belle Book

One thing I thought was interesting about the scene. When Tom replied "What are you bitching about now?", Daria gently replied "I'm serious". She KNEW Tom was joking without stopping to think it over. Obviously they're very much on the same wavelength. The old Daria would have been very defensive, especially after being primed by Jodie's not-so-gentle remark that all Daria ever does is complain.

M Man wrote:

More proof that Daria has indeed changed from Season 1, and that at least part of the change can be attributed to Tom's influence. Notice that I said "part", not "all".

Belle Book

I'm wondering: Will IIFY? be cut into 30-minute chunks when the show hits syndication? Because if IIFY? isn't included in the regular syndication package, they might have another Quinn episode in the works (Quite possibly "Fat Like Me") that will make her character development look less abrupt.

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Nathan Tice Rust wrote:

I don't think it'll be included in the regular syndication package, but I'm not certain about that. If IIFY? isn't included, this could be the reason for the episode FLM.

Belle Book

In article , Belle Book wrote:

They'd be foolish to have not scripted it so it could be divided into episodes. You get two uses out of the same animation.

Invid Fan wrote:

Good point. Thanks for mentioning that.

Belle Book