Confronting Daria
Daria Morgendorffer goes to high school with shallow kids who enforce a pointless hierarchy and compromised adults who try to instill her with their compromised values, and then she goes home and receives more of the same. Her famous cynicism is well earned, and most of the time, she has both the moral and intellectual high ground. It’s a huge part of what makes her so funny and relatable. I didn’t go to a school with a pecking order as pronounced as Lawndale High. But I live in Los Angeles. There have been plenty of situations where I’m surrounded by people I loathe, and it’s in these moments where I reach for my inner Daria.
Though she lives in a world that rarely rewards someone with her personality and perceptiveness, in a way, Daria is an incredibly powerful character. It’s easier to navigate the matrix if you’re aware that it exists in the first place, and Daria can thrive in her own way because unlike most of her classmates, she’s aware that high school ends, and most of what the popular kids care about won’t ultimately matter. However, even if she was just like everyone else, she’s the lens through which we’re seeing this world. We often judge characters by her values and approach situations like she would. To the audience, she’s basically a god.
However, if this is the status quo, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Daria was at its best when it was reminding you that she was only human.
Though Daria is much more astute than most of the people in her life, she’s still a teenager. There are life experiences she hasn’t had yet. Perspectives she hasn’t heard. Hurdles she hasn’t had to overcome and responsibilities she can’t take on. She isn’t always immune to the world around her. She was not always right. Sometimes she could be needlessly cold and unkind. She was capable of making mistakes. Huge ones.
That said, part of what made Daria so great was a certain self-awareness on the show’s part of who Daria really was beyond the idealized version that makes her, rightfully, an icon. Because of her flaws, she can also be vulnerable, scared, and lonely. As a result, it makes her a more nuanced character than she already was.
The show doesn’t examine Daria’s flaws often. But when it does, it usually produces some the best episodes and moments of the show. Let’s discuss!
“Partner’s Complaint” (S4, E01)
As we’ve discussed, in most situations, Daria often has the moral high ground. Most of the time, it’s by default, as Daria is often the only person in much of the high school bullshit she finds herself in to actually think about the broader implications of what she’s doing and saying. However, the nasty side effect of moral superiority is judgement, and Daria can be judgmental to a fault.
Most of the time, her judgment of others are justified, especially in cases of extreme stupidity and unfairness. Cases like “Arts ’n’ Crass” which finds Daria on the perpetual losing end of an art censorship battle with the school or “Fizz Ed” where she fights with the school over an overzealous advertising deal with a soda brand.
However, sometimes her judgement can have consequences. There’s a school of thought, one that I think the show is aware of, that Daria could be a positive influence on the people she judges so harshly. Rather than, say, constantly shitting on her frequently superficial sister Quinn from afar all the time, she could try to help her when she’s clearly in need. Rarely, for understandable reasons, does Daria rise to the occasion. Given the option between helping someone out and judging them, Daria often picks the latter. It’s part of the reason she doesn’t have many friends, and in one case, it’s what leads to Daria’s first real judgmental fuck-up.
Daria and Jane are on the outs because Daria is resentful that Jane is spending more time with her new boyfriend Tom. (Another crack in Daria’s armor we could talk about.) An Economics project about making adult financial decisions forces the students into partnerships, and instead of sticking with her best friend, Daria partners up with Jodie, a black classmate who rivals Daria in intelligence, is constantly being pushed into overachievement by her parents, and is one of the best characters on the show whose very existence reveals a kind of limit to Daria’s superiority.
The two decide to apply for a small business loan together. The first bank they go to rejects their application. The banker says that he’d be more open to the idea of giving two high school students a loan if Daria’s father would co-sign. Of course, this assumes Daria’s white father is the more financially stable one, which is far from the truth. Jodie explains that her father is an über wealthy entrepreneur with some pull. The banker has heard of her father and tries to suck up, but the the two storm out. Jodie rants about how she wants to be judged on her own merits rather than her father’s name. Then at the next bank, Jodie opens by explaining who her father is, and the loan application goes swimmingly. Cut to commercials.
Again, we see the show through Daria’s eyes, and Daria’s rarely wrong. Thus the tension going into the commercial break is how Daria’s going to handle this obvious falseness. Later, Daria calls Jodie out on her hypocrisy, saying that she’s really no better than the banker who started brown nosing her once he found out who her father is.
Usually, this is the moment where Daria, and by proxy the show itself, drops the mic on her opponent. But Jodie isn’t a vapid high school jock or a clueless adult. Instead, Jodie makes a number of salient points. That the assignment was to get a loan, which in the real world involves using what’s at your disposal. That even if she did wander into a grey area, Daria doesn’t get to judge for not living up to her unflinchingly rigid standards. That Daria has zero fucking business comparing Jodie to a racist loan officer. (Jodie expresses that point with a little more grace.) That she wouldn’t be working with Jodie if she wasn’t fighting with Jane, and thus on some level, Jodie is just as disposable to her as the banks. Then Jodie leaves. Mic dropped on Daria.
(Note: I tried uploading a clip of the fight, but Youtube’s ContentID system wasn’t having it. Watch Daria on Hulu. Meanwhile, enjoy a different instance of Jodie shutting shit down.)
We could go line for line in the scene and nitpick Daria’s various logical and social failures. Particularly, the part where Daria responds to Jodie’s racism accusation with “Don’t be ridiculous.” However, the point is that she’s wrong, she knows it, and it’s enough to send her into a spiral not only about this fight, but all the fights she’s ever had. For the first time (as far as I can remember), Daria truly questions her worldview. Is her sharpened sense of moral rectitude really that sharp? Even if it is, does this give her the right to judge others? Is Daria alienating people she doesn’t mean to?
Eventually, Daria’s mother explains that some people live life a little more pragmatically, and that her rigidness is part of what makes Daria smart. Still, Daria and Jodie apologize to each other after they give their presentation, and all is forgiven. (Even though Jodie has nothing to apologize for, but whatever.)
In a way, Jodie speaks to Daria as if she’s been observing her just as long as we have. She knew the exact limit of Daria’s usual righteousness, and she knew exactly where to hit once Daria attempted to turn it on her. But moreover, this is a show being honest about where its main character stands in the world. Daria is smart, but she’ll never have to experience the kind of racism Jodie confronts on a daily basis.
But there’s a broader point this episode makes as well. Maybe the audience needs to view Daria with a bit more objectivity. Maybe we shouldn’t assume that a show and the people who create it always agree with the actions of its characters. Maybe we need to be adults, and judge characters based on our values and not the supposed values of the media we consume.
Is It Fall Yet?
Is It Fall Yet? is a made-for-TV movie that aired after season four that takes place in the summer between Daria’s junior and senior year of high school. It’s a bit of a misnomer to call it a “movie” as it’s essentially an hour and fifteen minute long episode of the show that isolates most of the characters and launches them into separate television like “A,” “B,” and “C” stories. But the marketing calls it a movie, so we’ll call it one as well.
In the season four finale, “Dye! Dye! My Darling”, Daria kisses Jane’s boyfriend Tom, accelerating the end of Tom and Jane’s already deteriorating relationship, and throwing Daria into a moral crisis as she begins her own relationship with Tom with Jane’s tentative blessing. Is It Fall Yet?’s purpose is, essentially, to reset the status quo for season five. To end all beef between Jane and Daria and set up Daria and Tom, a relationship that will last until the second made-for-TV movie and series finale, Is It College Yet?.
Daria is dating Tom, but she’s clearly not very comfortable with the relationship. Though the lingering guilt of breaking up Tom and Jane hovers over her, it’s really the intimacy that scares her, as well as the discomfort of being around Tom’s wealthy family. But she continues to see him, and though Daria would rather do nothing all summer, Daria’s mother forces her to get a job as a summer camp counselor. While there, she meets a kid named Link. Link’s home life isn’t great, and he’s just as disillusioned, though much more openly hostile, with the world as Daria. For once in her life, she tries to reach out to someone and offers Link advice. But Link blows her off.
As I don’t want to just recap plot, and there’s a lot of it, let’s summarize Daria’s arc in a few sentences. Daria tries to connect with Link and fails. Tom tries to connect with Daria, but Daria won’t let it happen. Jane confronts Daria about how hurt she was that Daria almost destroyed their connection for the sake of a boy. Daria learns that connecting with people is worth it, gives that advice to her sister Quinn (whose storyline is quietly one of the best arcs the show ever did) when she’s having her own relationship related crisis, Link sends Daria a letter inviting her to reach out, thus confirming the lesson, and she reconciles with Jane and truly gives Tom a chance. I might’ve fucked up the order of all that, but you get the idea.
(I quite enjoy the opening song from Is It Fall Yet?)
Conventional “writing an article about Daria” wisdom dictates that I should’ve made this section about “Dye! Dye! My Darling”. After all, it’s rightfully one of most famous episodes of the show, and it captures Daria at her most vulnerable and morally compromised. However, I wanted to write about Is It Fall Yet? because it confronts not only one of Daria’s biggest character traits, but an essential aspect of the show’s identity: Daria’s aloofness and seemingly uncaring nature. If “Partner’s Complaint” is about exploring the limits of Daria’s moral superiority, Is It Fall Yet? explores the limits of Daria’s personality.
Daria has spent the majority of her life as an outsider. I don’t recall seeing any instance of her being actively bullied (though I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s experienced some of that), but the majority of her peers want nothing to do with her. As such, Daria has built a veneer of sarcasm and deflection which, combined with Daria’s signature monotone, makes her come off as cold. Most of the time, this coldness plays for comedic effect, as it’s usually juxtaposed with the passionate stupidity of the popular kids at her school.
The other side of the coin, however, is self-sabotage. She’s spent so much time “not caring”, not letting things affect her, and building a personality that revolves around fending off the wicked world around her that sincerity and vulnerability are hard prospects for Daria to handle. Especially when she’s called upon to, say, comfort a young boy in genuine need of her help or to consider her best friend before kissing her boyfriend.
Opening yourself up often leads to heartache. Vulnerability is scary. Sarcasm is easier than honesty. But as Daria learns, letting yourself be comforting allows you to be comforted. Risk comes with possible consequences, but it can also come with rewards. A more meaningful bond with your sister. A healthy romantic relationship. The forgiveness of a friend you love that you wronged. The knowledge that you can provide comfort to those who may need it, as well as the knowledge that you’re capable of empathy in the first place.
Of course, you could get your heartbroken. But you can also be happy.
“Boxing Daria” (S05 E13)
Allow me to be a fan for just one second. “Boxing Daria” is just a great fuckin’ episode of television. It tells a beautiful pointed story, the cast is at the top of their game, and though another made-for-TV would officially end the series, this was the perfect note for the show to go out on. I wanted to talk about a few of the non-obvious picks in the Daria canon. But you can’t not talk about “Boxing Daria.”
A quick and rushed rundown of the plot that won’t do it justice and you should really watch the show: The Morgendorffers buy a new refrigerator. When Daria sees the box the new fridge came in, it stirs a memory from Daria’s childhood: One night while she was in bed, she wakes up to hear her parents, Helen and Jake, having a massive fight about how she’s not fitting in at school. Eventually, Jake storms out.
Daria spends the majority of the episode trying to remember the rest of the incident. What were they really fighting about? What caused the fight? What does this have to do with a refrigerator box? Her parents initially deny that the fight ever happened and Quinn has no memories of it either.
Eventually, her parents tell her the truth: When she was younger, Daria had trouble fitting in and they sent her to a a psychiatrist. This happened during a particularly stressful time for her parents, and the constant calls from the school were the straw the broke the camel’s back. They had a huge fight, and a scared Daria crawled into a large refrigerator box she decorated to look like a house. They assure her that none of it was Daria’s fault. They knew someone of Daria’s intelligence would have problems, and this was just a reality of life. However, Daria runs out of the house without explanation and takes the car. On the road, it starts raining, and Daria nearly crashes.
Jane comes to pick Daria up. She explains to Jane that it never occurred to her how much of a burden she could be on her parents. Jane assures her that she isn’t. They love her and they know the deal. Daria goes home, says she appreciates them, and goes upstairs in her usual Daria like fashion.
(This moment, where Daria, at her lowest, hugs Jane melted my heart.)
In a way, “Boxing Daria” is a more streamlined version of Is It Fall Yet?. Both are stories about Daria gaining a degree of empathy for the people in her life who care about her. The difference, however, is the focus of Daria’s reconciliation. In Is It Fall Yet?, Daria learns to appreciate her best friend and open up to her new boyfriend. In “Boxing Daria”, she learns to appreciate the two forces in her life she’s rebelled against the most: Her school and her parents.
There’s a plotline I didn’t talk about that revolves around Daria’s teacher trying to convince her to give tours to middle school students who will be attending the high school next year. Daria refuses. After all, why help the place that’s made her miserable? Yet, the episode, and effectively the show, end with Daria guiding a tour of innocent children unprepared for the hells of high school down the Lawndale High halls. Of course, she’s her usual self with them. But she’s helping.
“Boxing Daria” is ultimately an episode about gratitude and empathy. Daria has given her parents a lot of shit throughout the years. It never occurred to her that they take it because they love her, and their lives might be a tiny bit harder because of the way she is. Helen and Jake may be insane, and they often force Daria to do things she finds stupid. But they love and respect her.
The school is filled with idiots and it may seem like it wants Daria to act just like a “normal” kid. But really, there are people in the school who genuinely care and just want what’s best for her. And hey, it’s where you get to meet your best friend Jane! How bad can it truly be?
Not everything the school does should be forgiven. Principal Li is probably the most morally compromised character on the whole show, the environment and leniency afforded to football jocks like Kevin guarantee that he’ll leave the school an unprepared dumbass, and no school that creates an environment where something like the Fashion Club can thrive can be entirely healthy. Not everything Helen and Jake do should be written off either. Helen is often incredibly inconsiderate to both her daughters and Jake, and Jake’s knee-jerk rage at everything puts a lot of strain on situations that didn’t have to be there.
But no matter how hellish, or “hellish” relative to someone who’s never experienced real tragedy or abuse, these situations became, there were always people who cared about her. The trick, as Daria learns, is to recognize and appreciate that care once it’s in front of her.
Why does Daria agree to give the tours? Despite her icy facade, I think it’s because she cares herself, and she wants these rising students to know the truth. Of course, some may turn out to be jocks and future recruits in the Fashion Club. But I’m sure some of them will be grateful to have Daria in their lives, even if only for a high school tour.
Random Opinions
I write this a few weeks after having watched Daria for the first time.
Okay, strictly speaking, that’s not true. I have distinct memories of watching Daria when it first aired. Particularly, the end of season four and the beginning of season five. (Why my brain chooses to remember this stuff, I don’t know.) However, I was too young to appreciate it at the time, and I consider this my first true viewing of the show. I liked the show quite a bit, and I can easily see myself coming back to it at some point in the future.
Here are some random thoughts I had on the show as a whole:
1. I’m sure the phrase “ahead of its time” pops up in every article written about Daria. But it can’t be said enough. Daria, for the most part, was almost comedically ahead of its time in ways that are still relevant in 2019, and this is one of those shows people get nostalgic for that’s informed by more than just “I watched that show when I was in middle school.”
2. Favorite episode: “Boxing Daria.”
3. Other contenders: “Dye! Dye! My Darling,” “Arts ’N’ Crass,” “Write Where It Hurts,” “Partner’s Complaint” for me personally, “The Misery Chick,” “Lucky Strike,” “The Lost Girls,” "My Night at Daria’s" and a few others. I know most of these are all the usual picks if you look up enough top ten Daria episodes lists. But they’re the safe picks for a reason.
4. Favorite Character: Jane. But I’m also quite fond of Jodie when we get to see her. And Sandi, but mostly because her voice is fun to try to do yourself.
5. The first time I knowingly engaged with Wendy Hoopes’s (voice of Jane, Helen, and Quinn) work was as Mona Sax in the Max Payne games. Make of that what you will.
6. I hate Upchuck. I realize I’m supposed to. But the show made their case too well.
7. I rarely liked the episodes that got too conceptually broad, like “Antisocial Climbers” and “Depth Takes a Holiday.” Although there are episodes like “Write Where It Hurts” where the show makes it work. I subscribe to the Community approach of going broad for the sake of revealing an emotional core and not just because it could be funny.
8. My least favorite thing Daria ever did as a show was not follow through on Quinn’s arc in Is It Fall Yet?. The arc, essentially, is about Quinn realizing that she’s outgrown certain aspects of the Fashion Club, and really, certain aspects of high school hierarchy in general. The show essentially forgets this arc once season five rolls around. I realize that Daria was made before shaking up the status quo was more common in television, and having Quinn leave the club would be a bigger step than most 90s TV sitcoms were willing to make. But Daria had shown a willingness to do things like that, what with the Daria/Jane/Tom relationship arc. It was sort of disappointing. That’s all. Also, Quinn’s tutor was kind of a prick.
9. It’s adorable and kind of depressing that Daria’s send-up of TV was Sick, Sad World. If only they could know what was coming…..
10. Tracy Grandstaff doesn’t get enough credit for her performance as Daria. The same can be said about most of the cast, really. Understated voice performances aren’t as appreciated as they should be.
11. A spin-off show centering on Jodie has been announced! If and when it comes, I’m very curious about how it’ll turn out. I’m mostly skeptical, as I am with all reboots and remakes. But I’ll probably check it out anyway out of sheer curiosity. And hey, Daria itself was a spin-off of Beavis and Butthead. Maybe it could work again.
