Line #70 Headscratchers/Daria


1	!! Headscratchers for ''Daria''.
2	* How does Quinn manage to manipulate all those boys? She seems to have an aversion to physical intimacy, so what are these boys getting from her?
3	** The art style makes it sort of unclear, but we're meant to understand from context that Quinn is exceptionally pretty. And no small part of it is competition, one imagines; whenever one of them temporarily wins Quinn's affection, they tend to become disillusioned after a little while, only to resume the chase when there are challengers once again.
4	** I believe that's called "triangulation".
5	** Most of the infatuation focuses the Three J's, who are seemly united by their individual interest in Quinn.
6	*** Plus, speaking as a former teenager, I can tell you that it doesn't take much for a teenage boy to follow a pretty girl around like a puppy dog. Even if they don't get a bloody thing from her, they're so blinded by the idea that they ''might'' that they never seem to notice that they're being used. Luckily (most) guys grow out of this phase, which doesn't bode well for Quinn when the day finally comes when she can't manipulate guys with her looks...
7	** Early episodes actually indicated the Quinn was not exactly chaste and innocent. Consider the episode ''The Big House''. Jake says something like, "Burning the midnight oil, huh?" and Quinn immediately responds with a panicky, "We weren't burning anything!" She frequently let slip hints of exactly what she was doing on those dates of hers. Beyond that, it's suggested she had complex systems with which she purposely manipulated her boyfriends. She worked very hard to learn just how to get a boy to do exactly what she wanted. It's no surprise they didn't put up much of a fight. It was only later on that the writers started making Quinn untouchable.
8	** On at least a few occasions, it's acknowledged that Quinn expends an enormous amount of time and energy maintaining her social status. In "Write Where It Hurts," Daria imagines Quinn channeling "all that energy and enthusiasm" into raising several young children at once. In the musical episode, her obsession with looking good and attracting attention is compared to Helen's workaholism. And done just right, by someone as intelligent as Quinn secretly is, every guy in school could think he's the one she'll let get further than any other guy. So her appeal comes from being a challenge (as most of the non-Fashion Club girls like the cheerleaders are shown being a little more sexual than Quinn's crowd), and because of the "bro cred" a guy would get for getting past the necking stage with her.
9	* Jane meets Tom, and runs off with him after five minutes of conversation? And forgets about Daria?
10	** You've never had or seen this happen in real life? I know it's Jane, but it's very possible she was interested/infatuated enough in him that she'd just blow off her friend.
11	*** Besides, it's not exactly something new. Back at "the Invitation", at the party at Britanny's house, she left Daria on her own and took the guy that was looking at her to the "make up room" (the room with the laundry machine, actually). The only difference is that Tom came to stay, and that other guy was dropped after the action, leaving no trace in Jane's life... besides a free sock
12	* Does Jake even have a job, or is he just wandering from client to client?
13	** He's an advertising consultant. So... both.
14	* Who is paying for the utilities at the Lane residence? Lawndale is obviously an upscale, upper-middle class community and the homes are relativity large. For most of the series, the only people living predominately at the Lane residence are Trent and Jane. Neither of them has a steady job and their parents are obviously traveling artists who spend most of their time away from home (usually completely out of country). In a community of people with typical high level corporate positions, what is this family's main source of income?
15	** Vincent is an international photojournalist, and Jane pays the bills with checks she gets from Amanda according to "The Daria Database"
16	* Something very funny/questionable I noticed about Daria. As the main protagonist in (almost) every episode, it is of course her job to provide color commentary on the environment around her with her spot-on, deadpan sarcasm. But I noticed that sometimes someone would be talking to Daria (either one or both of her parents, one of her teachers, a classmate or even a complete stranger) and she would make a sarcastic (and on occasion downright offensive) comment and whomever she was talking to would continue on with the conversation as if they hadn't heard the last thing that she said. Is this because they really didn't hear her or were good enough sports to dismiss whatever thing she had said?
17	** Given the general lack of intellect of the majority of the cast, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume some of them just weren't smart enough to realize they'd been insulted.
18	** I'd imagine that the people whom she associates the most with (her family, Jane, Trent) are so accustomed to this part of her personality that they've learned to "roll with the punches" and just move on with the conversation anytime Daria had a smart remark for something. Not sure about everyone else though.
19	** It kind of reminds me of similar instances with Stewie's character from "Family Guy". He's supposed to be an infant, but speaks in plain English and yet the only character who can understand him 100% of the time is Brain the dog. Sometimes Stewie will say something either to another character directly or at least within earshot, and the other characters would reply to Stewie as if he's just talking baby gibberish, and other times someone would respond directly to Stewie like they actually understand him. Can people actually understand him and they just choose to dismiss certain things he says?
20	** It's entirely possible they ''are'' bothered by what she says but simply don't know what to say in response. Given how a lot of her verbal jabs are passive aggressive, it's much more difficult for people to respond well to passive aggressive barbs than to outright insults. When somebody comes up to you and insults you directly, you're much more likely to get mad and respond back in kind. But when someone insults you in a much more subtle and passive aggressive manner, you're less likely to respond decisively and more likely to pause and think, "Wait a second. Did this person just insult me?" while being thunderstruck with no comeback. This was most likely the situation most of the victims of Daria's barbs found themselves in.
21	** It does get noticed. In "Mart of Darkness" Andrea expects that she's going to become the target of their sarcastic barbs when they learn she's working at the superstore, even though she usually isn't the type of person they make fun of. Daria's former friend at camp, Amelia, also pointed out Daria's mean side. So it seems that at least some of the writers on the show are conscious that Daria can sometimes be a bully, and keep it in to point out that just because Daria is smart doesn't mean she's always right.
22	** I always assumed that she was saying the insults under her breath so the people around her couldn't hear but we the audience could.
23	* The Fashion Club has one outfit apiece. Oh, irony!
24	** When was the last time you saw a cartoon character change their clothes daily?
25	*** WesternAnimation/KimPossible had a dozen outfits.
26	*** Well there you go, amazingly and completely refuted for all time. I kid, I kid. Shows where they actually change outfits are so far from the norm it's frequently quoted as a ''feature'' when it shows up, so yeah.
27	*** Well you know, don't ask a question if you don't want an answer...
28	*** Same with ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger''. Yeah, it was quoted as a feature because the animators weren't cutting corners - they do this specifically because they don't always animate the season at once and anything that can save time you ''take''. Shame that they don't have the advantage of Asian-based shows where school uniforms are the norm.
29	** From time to time, the Club does has different clothes, because otherwise they would be straining credibility as a Fashion Club.
30	** {{Lampshaded}} in '''Too Cute''' where Quinn is called out by Sandi [[HypocriticalHumor for wearing the same outfit all the time.]]
31	* What were the Morgendorffers doing in Highland? It's canon they actually were there in Highland for WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead - it's mentioned in the first episode as they drive to Lawndale.
32	** ...Living there? I mean, they had to be somewhere, right? It's sort of implied that they moved to the more upscale Lawndale because Helen's career was going so well.
33
34	* In the Daria! musical episode, Helen, Jake, Quinn and Trent wait out the storm in the breakfast nook. The storm blowing heavy objects around. The nook with the large, plate glass windows. Real smart, folks.
35	** Since when were they exactly bright?
36	*** Helen at the very least should be smarter than that.
37	*** The breakfast nook is in the Lee of the house, assuming the storm was blowing front to back, or possibly side to side they'd still be safe(ish) there.
38	* Daria makes such a big deal about being an outcast, yet everyone seems to treat her more or less the same as they treat everyone else, especially Kevin and Brittany. In fact, about the only one who you would expect to treat Daria with respect but doesn't is Quinn (who is such a flaming bitch that she actively disowns her sister and doesn't even try to hide it, but that's another story entirely). Have the writers ever actually been to high school? Because that's sure as hell not the way most of us remember it.
39	** We do see the non-named characters treating Jane and Daria poorly on occasion, and Kevin and Brittany do have their moments. They're not bad people, though, and the viewer isn't meant to think of them as such; possibly the only person who's meant to be more or less unlikeable is [[AlphaBitch Sandi]]. Kevin and Brittany are put in a less sympathetic light than the main characters mostly because they're dumb and shallow and lazy. As to Daria's image, it becomes increasingly obvious that, for all her insisting that she doesn't care what others think of her, the truth is that she does: she specifically wants people to think of her as someone who doesn't care what they think of her. Which is kind of Zen, really. As for high school, I can't speak for you, but mine wasn't that much unlike Lawndale High, at least as far as student interaction went. The jocks and cheerleaders were all perfectly polite people who didn't have any problem making friends with band geeks and whatnot. There was never any celebration of popularity or the illusion thereof.
40	** Besides Sandi you don't really see any of the other students treat Daria badly. And that's kinda the point. While her intelligence does alienate a little bit, it's Daria that keeps everyone at arms length, not the other way around.
41	** Maybe she's just pessimistic?
42	** You're lucky. I can't see that ever happening at the high school I went to, and I don't think I was particularly misanthropic or anything.
43	** I'm on high school now and this show is very accurate to my situation, and I'm a lot much like Daria: smart, snarky, and self-proclaimed outcast yet everybody treats me the same or even better than they treat, others with some exceptions and I was like that even before knowing about Daria and and that's why I like it so much.
44	*** I'm the above troper and yeah, now everyone hates me for no thinking like them.
45	** When has there ''ever'' been a high-school work that's ''accurately'' portrayed high school?
46	*** ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks''
47	*** ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' was ''nothing'' like the high school ''I'' went to. Try again - It's always based off of what the ''writers'' went to high school and heavily exaggerated and possibly flanderized; because it's quite literally ''impossible'' to ''accurately'' portray high school - you always got ''one'' person in the audience who says, "Wait, have these guys ''been'' to high school? It's nothing like the one I went to!"
48	*** Fiction doesn't accurately high school because there are a lot of different high schools.
49	** One of the major points of the last season was that Darias social exile was almost wholly self inflicted - she chose to treat others with disdain because she was smarter than kids her age, and other people simply chose to leave her alone rather than try to connect with someone who clearly doesn't want to talk. Similar to how Quinn is actually intelligent but chose to suppress it so she wouldn't alienate the people around her. Both of them could have had a great experience of being both smart and popular, but they simply chose not to.
50	*** And, as for Jane, she definitely could fit in well if she wanted to- various episodes have proven that. She's an outcast by choice, but she's still fairly well-adjusted.
51	** Daria may not have been well liked in Highland or any of her previous schools. Was Daria ever shown with friends in Beavis and Butthead? Those past impressions must have stuck with her when she arrived in Lawndale.
52	* The main focus behind the episode "Legends of the Mall" is that Quinn and the rest of the Fashion Club needed to be picked up from the mall, but Jake's car broke down so Jane suggested that he uses Trent's car. Trent, Jake, Daria and Jane then ALL get in Trent's car to go and retrieve the Fashion Club. Why didn't Trent just give Jake the keys to his car so he could go by himself to pick up the girls like he was going to in the first place? Did they really expect to fit 8 people in a car that can fit only 5 people at the most?
53	** According to Jane, it'd been done before. And this time there wasn't a drum kit.
54	** We see later that the car isn't exactly reliable; Trent might insist on driving because Jake wouldn't know how to handle the car so it doesn't explode. Although that doesn't explain why Daria and Jane had to go.
55	* Okay, so I'm watching the series...why does Ms. Li always make extra-curriculars and school events known by going into whatever class Daria is in and announcing it in person? Does she go to like every single class and announce it instead of using the PA?
56	** You're completely right - but from the writer's standpoint Daria can't snark at the PA system and have Ms. Lil respond.
57	** I always got the feeling that Ms. Li was so self-absorbed and so focused on her job that doing anything such as personally announcing events class by class wouldn't be completely inconceivable. If Lawndale High is her life, then personally announcing such events is tantamount to stroking her own ego.
58	** Given that the roof of the library caved in because Ms. Li had embezzled the money set aside for repairs, odds are that the PA system is old and run down. The times she appears in class to make an announcement are the times that the system is on the fritz because she won't repair/replace it.
59	* Did it seem to anyone else like the only other person at Lawndale High that Daria and Jane could actually stand and legitimately respected was Jodie (and possibly Mac)? I noticed that at least a handful of times, both Daria and Jane confided in Jodie about their personal situations and even asked her for advice. And even when they would say something sarcastic to Jodie they didn't do it to mock her (like with Kevin and Brittney)because they already knew Jodie was intelligent enough to pick up on their sarcasm. And although they didn't interact with Mac as much as they did Jodie, he was clearly on the same level as Jodie (and obviously the smartest player on the football team).
60	** Yes, I notice it too, I guess the only reason why Jodie wasn’t a friend of Daria and Jane was because Jodie didn’t want to. Daria and Jane probably would have accepted her as such, even when they both (but especially Daria) would loath her interest in extracurricular activities and need to fit in with the system (though for academic reasons and not to be popular, as Quinn).
61	** Jodie doesn't like Daria and Jane very much because of their relentless cynicism and sarcasm, as well as their refusal to get involved in anything outside of their immediate interests. Unlike Daria and Jane, who see the world as shitty but just sit back and complain about it, Jodie sees the world as shitty but actively tries to improve it. She's friendly to them since they're not the same vapid idiots as the rest of the student body, but she's not going to hang out with people who just complain all the time when she could be trying to make a difference.
62	* Why didn't the school put Kevin in special education classes? He clearly has a learning disability, and maybe he wouldn't have gotten held back if he wasn't taking courses he wasn't able to understand.
63	** Not having personal experience from American education system I can only speculate but wouldn't arranging special classes cost money? As in something Ms. Li would be most unwilling to fork out and thus be very eager to outright deny Kevin's condition. It's already established, that the school hands out passing grades for jocks just for doing good in sports, so it wouldn't come as a great surprise if Kevin's disabilities had been swept under the rug.
64	*** Most schools in the US have a special program for those with learning disabilities or mental disabilities, but smaller schools from poorer districts might not, especially if no students qualify. These programs do cost money, but mostly in hiring special teachers. Ms. Li might purposely have avoided having these programs, but there are some costly consequences that could come from not having a program when there's clearly a need.
65	** Kevin is a jock. Not only a jock, THE jock. The quarterback who apparently plays very well (as indicated by ''A Tree Grows in Lawndale'', where without Kevin, the Lions lose every game). Taking into account Ms. Li's personality should give you the answer. Ms. Li's entire life is consumed by bringing "glory and honor unto Lawndale High" and making as much money off it as she can. She's not going to place Kevin in a special needs class when he's her sports cash cow. All she has to do is see to it that he receives passing grades so he can keep playing, and that's what she's going to do. There's never been an indication that she's particularly concerned how her young charges lives will turn out after high school.
66	*** Special Education students are allowed to play sports as long as they are physically able to. Not to mention there are plenty of other ways for him to get help with his education like extra time on tests or with teachers, allowed home schooling times, etc that wouldn't involve taking him out of regular classes.
67	*** Not all schools are particularly invested in how smart the students are. And all the stuff you listed would only work if Kevin was willing to go to them.
68	*** FridgeBrilliance: If Kevin was put in special classes or received the help he needed, he'd be out in four years easily. By keeping Kevin down academically, they can keep him on the school's football team for up to four more years.
69	*** '''''Except...''''' School districts will have either a GPA requirement or a hard age cap (if not both) when it comes to athletic eligibility. If Kevin's grades were such that he got held back repeatedly, he'd be ineligible. And most school districts cap eligibility at 18 or 19. So they'd get an extra year out of Kevin, at the max.
70	** Also of note is that nobody in Kevin's family seems invested in his education. His father is a drunken frat-boy and it's implied his mother is constantly dragging his dad out of trouble. The show also repeatedly hints that Kevin gets "help" for his grades.
71	* Why are Daria and Jodie stuck in the same classes with morons like Kevin and Brittany? Does Lawndale High not have advanced placement classes?
72	** Some schools, especially suburban or rural ones, don't have AP classes - often due to a lack of funding, or simply being too lazy to hire any AP teachers.
73	*** Lawndale High seems to be in a fairly wealthy area, though Ms. Li doesn't exactly seem to have the right priorities when it comes to school spending. So the funding thing makes sense.
74	*** Or they are in AP classes, and Kevin and Brittany are in there for appearance's sake... also something Ms. Li would do.
75	*** I was about to disagree - the parents of Lawndale would complain - but then I realized the truly wealthy families probably sent their kids to Fielding Preparatory Academy (Where Tom Sloane goes), and the "peons" of middle wealth go to Lawndale with its budget problems. The wealthy parents probably have some system to keep from having to play Lawndale school tax, adding to the budget problems. Hm... that's in WMG territory.
76	* ''Through A Lens Darkly'' revolves around Daria debating the question of 'Does switching from glasses to contacts make me a hypocrite?' Thing is, she got them for driving, because her glasses have thick rims that block off her peripheral vision... so why not just get some new glasses with thinner frames?
77	** Your vision is still blurry out the corner of your eye where the frames don't reach, but the issue evolved from there by delving into Daria's insecurities about her appearance.
78	* After ''Through a Lens Darkly,'' does Daria still wear contacts for driving? Empty frames with contacts? The episode ends abruptly when Daria isn't wearing glasses or contacts, and her mom asks if she wants to take a surprise driving test to celebrate her contacts--but the next episode she's just wearing glasses again, even though driving would be dangerous.
79	** The end of the episode was supposed to be a joke, because Helen didn't know Daria wasn't wearing her contacts. And then it's back to status quo.
80	*** And a later episode shows her driving with glasses.
81	** I don't think it was literally impossible for Daria to drive safely with glasses on. People drive all the time with all sorts of glasses on. Since Daria prefers complaining to solving her own problems, I think it was just easier for her to put all the blame on the glasses and slip into contacts as the only solution, and it just kind of went on from there. Once the contacts were out of the picture, she probably learned how to pay more attention while driving and didn't have any further issues.
82	* The paintball field-trip seems like a disastrously unsafe place to allow the kids to go to. Tunnels you can get lost in for weeks? Bathrooms that are hidden? A reproduction of the Hanoi Hilton? How could a field trip like this have been approved of?
83	** Cause it was cheap and Ms. Li thought it would be a good idea while spending the minimum amount of money possible.
84	** Liability waivers are likely involved; ever read a permission slip?
85	* In ''Antisocial Climbers,'' Daria is paid to go on a field trip to give her parents alone time at home. But why didn't she just stay at Jane's for the night instead? Everybody wins that way. She could have still pocketed the money, since Helen's goal was to get her out of the house.
86	** Daria prides herself on being honest (a little too much pride, as one episode established) and while she'll exploit a loophole if it serves her purpose (technical honesty) once she is paid for something specific, she stays bought. Plus she isn't quite as anti-social as she likes to appear, and likes the opportunity to snark at others as a form of social interaction. Staying with Jane doesn't fulfil that need.
87	* From the finale: I know people change as they get older, but Daria and Jane hosting a morning talk show together, and one that seems sunny and cheerful at that? Because of the banter the two have I can almost buy it, but it seems a few steps removed both from their career goals (writer and artist) and general personalities (even with time to grow).
88	** The end "Where Are They Now?" sequence was definitely supposed to be ironic/satirical. Stacy as a race car driver...
89	** People in the media project different images from their real personalities all the time.
90	** No more likely than Trent getting involved in politics. That's ''so'' far removed from his lifestyle can you imagine him even getting involved in ''local'' politics?
91	* Why did David drop Stacy from his tutoring? Sandi was a bitch to him, and Tiffany was doing her makeup more than paying attention, but all Stacy did was have a panic attack and start crying. From what we see, she was trying to follow along and was making progress up until that point. He gives Quinn a second chance based on her putting her phone down, but just walks away from Stacy for no explained reason.
92	** Can you imagine having to not only tutor someone, but also have to deal with their emotional baggage every time they break down as often as Stacy does? He probably isn't getting paid enough to deal with all that.
93	** Quinn is more willing to walk away from the Fashion Club and do things independently, Stacy is part of the group. He isn't prepared to deal with them and they all seem to come as part of a package deal.
94	** Stacy also unwittingly admits that she only took tutoring because the other two Fashion Club members were doing it. As he points out to Quinn if she doesn't actually want to learn he has no real reason to be there. So he likely decided that Stacy didn't have any real desire to study and was wasting his time.
95	* How did all those incompetent / abusive / exploitative teachers retain their jobs? Some of the outright abuse several students suffer from the likes of Ms. Li and Ms. Barch would not only have gotten them fired, but arrested as well. Helen was able to send one of them packing after witnessing some blatant sexual harassment, so why couldn't she just follow suit with the other crappy behavior on display?
96	** That teacher was a scab - a substitute with no tenure and most importantly no union protection.
97	* "Cafe Disaffecto" starts with some unknown thieves stealing at the cyber-cafe. When Mr. O'Neill wants to discuss about it, Kevin points that he has a computer now. Are his parents the thieves, or did they buy stolen things?
98	** Kevin was probably just attempting to get across that he already had computer, so he's not interested in the equipment stolen the previous night.
99	* In 'I loathe a parade' it starts with Quinn in her normal outfit searching for her magazine, a few minutes later Daria is upstairs being told by her father that if she gets to the shop and back with toilet paper in 15 minutes she'll get $20. She is outside the shop 10 minutes later and is caught up in the parade, where she sees Quinn in a completely different outfit on a parade float. How on earth did she change, get to the start of the parade and jump on a float within 20 minutes?
100	* During and after Quinn's 'trial', what purpose did it serve to punish Daria for something Quinn did? I get that her parents favor Quinn somewhat, but isn't part of the series premise is how Daria's perception and approach can actually make things worse for her? So why this over-the-top proof of the parents, especially Helen's, favoritism. Basically, Daria was 'convicted' of not clearing Quinn of a 'crime' by being her lawyer, which she didn't even want, and then they don't really enforce the punishment when Quinn vagues it off. It just seems to rub against the idea that not everything is quite the way Daria claims and complains about.
101	** I thought Daria was punished for her attitude - because she was basically mocking the rules.
102	** One of the rules is that excessive questioning of the rules is itself against the rules, so Helen most likely put Daria's snark in that category.
103	* Why is Daria seen as "Ugly"? I get thick glasses weren't exactly seen as "Fashionable" back in the TurnOfTheMillennium (people tried to get the smallest glasses they could reasonably see through), but that couldn't be the ''only'' reason Daria is seen as "unattractive".

Context Headscratchers / Daria