History Headscratchers / Daria

** 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.

* Can someone please explain to me exactly WHY we're supposed to root for Daria? She's an ill-bred churl who uses her intelligence as an excuse to treat people like scum even when they're perfectly nice to her. I don't care how miserable you are, there's just no excuse for that.
** Appeals to the outsider crowd in high school, that is, the main audience.
** One of the reasons I liked Daria to begin with is that she treats the jocks and "normal" kids so well. Usually the characters who fit her CoolLoser trope are gigantic assholes, but she was pretty chill, albeit a bit angst-filled.
** I've always felt that too many people try to see Daria as a hero because they had a bad time in high school. She's not and she doesn't try to be. She's a flawed person that's funny to watch on television, but not necessarily a person to root for because of those EXACT issues. Being surly and antisocial is pretty common to teenagers though.
*** True. I've heard many Daria fans claim the show jumped the shark when Daria loosened up and started socializing more, even going so far as having a real relationship. They felt she had sold out on her principals, when the creators intended it to be emotional growth.
*** Um, 'uses her intelligence as an excuse to treat people like scum when they are perfectly nice to her?' What show were YOU watching? Daria is nice to people like Jodie and Mack, and even seems to consider them friends, of a sorts. She bent over backwards to make Mr. O'Neill fell better about himself as a teacher, she was nice towards Brittany, even helping her with her work on one occasion. Was even mostly-decent to Kevin, even during the times when he and Brittany unknowingly insulted her. The only people she usually treats badly are those who intentionally insult HER, such as Quinn and Sandi, or people who are assholes in general. In what way was, for example Sandi, EVER nice to Daria or Jane? Daria is not perfectly by any stretch, but it's entirely inaccurate to say that she is needlessly mean to anyone. She has a low tolerance for idiocy, but is only ever cruel to people who demonstrate they deserve it by being an asshole towards someone else.
** Consider [[BeavisAndButthead what it spun off from.]] There, the protagonists were even ''worse.''
* I'm going through the [=DVDs=] again, and after just watching through "See Jane Run" again, I still hate that episode. Jane finds something she's good at that she loves and Daria abandons her and insults her. The episode tries to justify it by claiming that sports are really evil and the people she was trying to hang out with are horrible because they're into sports and status. Then the end of the episode highlights the hypocrisy. I can't help coming out of that episode hating the protagonists.
** Daria didn't abandon Jane. Jane was busy with practice. And Daria just made a joke, she didn't think Jane would feel insulted.

* The FanDumb's hatred of Tom Sloane bugs me. What he did with Daria in "Dye! Dye! My Darling" wasn't cool, but it ended up being for the best, and he dealt with the aftermath better than either Daria ''or'' Jane. He turned out to be really good for Daria in the long run, and even though the relationship ended, it did so on a much better note than one would expect. I'd say he's probably one of the best-adjusted characters in the show. So, why have fans been shrieking for his messy demise for 9 years now?
** [[DieForOurShip Because he's neither Trent or Jane.]] That's... about it.
** The thing is, he doesn't have enough of a personality. He's boring. He lacks strong characters traits, as opposed to the other characters around Daria. Even freakin' ''Upchuck'' has more personality, and he's mostly a walking running gag. There was an attempt at giving Tom a stronger characterisation as a rich, smug boy, but it was too little, too late. Probably, one of the main flaw of Daria is using the same secondary characters always in the same way, instead of developing them. Jodie and her boyfriend suffered from this, the fashion club suffered from this a bit less, and even Jane suffered from this to an extent. Even Daria herself doesn't change that much over the years. So Tom was created as Jane's, then Daria's boyfriend, and his characterization didn't extend further.
** In addition to the above, many people dislike his character because it was shoehorned in to the plot rather badly, for the sole purpose of forcing a LoveTriangle. Glenn Eichler has been quoted as saying that everyone dates in high school, and that's why he felt he had to get Daria into dating. All together, this makes Tom as a character pretty inoffensive, but the way his addition to the cast was added as rather annoying, so it shouldn't be surprising that many people wish it hadn't happened.
* Why are people so persistent in claiming that Daria and Jane are lesbians/lovers? Is it not possible for two people of the same sex to be best friends and have no sexual interest in each other? Can a girl have kick-ass combat boots and an intelligent, rapier wit and not immediately be assumed to be a lesbo? Please? It's annoying and insulting.
** If it makes you feel any better, guys can't be the same, either. If a pair of male-friends don't keep each other at arm's length at ''all'' times, then [[InsaneTrollLogic that's obviously a sign they're homosexual]].
*** That, and the fact ShippingGoggles means that ''everyone'' is attracted to ''everyone'' in some way, shape or form. Daria could just be a {{Tsundere}} for Kevin.

* Why is it on {{Logo}}? Do gay people apparently like {{Daria}} in their mind, or do they see the LesYay subtext as.. Text.
** For the same reason they aired ThelmaAndLouise. LesYay is apparently grounds enough to be put on the network. Whatever it takes to get more viewers I guess, but hey, atleast they're airing the show ''somewhere''.

** The thing is, he doesn't have enough of a personality. He's boring. He lacks strong characters traits, as opposed to the other characters around Daria. Even freakin' ''Upchuck'' has more personality, and he's mostly a walking running gag. There was an attempt at giving Tom a stronger characterisation as a rich, smug boy, but it was too little, too late. Probably, one of the main flaw of Daria is using the same secondary characters always in the same way, instead of developing them. Jodie and her boyfriend suffered from this, the fashion club suffered from this a bit less, and even Jane suffered from this to an extent. Even Daria herself doesn't change that much over the years.
So Tom was created as Jane's, then Daria's boyfriend, and his characterization didn't extend further.

* Why is it on {{Logo}}? Do gay people apparently like {{Daria}} in their mind, or do they see the LesYay subtext as.. Text.

** You're completely right - but from the writer's standpoint Daria can't snark at the PA system and have Ms. Lil respond.

*** Um, 'uses her intelligence as an excuse to treat people like scum when they are perfectly nice to her? What show were YOU watching? Daria is nice to people like Jodie and Mack, and even seems to consider them friends, of a sorts.' She bent over backwards to make Mr. O'Neill fell better about himself as a teacher, she was nice towards Brittany, even helping her with her work on one occasion. Was even mostly-decent to Kevin, even during the times when he and Brittany unknowingly insulted her. The only people she usually treats badly are those who intentionally insult HER, such as Quinn and Sandi, or people who are assholes in general. In what way was, for example Sandi, EVER nice to Daria or Jane? Daria is not perfectly by any stretch, but it's entirely inaccurate to say that she is needlessly mean to anyone. She has a low tolerance for idiocy, but is only ever cruel to people who demonstrate they deserve it by being an asshole towards someone else.

* Okay, so I'm watching the series...why does Ms. Li always make extra-cirriculars 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?

** If it makes you feel any better, guys can't be the same, either. If a pair of male-friends don't keep each other at arm's length at ''all'' times, then [[InsaneTrollLogic that's obviously a sign they're homosexual]].

* Why are people so persistent in claiming that Daria and Jane are lesbians/lovers? Is it not possible for two people of the same sex to be best friends and have no sexual interest in each other? Can a girl have kick-ass combat boots and an intelligent, rapier wit and not immediately be assumed to be a lesbo? Please? It's annoying and insulting.

** [[DieForOurShip Because he's neither Trent or Jane.]] That's... about it.

** Because he's neither Trent or Jane. That's... about it.

* The FanDumb's hatred of Tom Sloane bugs me. What he did with Daria in "Dye! Dye! My Darling" wasn't cool, but it ended up being for the best, and he dealt with the aftermath better than either Daria ''or'' Jane. He turned out to be really good for Daria in the long run, and even though the relationship ended, it did so on a much better note than one would expect. I'd say he's probably one of the best-adjusted characters in the show. So, why have fans been shrieking for his messy demise for 9 years now?

** When has there ''ever'' been a high-school work that's ''accurately'' portrayed high school?

* I'm going through the DVDs again, and after just watching through "See Jane Run" again, I still hate that episode. Jane finds something she's good at that she loves and Daria abandons her and insults her. The episode tries to justify it by claiming that sports are really evil and the people she was trying to hang out with are horrible because they're into sports and status. Then the end of the episode highlights the hypocrisy. I can't help coming out of that episode hating the protagonists.

** 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.

** Forgive me, but have you ''seen'' the show? None of them have much common sense, at least not until the plot demands it of them.

** 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 [[TheLibby 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.

* 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.

* 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.

**Daria didn't abandon Jane. Jane was busy with practice. And Daria just made a joke, she didn't think Jane would feel insulted.