In Retrospect, Daria Is Kind Of A Jerk

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When Daria premiered on New Year's Day in 1997, I thought, simply, "Fiiiiinally." Created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn and based on a minor character from Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head, Daria was a breath of fresh air for weirdo outcasts like me. How much did I relate to the grumpy, monotone, cynical, and sarcastic lead character? Consider what my tenth grade biology teacher wrote in my yearbook: "The rest of the class didn't hear the comments you made under your breath, but I did. They kept me amused." As someone who felt like an outsider and whose only retaliation was to hope that high school would wrap up swiftly — while also holding contempt for the athletic, popular kids who made this nerd's adolescence a living hell — Daria was a role model and someone who seemed as miserably out of place as me, and she tried her best to deal with it.

Daria Morgendorffer was the epitome of misanthropic teenage angst as much as the show's supporting characters were perfect stand-ins for the hierarchy of the high school caste system. Along with her best friend, Jane, Daria was on the lower end of the ladder: she was a brain, often regarded by her classmates and peers as moody and weird. There were plenty of other Breakfast Club-esque tropes: Brittany and Kevin, the airhead cheerleader and her jock boyfriend; Jodie, the popular, overachieving student (who happens to be one of the few African-American characters on the show); Upchuck, the horny geek whose self-awareness does not match his self-confidence; and Daria's shopping and status-obsessed sister Quinn, as well as the rest of her vapid cohort in Lawndale High's fashion club. Throwing in the fact that the adults were no less self-serving and uninspiring as the teens on the show, Daria made a convincing case that Hell is indeed a place: high school.

Much like most other pop culture phenomenons I loved as a teenager (I'm talking about you, Rent and Empire Records), Daria has aged… interestingly. I binged about two seasons of the show over the weekend (Amazon Prime members can stream the animated series for free). While some of its criticisms about the media seem especially prescient, there's one thing that struck me while watching it again: Daria — my role model, the figure who got me through high school — is a real asshole.

For the most part, Daria's contempt for everyone around her seems, well, unearned. Sure, Brittany and Kevin are dimwits, but they mean well — and they are nice to Daria and Jane (at many times eager for her approval). When Jane tries out for the track team, Daria spends more time giving her grief for play-acting like a jock (pretty much ignoring the larger issue, which is that Jane does it just to impress a cute guy). When the new kid in school, Ted, lobbies for her affection, she's more focused more on how weird he is (he's a former home-schooler testing out the waters of high school socialization) rather than how much she enjoys being around him. And she holds an incredible amount of resentment toward Quinn, so much so that she goes out of her way to present her to the masses as an empty-headed teen (which, honestly, feels like a redundancy) in a school documentary project without considering her sister's own feelings; she stands down at the last minute when their mom steps in and suggests Daria consider the big picture.

Watching Daria's utter disdain for her peers made me recognize something about myself: was I that much of a jerk in high school? Sure, I wasn't happy, but was that because of any actual harm my classmates purposely inflicted upon me? Or was it just that I thought I was simply too smart to lower myself to their level, as the memory of party invites that I denied suddenly flooded my memory. Could it be that I was just as much of a jerk to the kids I went to school with as they were to me?

That realization reminded me a lot of a great 30 Rock episode from the show's third season. In "Reunion" (which you can watch on Netflix here) Tina Fey's Liz Lemon goes — you guessed it — to her high school reunion. She's reluctant at first, and flashbacks depict the weird teenage Liz Lemon feeling like a loser compared to her classmates. Once she shows up to the party, however, Liz soon realizes that her adult classmates react to her presence with fear and anxiety. Sure, Liz wasn't the pretty, popular girl, but the former had little to do with the latter — she was unpopular because she was mean to everyone.

It makes me wonder how an adult Daria would reflect upon her high school years. Would she still bemoan her outcast status, or would she reconsider her angsty feelings? Would she recognize high school as a fleeting four years, which is a realization one has once she's spent longer than that amount of time out of high school? And would she be more amiable and patient with people not like her — especially those who are kind, considerate, and accepting of others? I would hope so, just as much as I've tried to accomplish the same thing myself. These are all things I thought while re-watching the show — which, I'm happy to say, ultimately holds up as a hilarious, thoughtful sitcom, even if its sixteen-year-old protagonist isn't an infallible hero.

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Photos: MTV

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