Tuesday, February 07, 2006
The Post-Modern Daria
Johnathan Scanlan has this to write in his blog, "Honesty Hurts" , which is an blog dedicated to the examination of mass media. He writes the following about the "Daria" TV series:
Ok, so I'm halfway through somewhere between five or six books this week and haven't had much of a chance to really catch up on anything new. But my policy is to never review anything that I haven't finished, except save for something that will continue on into the future.
But where to start? Well, first it should be understood that the only place one can really experience Daria in a complete form is through internet downloads. And I don't believe this is unethical because I doubt MTV will ever manage to release the series on DVD, too much money at stake.
That said, Daria serves as a metaphor for the post-modern condition. While the critique of mass culture has been a universal theme of twentieth century modernism, the frustration with sameness is as clear in Daria as it is in Chestnut Hill House.
First, let's begin with clearly recurring icons. Sick Sad World reccurs in every episode as a criticism of television and high concept. Every time the television is on, it mentions some out there gimick, but by constantly playing very short clips throughout the series, with increasingly crazy off the wall stuff, we come to a sense of same old.
The critique of mass culture, and abuse of power in contemporary society is also brought forward by the two leading characters Daria and Jane. Their friendship is not just a redeeming thing that makes society tollerable, but is symbolic of the the critics themselves. Daria, exists independently but from the income of forces greater than herself, and Jane exists by a link to common people and creativity. What we watch is an alegory that represents the relationship between artist and intelectual, the arts and accadamia, human spirit and human mind.
Where Tom enters this mix as that of money and economics. In season 4, Jane finds what she needs by her connection with him but her art falls into the background of the series, then season 5 his support of Daria is a constant struggle to the point where she, unlike Jane, shuts out his interferance. He also knows how to nudge action in the right direction as businessmen often would.
Stepping back from the obvious alegory that emerges here, let's also take into consideration the role of Quin. Perhaps the name was chosen based on the comedia character 'Hallequin' who was a constant source of jokes and often assumed different identities, not to mention double talked, to get riches from his masters.
Quin's journey through the series is interesting in that she goes from being what she is expect to be to being who she is. Repeated attempts at self definition are standard within Erikson's series of life crisis stages. While Daria spends the series struggling with intimacy verses isolation, Quin struggles with identity verses role diffusion.
This struggle remains reasonably constant throughout the series, and what we gain from watching the character over time is the opportunity to see the value in knowing who we are. Noteably, the first time we see Quin socially at ease is with her friends at the end of 'Is It College Yet?' having discovered that she doesn't have to give up her identity to have friends.
Last of all, Jake and Hellen. While it is worthy of note that there is a clear class divide between Daria and Jane, the hard work of Daria's parents is one of the reccurrent aspects of the series. In the Morgendorffer household, both parents work, but both are troubled that they aren't earning enough. They're clearly above the poverty line, well and truely middle class, but they fear falling short of the ideal. And this obsession is repeatedly questioned by Daria and indeed the captive audience, because it seems absurd.
Why does it seem absurd to pursue wealth and the favour of ones employers? Well, that's because it is. When the emperor looks naked, the emperor is naked. According to Sharon Beder's book 'Selling the Work Ethic', the validation of wealth and work as a virtue is an anomolie in history and across cultures, and has been repeatedly pushed on people by those in power since the dawn of capitalism. It started as a way to build the church and ensure everyone does their part, but then became the validation for businesses to exploit workers and push them to extreme levels of productivity.
This aspect of contemporary capitalism is something that the Landon's exemplify by comparison. They shun the poor and Jodie, like her parents, justifies all her choices with the ends justifying the means.
Hence, a key theme across the whole series has been the "virtue of competition and wealth as absurd." That the fashion club keep stacy as someone to look down on in their midst, that the whole community thinks the sky is falling as a consequence of a losing a few football matches, and that Daria and Jane have somehow been spared from these things by their choice to not take part.
In the end, Daria asks us that in this farce that we call a society, maybe it's time to rethink what's important.
# posted by James @ 6:38 AM 
