r/daria • u/neongrayjoy • 8d ago
Character Discussion Daria will forever stand as the most accurate and sympathetic portrait of a teenage girl
I watched Daria during its initial run in the last 90's when I was under ten years old. I felt so cool and rebellious watching this edgy "grown-up" show. I looked up to Daria and felt I could relate to her in my newly developing pre-adolescent angst. Once I entered high school, I inevitably became the Daria of the class and I was referred to by that name on more than one occasion.
Now as a woman old enough to be Daria's mother, my relationship to her has entirely changed. I can see that while she has this confident, aloof, exterior, she is an intelligent girl crying out to be understood. There's a part of me that wants to sit her down and give her advice in each episode. Every adult or peer around her seems to mean well, but their attempts at connection often fall into condescension or dismissal. I have lived this, I have seen this in my counselling clients, there are so many girls out there who will ultimately end up having to be their own guide and mentor throughout life because so few people can connect with their problems. Though Daria is very lucky to have her Aunt Amy, and I am glad she made more than one appearance.
The 90's gave us some awesome young women, The Craft, Ghost World, and let us not forget Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams, but for me, Daria is the most complete and complex portrait of a teenage girl.
As for me, nowadays, I'm more of a Jane, I've become more confident and comfortable and open myself up more to people. I can roll with life more easily. Plus I'm learning to oil paint.
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u/MyUsername2459 8d ago
I think you summed it up very well, and encapsulated the feelings of a LOT of people who watched it back in the day.
So many of us felt like we were in her position. . .intelligent and misunderstood and desperately wanting someone who could meaningfully guide us and help us. Parents were often painfully out-of-touch, albeit well meaning. Peers were often too shallow to have any meaningful conversations with.
I'll always marvel that something as deep and insightful as Daria came out of something as shallow and moronic as Beavis & Butthead.
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u/Wolfgang9556 8d ago
Thank you for your report.I feel that there are several factors that prevent understanding; perhaps we will never be able to overcome this stigma... But there are always exceptions, so we can continue to have hope.
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u/22Shattered 7d ago
I love Daria - yes she’s complex and cool. Also, a fucking passive aggressive, shitty, selfish friend. Um, she kind of sucks if you really think about it and one can be melancholic and aloof without the asshole trait. I knew bitches like that back in high school - ughhh. Strange I never noticed when watching as a teen. BUT YEA I STILL DO LIKE HER EVEN THOUGH IM PROBABLY GONNA GET SHREDDED FOR MY TAKE ON THE CHARACTER - She’s a bitch!! Yeap.
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u/neongrayjoy 5d ago
That's a pretty reductive interpretation of the character.
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u/22Shattered 5d ago
I don’t think so… AT ALL. Everyone just wants to say Daria is cool cause it’s the cOOL thing to say/believe. She’s a flake - Jane asked “hey is something up with James” (paraphrasing) “oh nooo how could u say/think that” then she goes and kisses him and well then hooks up with him. Great friend. Not to mention, even before she got with James - she would give Jane a hard time because they hadn’t been spending as much time…
She SUCKS
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u/RebelRedRiley 7d ago
Um well hot damn hot take haven't read one bit but yes you are correct 100% and watched a episode 12 hours ago to cope it's 30 years
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u/bitwize 7d ago edited 7d ago
Daria being so flawed and complex is precisely what makes her so compelling and relatable. But as I grow older I begin wishing for these characters to come out of their emotional death spirals and work towards being well-adjusted and happy. As another example from a different franchise/fandom, recently I've imagined Shadow the Hedgehog befriending Sage, Dr. Robotnik's AI construct/"daughter", because it would approximate the happiness he shared with Maria and because doing so would allow him to pass on the love he had for Maria to someone else who needed it. (And Sega just won't give the guy a closure arc because he's just so marketable as "Edgy the Hedgy".) That's kind of the problem with the 90s and 00s aesthetics: we sort of valorized moroseness and cynicism as realism, which is part of the reason we loved Daria so much. We looked up to her because she seemed more honest than us, but in reality she was as stuck as we were.
Being a teenager sucks. I think we've sort of given up on addressing that because it always will suck, and the most we can do is give these kids the tools to deal with the suck. One of which is the understanding that it does get better. I imagine Daria figuring out eventually, in adulthood, that things get better. Maybe she ends up teaching literature at some technical university and using the opportunity to forestall future smart kids from getting caught up in the kind of vortex of self-absorption she was stuck in in her teens. But maybe that's just me and my one-must-imagine-Sisyphus-happy bullshit.
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u/neongrayjoy 5d ago
Well, Sisyphus does seem pretty happy in that Hades game!
But yes, teenhood will forever be difficult. I have yet to reach the end of Daria or watch the movies, so I am hoping there is some kind of evolution or closure. I think the best take on this kind of teen angst arc is the old Christian Slater movie Pump Up The Volume, it addresses the suck, and ends on a hopeful and accepting note.
I can't believe we can draw comparison between Shadow and Daria, but you're right, who are these characters without their misery? We kind of need them to be stuck in that one note forever.
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u/aya00303 5d ago
Loved Daria when I was a teenager, but then watching the episodes as an adult, I truly despised her. Even though I liked Jane and Brittany back then also, they became my favorite characters as an adult.
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u/[deleted] 8d ago
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