Daria S1 E1
Esteemsters
In 1993, Mike Judge created the animated series, Beavis and Butt-head, a show about a pair of apathetic, moronic slackers with a love of causing chaos, hard rock and heavy metal music in the fictional town of Highland, Texas. First appearing in a series of shorts on the animated showcase Liquid Television, on MTV. The series was picked up and soon became the most popular program on the network. However, amongst the cast was a bespectacled, quick-witted, snarky girl named Daria Morgendorffer, who acted as a foil to the titular pair of teenaged idiots and itās her that this series will focus on. In 1995, a short named āSealed with a Kickā was created by Glenn Eichler, who had previously worked in Beavis and Butt-Head. The success of the short was what pushed MTV to decide that Daria should be given a spin-off series, as they had been wanting to gain a stronger audience amongst women.
The first episode of Daria was aired on March 3, 1997, with Daria, her sister Quinn and their parents Jake and Helen, moving to the fictional town of Lawndale. The series would follow her adventures dealing with the school, parents, life in her typical sarcastic, witty way. From the jump, you immediately get a sense of what this series is setting you up for with just the introduction. Daria puts barely any effort into trying to fit in, would rather read the newspaper during a wedding than show emotion and, at the end, has a small, satisfied as the titles show. In the series proper, Jake is trying to give his daughters a pep talk, mentioning that change and making friends in new places can be difficult. Daria responds sarcastically as Quinn turns up the radio, hoping to block out her dadās words. As soon as they are dropped off at school, Quinn immediately makes a good impression upon the students only to entirely distance herself from her family and, especially, Daria.
These opening scenes set up their characters immediately. Daria is sarcasm personified, Quinn is a social butterfly who would rather drop dead than admit to having a āBrainā for a sister, Jake is well-meaning but pretty clueless when it comes to his daughters and, later, we meet Helen, a workaholic mother. The episode also introduces the teachers, such as Mr. Dimartino, the history teacher always on the verge of blowing a metaphorical and physical gasket, Miss Li, the headteacher filled to bursting with pride for the school and Mr. OāNeil, the optimistic yet naive English teacher. Aside from them, thereās Kevin the football quarterback, Brittany the cheerleader and Quinnās pack of admirers, whose names we later discover to be Joey, Jeffy and Jamie.
This episode has an almost insanely difficult task in having to set up not only the main character and the dynamics within her family, especially for those who are jumping into this series who werenāt exposed to her in Beavis and Butt-head first, but also introducing an entirely different setting. Mercifully, it balances this exceptionally well. It gives each of the recurring characters a moment to shine that establishes who they are before finding its rhythm when Daria meets her soon-to-be best friend, and most viewerās favourite character, Jane Lane. Jane is the second half of the core of the show, being the only person outside of Dariaās family that sheāll spend any extended period of time with. She shares Dariaās cynical view of the world, as well as her laziness. The pair spend most of their time together watching their favourite show, Sick Sad World, a running gag in the show that I almost wish were real. Itās here that Daria suggests using the answers Jane has memorised to get out of the āself-esteem classā early. When asked why she should, Daria points out a UFO convention on TV and Jane is immediately sold.
These two have an immediate camaraderie with each other, sharing a low view of the world around them that puts them in the out group, a creative side with Daria being a writer and Jane being an artist and a similar, emotionless, monotone way of speaking. Whilst Daria is far more book smart, Jane is a lot more street smart for reasons weāll understand more later. These are the heart and soul of the series and when they arenāt getting along, it just doesnāt feel the same. As anyone who has had such a friendship can agree, when that other person isnāt there, it can be feel ike something is missing.
Though there is limited animation, the razor sharp writing is in full force to make up for it. The characters are immediately memorable and several lines never fail to get a chuckle out of me, such as Dariaās iconic āI donāt have low self-esteem, I have low esteem for everyone else.ā Then thereās Daria and Jane using the ceremony to celebrate finishing the class earlier than anyone else for their own amusement. Jane by making a joke out of the whole and Daria using the chance to humiliate Quinn.
