A breath of fresh air amongst all the whiny, vaseline-on-the-lens teenage soap operas, “Daria” is a teenage cartoon show that deals with more realistic teen issues in a witty, no-frills way. Set in the fictional suburb of Lawndale, we follow the stoic, sarcastic, cynical Daria Morgendorffer as she makes light of the mediocrity of teenage life. Unpopular, unattractive and unconventional, Daria’s life revolves around trying to avoid her insipid peers, including her sheeplike classmates and her irritatingly bubbly sister Quinn. She is not alone, though; her artsy friend Jane Lane shares her outlook on life and the two of them do their best to suffer through high school. The focus of the show is not directly on teen issues, more the characters surrounding them. Such as in the episode “Art and Crass”, Jane and Daria collaborate on a confronting artwork commenting on body image and anorexia. Their teachers consider the message too downbeat and morbid to represent teenage life and alter the work into an inane piece celebrating what Daria and Jane were criticising. In the end, the two heroines end up destroying their tainted work.
Save for perhaps a few angsty, soap-opera style episodes in the show’s fourth season, “Daria” has shown the value (and perhaps superiority?) of animation by rising above melodramatic wailings, whingeings and boyfriend stealing to become a show that “tells is like it is” for real teenagers.
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Characters:
Daria Morgendorffer
Surrounding herself by a wall of ironic barbs and wisdom beyond her years, Daria is an admirable, intelligent nonconformist. Despite her cold exterior it is easy to see her warmths and weaknesses in her friendship with Jane, her giddy crush on Jane’s brother Trent, and to a lesser extent her passion and enthusiasm for literature and creative writing.
(Voice: Tracy Grandstaff)
Jane Lane
A self-proclaimed slacker, Jane is an artiste extraordinaire. She is slightly more outgoing than Daria, and a lot more confident and careless.
(Voice: Wendy Hoopes)
Helen and Jake Morgendorffer
Daria’s high strung, career-oriented parents are mostly an annoyance or source of money for Daria. However, they do show support and love for their daughter even if they can’t relate to her nihilistic attitude.
(Voices: Julian Rebodello and Wendy Hoopes)
Quinn Morgendorffer
She’s Daria’s sister and everything that Daria isn’t. Popular, superficial, pretty and excruciating. Quinn rarely even admits to being related to Daria in fear it will tarnish her reputation at school.
(Voice: Wendy Hoopes)
Fanfic:
The Blurs of Jane Lane by MissFitt
Snow Darn by Patrick Moore
The Incredible Morgerdorffers by Shadow Pumpkinhead
Daria: Coast to Coast by Shadow Pumpkinhead
Favorite links:The Irony Maiden
This fansite has a news ticker, airing information for 25 countries (so there's no excuse for missing the show!), an archive of two years Daria news, info about videos and DVDs, and other stuff including a fan survey and a neat fandom map (stick in a virtual pin to show where you live!).~ Anon
This page created by Killjoy
