Daria went off the air in 2002, but where did she go?
Daria dwells near the bottom of the caste system—somewhere between the geeks and art kids—at her suburban school. With her round glasses, sarcastic monotone, and chunky black boots, she is equally disaffected and defensive—an outsider who's smarter than most everyone in her town. In the pilot episode, she quips, "I don't have low self-esteem, I have low esteem for everyone else.” Of her peers, she explains: “I'm not miserable, I'm just not like them.” Her lack of pep makes her an outcast not only at school, but at home, where she’s the black sheep to Quinn, her younger, more attractive, and socially ambitious sister. But Daria is no loser; she stands up for herself, doesn’t care about the social hierarchy, and has no trouble speaking her mind or talking back. She has a sidekick and confidant—Jane Lane—and while Jane’s brother Trent is something of a crush for Daria, boys are far from the main topic of their conversations.
Daria's character originally appeared as a foil to the characters on Beavis and Butthead. In the extra features of the DVD, Glenn Eichler, the executive producer (who's now at The Colbert Report), said that “MTV was looking for a show that would appeal to its female viewership.” After all, this was the bikini and booty-shaking Spring Break era of MTV, and as another writer mentions, the network wanted a show that would make girls appear smart. The creators of Daria cast around, looking at other teen characters on television—Darlene Conner from Roseanne, Angela Chase from My So-Called Life—and noticed something: teen girls were portrayed as fully realized people, and not mini-adults.
So where did all the Darias go? Eight years after the show went off the air, the super-smart, dry, withering, righteously angry girls are largely absent from pop culture. For every sassy adolescent as played by Juno’s Ellen Page, our current teen cultural landscape is clogged with heroines whose principal interests, as on Gossip Girl, are status and men. It’s a transition that happened gradually from the late nineties to the present: There was the dry-humored Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the earnest clique on Dawson’s Creek, Mean Girls, the teen magazines that brazenly suggested $400 APC wedges for fifteen year-olds, the endless YA series that read like junior versions of Danielle Steel novels.
Daria’s brand of snide sarcasm seemed realistic to her audience and probably edgy to advertisers. But over the ensuing years, her trademark snarky voice was everywhere. On LiveJournals and on MySpace pages, teenage girls could rant about the high school caste system or proudly proclaim their every disaffected mood to virtual friends. And on blogs like Gawker, the grown-up popular crowd—celebrities, the wealthy, the media elite—were skewered in an often deadpan voice.
Only it had hardened into something more mean-spirited. The tone was caustic in weekly tabloids or on websites like Perez Hilton’s that wondered aloud whether starlets were with child or just bloated. Over the past decade, being overly sarcastic wasn’t just considered out of fashion, it was seen as a social problem. David Denby called snark “a nasty, knowing strain of abuse spreading like pinkeye through the national conversation.” But Daria—both the character and the tenor of the show—was full of nuance: outraged, sullen, eye-rolling, but also, like most teenagers, tender when you least expect it. These days, teen culture can be about sex (The Hills), or optimism (Glee), or vampires, but it seems to have no place for a snarky teen girl.
Marisa Meltzer is the author of Girl Power and How Sassy Changed My Life.
Excellent piece. What really rings true for me is the last line, as a teen girl I often feel like well if I don’t want to be all about sex a la the hills then my only option is super bubbly optimism.
Sometimes we all need a middle ground in the form of sarcasm. I just wish I didn’t have to go back in time to find my pop culture role models.
this is a great blog post! I was in middle school when Daria was on MTV and she was my idol – I had Daria notebooks, pens, & magnets in my locker even…I felt like I could relate to her more than to my more “popular” peers at my age. We need another intelligent and sarcastic girl like her on TV to offer their point of view versus the bimbos and airheads that shows seem to prefer to cast, whether reality or scripted. Beavis & Butthead are coming back to MTV with new episodes, so why not balance it with Daria?
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2010/07/todays-twop-news-july-7-2010.php
There’s a snarky daughter on the new television series, “Modern Family.” Great reflection on an important topic.
10 Things I Hate About You had a very Daria-esque character, Kat (played by Lindsey Shaw). Yes, she was involved with Gregory Peck’s grandson on the show, but she was a pretty outspoken, snarky, proud to be a feminist character.
The show was canceled after its 20th episode.
Great post, except for the reference to Denby, who’s just mad he never gets the jokes
#DariaIsMyHero
This is definitely a great conversation! But there are other examples of snarky female characters as well. Veronica Mars? Granted, the show is not not on the air anymore, but I would say she counts. And Peregrine (previous commenter) is right about Alex on Modern Family. What about April on Parks and Rec? And while I would never argue that any character on Glee is realistic, I also wouldn’t say that they all necessarily represent optimism either. What about Tina? She’s pretty snarky, although they haven’t done that much with her character yet. Anyway, while I agree that there aren’t many Darias on tv these days, there is a whole lot of variety out there which deserves mention.
The best part of Daria was always the subtext that her life really wasn’t bad at all. She had a great best friend. Her family was together and at least half-cared, even if they were completely clueless. Her crush was decent to her. The cool kids were annoying, but entirely harmless. The joke beneath the surface always seemed to be that Daria really didn’t have that much to complain about. Frankly, I always hoped for a spinoff that followed Jane. She was delightful.
Daria is/was by definition, an outsider. So to imply that in the good ole’ days, there were a bunch of people like her, negates the single most important aspect of her identity, which is that she is not like others. Ergo, “Where are the Darias?” is a ridiculous question. The Darias are unseen outsiders, as they have always been. By wondering wondering where they are, or moreover, why they aren’t mainstream, you’re kind of answering your own question.
Emmy, I love that you mentioned Veronica Mars – she’s my personal hero. Thoroughly enjoyed this post – I was a huge Daria fan and agree that snarky girls are harder to find these days. The funny thing is that I am one of the bubbly, overly optimistic females that seem to run rampant in today’s pop culture, but even us school spirit-types need a humbling dose of sarcasm and snark in order to maintain mental balance.
I like your overall point about the the shift in teen girl protagonists, even I feel like the overall tone comes off as a little too nostalgic and “hey kids get off my lawn.” While I agree that there might be fewer snarky teen girl (anti?)heroines these days, that’s not to say that the snark and sarcasm is totally gone. I myself actually read Glee (and most of its optimism) as drawn from a type of sarcasm and snark. And Tina Fey, even as an adult, also provides a certain kind of snarky female lead for teens to get behind.
And finally, who says that teens have to have current characters to enjoy? The fact that girls (well, everyone, no matter how they gender identify, really) can easily obtain/watch/enjoy Daria is something that wasn’t possible in the years before wide-release TV on DVD or online video. Finding their own meaning and appreciation in series, films, music, etc. from previous generations is perhaps just as significant than enjoying something (or someone) that claims to speak for their current generation.
‘Daria’ was very much a product of its time. These days, I think the sarcastic-outsider smart girl archetype has been replaced by the peppy, hyper-involved overachiever. Daria’s teenage-girl-as-a-fully-realized-person heir is Rory from Gilmore Girls, not anybody from Gossip Girl.
The Darias of today are sitting behind their computer screens smirking at articles/comments denying their existance. just you wait.
While we can find and acknowledge snarky minor characters today, the shows aren’t really about that perspective. Plus I don’t find the snarky daughter in Modern Family particularly deep or well-developed character-wise. But maybe I’m blinded by my general distaste for the show.
But I don’t think she’s saying Daria-esque girls don’t exist, whatissnooky, just that they aren’t prominently featured in pop culture.
I was a Daria as an adolescent and so the show was very special to me and still is. I agree that there really is no teenage female character that comes close to Daria on TV today. But I don’t think you can really expect there to be. Characters like Daria don’t come around very often. Her unique mixture of bold confidence and well-camouflaged insecurity, her sense of justice that occasionally shaded over until self-righteousness, her moments of vulnerability that she hates but can’t deny–it was all so true. She was at once heroic and deeply flawed. Characters that well-written and well-observed just don’t come around that often, especially not female ones and ESPECIALLY not teenage female ones. The only other one I can think of that came shortly after her was Claire from “Six Feet Under” who I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned.
“…the endless YA series that read like junior versions of Danielle Steel novels.”
There are always going to be the Gossip Girl/Sweet Valley High-esque novels. But YA lit is full of empowering female characters, like Katniss from the recent Hunger Games series. I would say there are more smart, capable young women in YA lit than there have ever been.
Chloe Sullivan on Smallville is defiintely snarky. She’s extremely smart, capable, witty, and selfless.
I would love to see this show! I think I was a little young for it when it first aired. I do think Glee presents teens girls that, while not “snarky”, are facing real world problems like teen pregnancy which is more than can be said for a lot of female characters.
Yes! I was just thinking about this the other day.
And while there have been others that are perhaps similar to Daria, I don’t think any have been quite as realistic (even though she’s a cartoon) or cut quite as deep as her. Although not nearly as snarky, I’d say Lindsay from Freaks and Geeks is closest in spirit. Smart, wearing a large coat, stuck between social groups, etc.
Watching Daria was a nice palate cleanser after MTV Spring Break or TRL in the same way as listening to PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me” after Backstreet Boys or the like.
I miss the Daria character on TV shows as well. Perhaps that is why I don’t watch much television anymore. I totally identified with MSCL’s Angela when I was younger and I was extremely crushed when the show was canceled. Actually, it seems that every show that had fully developed young female characters gets canceled, such as MSCL, Daria, Felicity, and ABC Family’s Beautiful People. I’m not sure why this happens. Is society too afraid to provide young women with an alternate point of view?
So true! This is something that the blog The FBomb seems to discuss a lot. The blog is written by what I would call Real Life Darias – snarky teen feminists. Here are a few posts from there that sort of go along with this:
http://thefbomb.org/2009/07/the-fatal-generalizations-in-the-teen-movie/
http://thefbomb.org/2009/07/another-teen-show-rant/