Here's a question that comes up now and then: which characters displayed personal growth from the time they first appeared on Daria to the time the show ended with IICY? My initial responses follow.Daria: Yes, sort of. She develops a better relationship with her family, but at the end she's still dumping people before they can dump her (e.g., Tom). Her attitude toward her life, the world, and her future does not appear to have improved, either. She is still pessimistic (read "realistic").
Jane: Yes, sort of. Daria talked her into going to college and making something of herself instead of staying in Lawndale forever, as Trent wanted her to do. Jane got over the Tom thing, which still just amazes me, and moved on. She's still the takes-nothing-seriously young woman she was in "Esteemsters," but she was a survivor to begin with, so her personal growth was more like putting icing on the cake.
Tom: No. No personal growth whatsoever.
Quinn: Yes. She uses her intelligence more, gets along better with her sister, not so shallow as she was but still possesses poise, charisma, charm, and a sure way with people.
Stacy: Yes. She became confident, found her own courage to stand up to Sandi in an appropriate way, and do things the Fashion Club might not have approved of, like work with Upchuck.
Upchuck: No.
Sandi: Doubtful. The changes she underwent in "Fat Like Me" evaporated by show's end. (LATE ADD: See entry for December 20, 2007. Maybe she did change!)
Andrea: If anything, she grew desperate by the time she decided to go out with Upchuck.
Trent: No. He's at the same level he was before, cruising below the radar, doing little.
Anyone else want to chip in on this?
9 comments:
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Helen: Yes. Stopped trying to turn Daria into another version of Quinn and began to take Daria's side more. Began to sympathize with Daria and actually gave good advice to Daria in some episodes. Still a workaholic, but knows that she's doing it for a reason. However, appears to be expressing disappointment in Quinn near the end of the series.
Jake: Yes, sort of. He's still on a short fuse and has to work out his daddy issues. However, he took tenative steps towards bonding with Daria and was willing to stretch himself as a consultant for Buzzdome.com.
I'd say that Daria grew more than you give her credit for, but still retained much of defined her as she was.
She had learned to recognize how rigid and demanding she was on herself and others, and learned how, while intellectually mature, was still socially and emotionally less so. By her graduation, she was recognizing the value of family and friends while still viewing thing realistically. A good combination on life.
The Bug Guy took the words right out of my mouth. Beginning with the fourth season, Daria started to learn flexibility with others, and started to come out of her shell.
I still thought that by the end of IICY? that shell was on pretty tightly. The Daria that left for college was still very much the Daria we'd known throughout the series: distrustful and suspicious of the motives of others, unable to completely drop her guard even in love relationships, prone to dump early to avoid anticipated pain later on.
Could the first-season Daria have given that graduation speech at all? Let alone on Ms. Li's extemporaneous demand?
She acknowledged family and friends having supported her in a way that wouldn't have been conceivable to her when she moved to Lawndale. She also could draw several broader (and funnier) conclusions from her high-school experience, where she once would've disdained the effort to develop them at all.
As for Tom, his growth of insight was relatively small, but it existed. He didn't take Daria, and her distinct personal qualities, nearly as much for granted as he did Jane. If anything, he worked to help her overcome her introversion.
Tom also kept the possibility open for a continuing friendship with Daria from a distance, which he'd closed off with Jane. (He didn't see Jane, after they broke up, outside of Daria's presence.)
I agree that Daria' shell was still up and strong, but it was slowly coming down. I think it would've been to far out of character for her to have dropped it much more in the time frame represented by the show. However, she had learned the lessons that would enable her to slowly let others in as she continued to grow.
And I think Daria gave her relationship with Tom a real chance, which she would not have done earlier in the series. The Daria of season one or two would have broken up with Tom after their first fight (consider her relationship with Ted); indeed, she nearly did, but allowed Tom to talk her out of it, and then stuck with him through some pretty rough times. And in the end, I don't think she broke up with him just to avoid him breaking up with her, but in recognition of the fact that their relationship was in decline, had been for a while, and was only going to get worse. It was actually a very mature decision, and conducted in a mature manner that allowed the breakup to be amicable. I think that shows considerable growth.
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