Continuing our train of thought from the last two postings . . .Picture "Esteemsters" with Jane unavailable to Daria because Jane already has a best friend with whom she can watch Sick, Sad World, visit UFO conventions, and complain about school. Jane might not even be in the self-esteem class, having tested out of it long ago with Jodie so they could do whatever they wanted after classes. The match becomes even better when you look at their dating habits. Jodie already has a steady boyfriend; Jane is happy to play the field as she did when Daria was around. Jodie, being practical-minded and having a bf herself, is more accepting of the time Jane spends dating; she won't become morose about it as Daria did ("See Jane Run," etc.).
Is Jodie an outcast? She's one of the few black students at Lawndale High, so yes, that could happen along racial lines, but Jodie could also be fed up with the world in general, as is Daria. Jodie in fact already is fed up with the world, but she plays the game and milks The System for all it's worth under her parents' direction. Remove the parental push, and . . . she's Daria. Jane and Jodie obviously knew each other before Daria appeared: witness their joint remembrance in "The Big House" of Mr. DeMartino's heart attack the year before. They could have been best friends for years.
Any chance of a triangle developing between Jane, Jodie, and Mack? Probably not. Saint Mack wouldn't cheat on a girlfriend, and Jane never showed she was inclined to move in on another girl's territory (unlike Daria or Quinn). As a result, a Jane-Jodie friendship is probably going to be a keeper.
[LATE ADD: I was forced to modify the above text following a discovery I made a few minutes ago. As I am so fond of saying, more later.]
Under these circumstances, what about Daria? She enters Lawndale an outcast and remains that way, alone as she told Tom in DDMD she feared she always would be . . . unless she finds a different best friend, a topic for later. We haven't investigated Mack's personality yet, and that's in the next posting.
3 comments:
I wouldn't say Daria was "inclined to move in on another girl's territory". Daria, having suppressed her hormones and feelings for much of her life, was unprepared to cope with them when temptation offered itself, and made an impulsive mistake (which she immediately regretted -- look how fast she bolted from Tom's car afterwards).
I calls 'em as I sees 'em.
Yeah, but Jodie's learned to go with the social-flow because of the way her parents have reaised her. We know that Jane's parents are the exact antithesis. I think the two probably know they share the same semi-sarcastic mindset (just because I think people like that know how to search each other out and recognize it) and have been friends previously, as nothing suggests they have ever not been on decent terms throughout the series. But the two have been raised to function/ deal with life in two very different ways; so I think best friends is somewhat of a stretch. The two J's can appreciate each other, but I don't think either would work as a best friend in the other's world, if only because of their very different environments.
- K.
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