“I don’t have low self-esteem; I just have low esteem for everyone else.”
Best quote from Daria ever. What is Daria you may ask? Only the funniest, most sarcastic, humorous cartoon to come from MTV since Bevis and Buthead. Daria was originally a character from this show, but later broke out with her own series. Yes it is animated and I guess could be considered a cartoon, but it’s not the thing I’d show five year olds every Saturday morning. Daria is our long awaited heroine who really just doesn’t care about anyone or anything. According to Daria, we’re not sarcastic, we’re just realists.
The show focuses on Daria living in the town of Lawndale with her crazy cursing dad, workaholic mom, and vapid popular sister, Quinn. In the beginning of the series, she moves to Lawndale with her family and instantly finds that her sister is pulled in to the popular clique called the Fashion Club. But Daria finds her own friend in the gothic artist Jane Lane. Whether the name is meant to be this ironic or just is coincidental mystifies me. But either way, she is the only thing that stands between Daria and total emotionless sarcasm. Her character adds passion to Daria’s heartless judgment of her classmates.
Not that her classmates don’t deserve it. Some of the more prominent of Daria’s classmates include Kevin the quarterback, who only thinks a quarter of the time, and his slightly smarter girlfriend Brittney, the head cheerleader. Also there’s Upchuck, who is the endless lady charmer, minus the ladies. He’s the classic comedic relief in the sharp witty world of Daria. And to show Daria isn’t completely heartless is Jane’s brother Trent, a love interest for our heroine.  This crazy cast of characters keeps the laughs high, while still making legitimate points about the problems with society.
Daria addresses the constant issue of conformity that every kid faces. It is a satire, for those AP Lang readers, on the ‘corn-pone’ opinions of our generation. Honestly, if you get offended by this then you are taking life too seriously, because Daria is nothing but laugh. While the later season does focus more on character development, it still keeps the integrity that the show is based on. This might just be pointing out the many flaws of society today, but it’s in a way that keeps you laughing. In fact, I think there’s a little Daria in all of us.