Season 1, Episode 5: Malled
Dec 16, 2013 15:39:51 GMT -5
Douay-Rheims-Challoner, Yuri Petrovitch, and 3 more like this
Post by drunkneildiamond on Dec 16, 2013 15:39:51 GMT -5
“Just because you’re not interested in what’s new, attractive, and popular….”
We’ve seen Daria contrasted against her family and against her schoolmates, but now we get to see her contrasted against society as a whole. In Economics, Daria’s contributions to the class get misconstrued as a suggestion to visit a megamall that’s a couple of hours away from Lawndale. Mrs. Bennett’s idea to visit the place as to show economic principles isn’t a bad one, as it gets the students out of the classroom. I think Daria’s resistance to visiting the mall comes not just from anti-consumerism, but from a reluctance to go outside of the classroom. I see Daria as someone more comfortable in the classroom and with reading books and writing papers, rather than going out and experiencing the world outside of those things. That’s not a bad thing at all (a lot of people, including me, are like that). Jane, getting away with what only best friends can, tells Mrs. Bennett, “These hives get bad. I’ve seen them; they drip with puss.” Alas, she only manages to embarrass Daria.
After a horrible bus ride, the students finally get to the mall. Instead of talking with the mall managers about concepts like “flow,” they get roped into being market research participants. Daria and Jane are reisistant, but Jodi is, as well…at least until free stuff is given to them. “So much for idealistic youth,” Daria says. The mall itself is a labyrinth full of useless junk, and the stuff that isn’t useless, is sold by a soulless big box store (Books by the Ton). The Doodad shop is nothing but useless junk, giving people who just want to buy something, something to buy.
Tired of mall culture, Daria and Jane try to get some food and we start to see the dynamics of the Fashion Club, with Sandi’s passive aggressiveness on full display. The girls roped some more shmuck into driving them to and from the mall, not even bothering to learn his name. Daria takes advantage of busting her sister and gets a ride from the guy, not even bothering to learn his name, either. I thought that was interesting that both Quinn and Daria referred to the unnamed gentleman as “guy,” possibly to indicate that, in some ways, Daria is a bit self-absorbed herself. She might be more interested in scholarly pursuits than her sister, but she still seems to shun the world outside of those interests.
Notes
• This episode’s music list: web.archive.org/web/20120512035707/http://www.outpost-daria.com/song_list_1.html#ep105
We’ve seen Daria contrasted against her family and against her schoolmates, but now we get to see her contrasted against society as a whole. In Economics, Daria’s contributions to the class get misconstrued as a suggestion to visit a megamall that’s a couple of hours away from Lawndale. Mrs. Bennett’s idea to visit the place as to show economic principles isn’t a bad one, as it gets the students out of the classroom. I think Daria’s resistance to visiting the mall comes not just from anti-consumerism, but from a reluctance to go outside of the classroom. I see Daria as someone more comfortable in the classroom and with reading books and writing papers, rather than going out and experiencing the world outside of those things. That’s not a bad thing at all (a lot of people, including me, are like that). Jane, getting away with what only best friends can, tells Mrs. Bennett, “These hives get bad. I’ve seen them; they drip with puss.” Alas, she only manages to embarrass Daria.
After a horrible bus ride, the students finally get to the mall. Instead of talking with the mall managers about concepts like “flow,” they get roped into being market research participants. Daria and Jane are reisistant, but Jodi is, as well…at least until free stuff is given to them. “So much for idealistic youth,” Daria says. The mall itself is a labyrinth full of useless junk, and the stuff that isn’t useless, is sold by a soulless big box store (Books by the Ton). The Doodad shop is nothing but useless junk, giving people who just want to buy something, something to buy.
Tired of mall culture, Daria and Jane try to get some food and we start to see the dynamics of the Fashion Club, with Sandi’s passive aggressiveness on full display. The girls roped some more shmuck into driving them to and from the mall, not even bothering to learn his name. Daria takes advantage of busting her sister and gets a ride from the guy, not even bothering to learn his name, either. I thought that was interesting that both Quinn and Daria referred to the unnamed gentleman as “guy,” possibly to indicate that, in some ways, Daria is a bit self-absorbed herself. She might be more interested in scholarly pursuits than her sister, but she still seems to shun the world outside of those interests.
Notes
• This episode’s music list: web.archive.org/web/20120512035707/http://www.outpost-daria.com/song_list_1.html#ep105
