Daria S01xE02 The Invitation

1. Thesis
Daria isn't particularly "about" anything, in the way that, say, Deadwood is about the self-organizing nature of society, or Entourage is about how awesome bros are, or Top Of The Lake is about the effects of sexualized violence (note: that last example is in here solely as a gratuitous reason to recommend Top Of The Lake. Go, watch it). In fact, as I've mentioned, the weakest parts of Daria tend to be those that try to Make A Statement. But while Daria may not be about any single thing, there are many different subjects it is interested in, and one of those is class distinctions.

This might, on the face of it, seem like an odd claim to make. Daria is hardly The Wire, and Lawndale doesn't exactly encompass the full range of the human condition. By design, Daria is exploring the issues of a very narrow slice of society, and one that is, by global and historical standards, exceptionally privileged and exceptionally well off. But while the range is narrow, it IS a range, and both the show and the characters within it are exquisitely attuned to the distinctions between them.

Brittany-centric episodes such as this one tend to provide good examples of this phenomenon. Of the families we see in the course of the series, Brittany's is among the most well-off, and it's a sign of how seriously this show takes class distinctions that I am so confident in that claim (I can go further and state that exactly two characters in the series, one we've met already and one we haven't, come from richer families than Brittany's.  But we'll get to them in their due course). A lot of shows want to see the suburbs as "little boxes on the hillside," a bunch of identical cookie cutter lives like those on Kamazotz. But Daria knows that every community, every peer group, and every clique is always ordered, on a variety of dimensions. And even when the rankings are ignored for politeness' sake, they are never completely forgotten.

2. Recap
Short: When Daria helps Brittany with an assignment in art class, Brittany thanks her by inviting her -- "just this once" -- to her upcoming party.

Long: The episode centers around a party at Brittany's to which Daria receives the eponymous invitation. This surprising turn of events takes place after Daria helps Brittany learn perspective in art class (via an extended metaphor involving Cashman's department store). This connection, along with a shared distaste for pudding skin, inspires Brittany to invite Daria to her party, explaining that Daria is fortunately not attractive enough to be threatening to the other cheerleaders. While perusing Jane's sketchbook of "life drawings" (i.e., nudes), Daria discloses her invitation, and Jane easily convinces her that they should go, despite her claimed reluctance.

Quinn, needless to say, is also invited to the party. Her three suitors, Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie (hereafter referred to as the J's), all ask to escort her, and she accepts all three, as she is not ready to tie herself down to a single boyfriend. She is horrified to learn that Daria is also attending, and runs to her parents, who, unsurprisingly, fail to sympathize, even encouraging Daria (after Quinn has stormed off) to "keep an eye" on her sister at the party.

As the party begins, Brittany worries being judged for not having a Jacuzzi (Kevin is unhelpful). Daria and Jane arrive at the gate of Crewe Neck ("Private And Proud"), having gotten a ride from Trent. Jane is not on the list, but gains entry by distracting the guard with her life drawings. Inside, as Quinn hides from Daria, Charles Ruttheimer, known to all as "Upchuck," swoops in to offer them a tour of the house, including the laundry room, d/b/a the "makeout room", before finally admitting he only got invited by helping Britney in biology. A nameless girl (who I believe pops up in a couple future episodes, and may even get a name at some point) explains to Sandy and Tiffany which students are popular and why (they are baffled by Daria's lack of makeup). Two lame guys hit on Daria and Jane; Daria delivers a devastating retort which they are too dumb to understand. Jane, on the other hand, winds up sneaking off to the makeout room with one of them. Meanwhile, the security guard, overcome by the life drawings, runs off to find Jane, leading to a massive influx of hooligans into Crewe Neck. The J's, after Quinn declines to choose between them, fall to fighting, delighting Quinn. The party (now including a sheepish security guard) is broken up by the police, while Daria and Jane pose as security at the gate and harass incoming residents. Quinn, stranded by the now-unconscious J's, finds them there, and they find themselves forced to accept a ride home from Upchuck.

3. Recapitulation
Class (the economic variety) is a subject that high school students are just starting to discover. Don't get me wrong: that peasant in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is right, it is all about class, and kids understand that from very early on, at least in a vague sort of way. But it is only in adolescence that we learn that things that really shouldn't make a difference, really do make a difference: class, race, religion, gender. We aren't born caring about any of these, and most of us are told by our parents that we shouldn't care about at least some of them. But by age 14 or so, we care about all of them. We have no choice.

Thus Lawndale. Britney's alpha-cheerleader status, we now know, is not based exclusively on her cheering ability, or the fact that she's dating the QB. It is also based on her family's position as residents of Crewe Neck. A community whose official motto, again, is "Private And Proud." Not the subtlest joke in the world, granted. But subtlety isn't what Daria does. I realize that statement contradicts some of what I've said so far, but I think that gets at what I'm trying to uncover here. Daria manages to achieve the effects of subtlety without actually employing it. It replaces subtlety with precision. When you look at this episode's treatment of class, there isn't much subtlety on display.  Brittany's fears about not having a Jacuzzi, the entitled way in which the neighborhood resident who ultimately breaks up the party rants at the (empty) security booth, the character design on the residents who Daria and Jane stop at the entrance: all these things make it plainly obvious that the show has no sympathy whatever for the society at Crewe Neck.

And yet there are unexpected layers within that society as well. Brittany's concern about being judged for her lack of a Jacuzzi is ridiculous, sure. But it is also sincere. When Jodie jokingly asks where the Jacuzzi is, Brittany is genuinely mortified. She doesn't want the Jacuzzi for herself, and she doesn't feel that she should be judged for not having one. She just knows that she will be. Similarly, the residents that Daria and Jane harass at the gate (each of whom is only on screen for a second or two) are noticeably distinguished from the complaining neighbor and even from each other. The first (almost certainly a mother herself) calls them out as fakes, and while she's justifiably annoyed, she's annoyed in a less hostile way than the complainer. The second is more concerned with his status than the third, but both of them actually play along with Daria and Jane, even though it seems clear that they aren't duped, or at least not completely.

It is this careful, precise characterization that allows Daria to get away with such unsubtle jokes as "Private and Proud." Nobody denies that Brittany is a ridiculous caricature, but she is a very specific ridiculous caricature, and that is what makes her fascinating.

4. Closeup
Charles "Upchuck" Ruttheimer is one of two new characters (along with the art teacher Ms. Defoe) we meet in this episode. I'll get to Ms. Defoe eventually, but I'd like to take a moment to explore the significance of Upchuck in the Daria universe. Specifically, the fact that Upchuck embodies a concept I will continually reference, which I'll call the Eichler Principle. The name stems from this interview (contains spoilers!) with Daria showrunner, creator, and chief writer Glenn Eichler.

At this point I should probably make it clear that there's a very real chance that these posts would not exist without this interview. Certainly I loved the show, or I would never have found the interview in the first place.. But this was what really drove home to me the way in which Daria was not just a great series, but a special one. So this series is hereby dedicated to Kara Wild, the interviewer (and one of the forces that pushed MTV to finally release the show on DVD).

In any case, I have no doubt that I'll come back to this interview again, but the exchange I want to discuss here is this one:

KW: It seems as though with few exceptions, the men of Lawndale are weak while the women hold positions of power. Was that coincidental, a comment on American society, or did you have a specific agenda?
GE: None of the above... I noticed that phenomenon myself after we were into the series for a year or two. It wasn't by design, but it wasn't exactly coincidental, because I realized there was something about the women being more powerful than the men that gave the series a unique setting -- almost as if it were a slightly alternate universe. I think in episodic TV, strong male characters tend to overwhelm strong female characters, as a reflection of the balance of power in the real world and in the writing rooms. (Maybe that's why so many shows with young female protagonists place them in fatherless households.) Somehow that balance got reversed in Daria.

So the Eichler Principle can be stated as "Strong women, to be strong, must be surrounded by weak men" (as the context makes clear, this is a reflection of our patriarchical society, not an endorsement of it). Daria makes use of this principle constantly, dating back to the very first scene of the series, in which Jake is ignored by his daughters while failing to convey a message from his wife. It's interesting to me that, according to Glenn, this was an accident, and you can see the show feeling its way through that concept in these first few episodes. The boys hitting on Quinn in the assembly in Esteemsters, and the boys who hit on Daria and Jane in this episode, are both significantly more aggressive than any of the regular male characters turn out to be.

Which brings us back to Upchuck. We see Daria and Jane get hit on twice in this episode, and both times by fairly annoying people. But there's a reason that Upchuck becomes a recurring character, and the other two do not. Note Daria and Jane's body language, and tone of voice, in each situation. It would perhaps be going too far to say that they are threatened by the two guys, but certainly the situation forces them into an even more defensive stance than usual. With Upchuck, however, the tone is very different, even though his approach isn't all that dissimilar. Certainly they don't like him (how could they?). But he is manifestly not a threat to them. When he puts his arm on Jane's shoulder, she has no hesitation in pulling it off, and when she does, he doesn't resist, or even pout or make a comment about it. They then have no concerns about going off alone with him on a "tour" of the house, even though he's made it nauseatingly clear that he is attempting to seduce them. Because Upchuck's redeeming quality is that he really would never hurt anyone. He has convinced himself that his skeezy lothario schtick is going to get him some sexy ladies eventually, and he holds to that belief no matter how often it's disproven. But, much like Brittany, he exhibits his privilege through fear, not entitlement. The smooth talking ladies' man he is continuously acting out is a shield, to protect his true self from rejection.

5. Bullet Points!
-I said Brittany was "fascinating" up above, and I'm totally not kidding. In fact, she may be my favorite peripheral character in the series. Which is impressive, given that (along with Kevin) she was easily my least favorite character when I first started watching.

-Quick shoutout to the animators for Jane's facial expression as Daria introduces her to Brittany (12:15 into the episode, if you have the DVD). Words can't do it justice, and I don't know how to make .gifs (I should try and learn!). But it's fantastic.

-I said in the first recap that I'd be keeping an eye out for "forgetting people's names" as a recurring theme in this series, and so far it's paying off big time. Jamie is called the wrong name twice by Quinn, and in what will be a running gag, Kevin persists in referring to Mack as "Mack Daddy," despite his repeated objections. Which is a cutting statement about race relations in our society, disguised as just another silly joke about Kevin's stupidity. I'll write more about this name thing as events warrant.

-When explaining to the J's why she can't take just one of them, Quinn explains that choosing a boyfriend right away would be "like eating the first pancake off the stove. You have to feed one to the dog." My favorite thing about this statement is that future events will make clear that, to Quinn, this is an entirely abstract proverb. The Morgendorffer's don't (and never did) have a dog, and none of them ever cook breakfast. Which is also in keeping with the fact that Quinn has constructed an imaginary, socially acceptable family for herself, which she attempts to pass off to all her peers.

-Another shout out to the animators: as Quinn is picking out an outfit for the party, watch how she rolls the skirt up. As somebody who went to a Catholic school, where the girls' only fashion option was how high to roll the pleated skirt, that moment really stuck out for me.

-Daria airs on LOGO occasionally, check your local listings. Daria only addresses homosexuality once (IIRC) in its entire run, but the channel still seems like a good fit to me.

-Time Capsule Watch: The security guard at Crewe Neck is bribed with Jane's nude sketches. Today he would have, literally, an infinite amount of nudity at his disposal, assuming he had a smartphone. As you read this, I would bet there are hundreds if not thousands of security guards sitting in their booths, looking at naked women.

-Speaking of: the bit where Daria says that one of Jane's models "bursts" out of the plane, and Jane says, "I think she had her bursts done" cracks me up every time. The joke is just OK, but Wendy Hoopes' delivery sells it.

-The dinner table negotiations about who will go to Brittany's party, and under what conditions, are a recurring setup in Daria. Daria and Quinn are constantly negotiating with their parents (like almost all teens), and those negotiations almost always involve cold hard cash (which is less universal). But one of the things that struck me this time was that Helen loves negotiating with her kids. Not just because she loves negotiating (though she does, she's a lawyer). But because she truly believes that teaching her kids negotiation skills is the one of the most important things she can pass on as a mother.

-In those same negotiations, Helen says that she's glad that Daria is expanding her circle of friends. To which Quinn replies, "Maybe now she'll have two." Which even Daria has to recognize is a pretty sweet burn. Don't sleep on Quinn, is what I'm saying.

-Jane's dominant position in the relationship is established already, more clearly than I remembered it. When Daria says that she isn't going to the party "...unless YOU want to?", it is clear that both parties agree that Jane makes the decisions, and that Daria is happy with this. And it is also the case that, both now and in the future, Jane is mean to Daria. She mocks her for her awkwardness around Trent (who Daria has a crush on, although oddly, that hasn't really been made clear yet). And worst of all, she goes off and makes out with a boy. And listen, I have been in that exact situation: in high school, too intimidated by the opposite sex to actually do anything with them, and ditched by your friend to go make out... it's crushing. Like, I'm having flashbacks to a couple specific incidents right now. I can't even talk about it, let's move on.

-A bit of an odd moment, when Trent is dropping them off, and Jane asks if he'd like to crash the party. Trent replies, "A high school party? Don't you think I'm a little mature for that?" Which is staged as a joke, in that they've just been discussing that Trent has been sleeping all day. But clearly he really is too mature for a high school party, as some future episodes will make even more clear. The joke really falls flat, if it's even a joke.

-Continuity Watch: There are a few things in this episode that don't quite match up with what we'll learn later. There's the Trent joke I just mentioned, though I don't think that's a continuity problem so much as a line that doesn't quite work. There's the fact that we see a few non-white characters in background shots, despite the fact that Jodie and Mack will later assert that they are the only black students at Lawndale High (which could be pretty easily retconned). But the worst continuity problem in this episode, and maybe the series, is Tiffany's voice. She sounds... normal! Tiffany will set into the most stylized voice work in the whole show (which is saying a lot), a droning monotone devoid of human emotion. But the couple lines she has here sound just like anybody else, and it's stunningly jarring for anybody familiar with the character she later becomes. There are certainly other characters whose vocal work changes over the course of the series, but that's the only one, at least so far, that is simply completely incompatible with the "real" version of the character.

-Great lines in this episode include Quinn (to the J's) "You deserve a really great girlfriend. <Beat> Well, three, actually," as well as her delivery of "Stop fighting over me! This is horrible!" (that line is another sign of how great Quinn is). But my favorite line by far is almost the last line of the episode, and it's one I'd completely forgotten about until this re-watch. As Upchuck drives the girls home, he continues to give a tour guide spiel, similar to the one he gave of Brittany's house, which I'll quote here:
To your left, the home of the town Director of Public Works, built on unstable ground. To your right, a flattened squirrel. Straight ahead, the future!

-My point being, I've been saying "Straight ahead, the future!" to myself every time I've felt down these past few days, and it helps every time. I recommend you do the same. See you next week!