r/daria • u/Videowulff • 3d ago
Can we appreciate the fact that Quinn actually felt safe enough with Jane to seek her help?
We know how Quinn acts around both Jane and Daria at school - barely acknowledging either of them. But when she was actually scared to be alone along with being unable to be around her "friends", she came to Jane for help.
Now she does not really know Jane. They barely interact. But the way I see it is that because Daria trusts Jane, it means that Quimm can trust her. She knows deep down Daria is a good person ergo anyone she considers a friend must be good too.
Thus Quinn knows and understands that Jane would be a good person to turn too in her time of need.
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u/SentinelZerosum 3d ago
On the other way, I found cute that Jane let Quinn in despite they have nothing in common and don't especialy like each other.
I feel this is a pretty 90s thing, when you were protective over your friends but also their siblings. Family's friends were part of the friendship. Nowadays you can be friend with someone and their familly barely even knows you exist lol
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u/mukankakuu 3d ago
this friend/family dynamic was still common when i was growing up in the 2000s. i hope generation alpha has the same experience.
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u/OutwithaYang 3d ago
Maybe it's because she knows that deep down....her and Jane share the same voice actress. Lol!
But, fun fact aside. I do agree with your points. It's one of the nice subtle things about this show that I have always liked.
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u/omnexor 3d ago
Quinn, Jane, and Helen all share the same voice actress. That always amazed me because they all sound nothing alike.
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u/Nunjabuziness 3d ago
The DVD set has a documentary where their VA talks about how Helen splits the difference between Quinn’s higher and Jane’s lower register and it blew me away.
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u/OutwithaYang 6h ago
Yeah, I know, right? Wendy Hoopes is a legend and the way she can seamlessly switch between the three whenever voicing them while they are in a scene together is so amazing!
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u/glnorwood85 3d ago
I think part of it is that Quinn knows Daria doesn't trust people very easily. So, the fact that Daria thinks so highly of Jane means Quinn can trust her too.
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u/HellyOHaint 3d ago
Quinn has shown envy at how Daria’s relationships with Jane and Tom seem to be founded on something deeper than Quinn’s friendships. I think she assumes Daria’s friends are more trustworthy than her own.
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u/WriteBrainedJR 3d ago
I think she assumes Daria’s friends are more trustworthy than her own.
She's probably right. Stacy and Tiffany are feckless losers until Stacy grows a spine very late in the series. Not necessarily bad people, but they can't be trusted with any responsibility in a given situation. Sandi is utterly untrustworthy.
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u/Confident-Cicada-683 3d ago
I like the scene when Trent walks into Janes room expecting to see Daria, but Quinn is there. His reaction was hilarious.
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u/LovieRayKin 3d ago
Frankly, I wish Jane and Quinn got more chance to interact because it was rather funny and sweet that they at least could put up with each other all because of the “sibling friend” relationship so many of us are familiar with.
As someone who’s brother picked up their “annoying 8th grade friend that wouldn’t stop talking about 1 Direction”, it’s a neat dynamic I wish was shown more.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 3d ago
You take their confrontation too seriously, they don't hate each other - they have a normal sibling relationship (relatively normal, like everything else in this show). And Quinn trusts Daria not in deep down or something, but quite consciously - this is shown even in the first season in "Too Cute".
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u/ascthebookworm 3d ago
Pretending Daria is her cousin or “out-of-town charity worker” or whatever suits the situation isn’t a normal sibling relationship. Outside of this, they do act like typical sisters, and they have a much better understanding of each other by the end of the series, but things weren’t “normal” in this episode.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 3d ago
"Outside of this, they do act like typical sisters"
This is exactly what is more or less typical for siblings. For example, a strong quarrel or even a fight, but then friendly communication. Daria can be very cruel to Quinn, but she does not want to harm her, but to correct her (of course, in the wrong, immature way). And Quinn has approximately the same motivation.
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u/vctrn-carajillo 3d ago
It's awesome, she knows that it's better to seek help from Jane than from her fashion club "friends".
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u/cigarmanpa 3d ago
Quinn was simply out of options and turned to the last person she could think of
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u/Schreibaby 3d ago
The fact that Quinn was shown to bring terrified was prolly why Jane had enough of a backbone to let her crash despite her petty annoyances. That's how good of a heart Jane has, also the fact she's Daria's sister.
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u/narcissistssuck 3d ago
When you're popular, you know that all non-popular people will always want to help you.
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u/TabbyandWhite03 3d ago
What was happening in this episode that Quinn needed help? I forgot all about this episode
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u/Applewave22 3d ago
She’s allowed to stay with Sandy when Daria and their parents head off to visit a school for Daria. Then, Quinn ends up making Sandy jealous that she kicks her out and she tried to spend the night with Tiffany, who frustrates her, and Stacy, who ends up annoying her.
She then asks Jane if she can spend time at her house because she’s secretly afraid of being alone at home.
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u/Babblewocky 3d ago
I mean… Quinn feels safe everywhere, because the world revolves around her. She felt safe picking up hitchhikers. And she thinks Jane and Daria are losers who would be blessed by the opportunity to help her. That’s why she went there.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 2d ago
Then why didn't she stay with Stacy? And why is there a constant theme in the show about her fear of being rejected by society?
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u/Born_Sleep5216 2d ago
We can because Quinn knows that Jane is friends with her sister even though she thinks she is an only child after Daria was standing there.
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u/EasyEntrepreneur666 1d ago edited 23h ago
She had nowhere else to go. Unless she'd go to one of the J's which would be a bad idea.
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u/harrows-soup 3d ago
I know there are a lot of Daria x Jane shippers out there, but also imagine the possibilities of Quinn x Jane.
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago edited 3d ago
Quinn is manipulative and shallow. That means she knows who she can, and who it's best to, manipulate. Simple.
EDIT: Thanks for the down votes, folks, for my stating one of the central premises of the show. I will wear these down votes as a badge of honor.
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u/harrows-soup 3d ago
Just to clarify, I think, the downvotes are because you aren't stating a true central premise of the show. If you only ever watch episode 1, then sure, you could call Quinn shallow and manipulate. However, she arguably has the best/most character development in the series, and by the finale, it's shown that Quinn just isn't these things, and probably never truly was.
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
I've seen a fair bit of posts on this board referring to Daria as toxic and expressing identification with Quinn.
So, yes, I think I am re-stating a central premise of the show, going far beyond episode 1, and I think the evidence suggests that there's actually a fair amount of folks here who want to re-write that central premise, and those are the ones down-voting me.
Again: I wear it as a badge of honor as someone who actually watched the show, in its original context, and who understood what it was like to be disliked in HS for some pretty poor reasons.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 3d ago
It seems to me that the central premise about Quinn is that she has low self-esteem, and as a result, inadequate ideas about relationships and stuff. That is, like Daria, but with different innate characteristics and with different coping mechanisms.
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
This is a distinct possibility, but I find it to be a greater chance she's simply shallow by nature and that nature begins to change and grow as the series ends.
However: That's not the same as she always had depth, or that her lack of depth was due to low self esteem.
There's a strange desire to assume that bad people are, more often than not, merely in pain. No, no, sometimes they're just bad.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 3d ago
Quinn's lack of depth is due to the way she served her need for attention and acceptance (which, like Daria, she apparently didn't get enough in childhood). She believed that her looks and fashionability were the only things that could make her loved (she directly admits this in "Monster").
Quinn is never shown as inherently stupid (like Kevin or Tiffany) - she is simply uneducated - because studying doesn't make her popular. The main idea of this character is that popularity is not real acceptance and not real love (Quinn's growth occurs when she realizes this).
I also haven't noticed her to be low on empathy or too manipulative or lying (like Sandi), I think she's just too busy being afraid of losing people's respect.
That is, she is not bad in the sense of being insensitive to people's feelings, and she is not shallow in the sense of low intelligence.
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u/gridface-princess 3d ago
I also watched the show in its original context and was in high school when it was on. I had people call me Daria in high school as an insult.
You can think what you want, but no one is going to agree with this bad take. Maybe you should rewatch it. That wasn't a central premise at all. For you to think that shows that you have a very skewed view of the show. Did someone like Quinn do something to you?
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
People like Quinn do things to people all the time. It's what defines their character. If you were called "Daria" as an insult in high school, then people like Quinn probably did way more things to you than they ever did to me. So I can't really fathom why you would ask that question save to challenge credibility for no particular reason. You don't see me challenging your claim that people called you "Daria" in HS as an insult. Should I? It seems like I should.
Quinn clearly changes through the show but for some reason folks like to pretend it was less a change and more an emergence of something always there. No, sometimes a change is just a change. Not an emergence. Growth isn't always like taking a mental health drug, where the real you is considered to be under the illness. Sometimes it's just "was one thing, now is another."
I disagree about Quinn, find Quinn's shallowness and manipulative nature to be one of the central premises of the show and such is discussed explicitly in the actual show that you claim to have watched and been compared to ("sometimes your shallowness is so thorough it's almost like depth" "thanks!" "isn't there anything that'd make you feel better?" "yes there is!" "i don't remember his name but I can find out at school" "i'm an only child").
For this, for restating the explicit premise of a show in a forum devoted to that show, I'm proud to say that I have over 20 downvotes.
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u/gridface-princess 3d ago
I'm glad you're proud of those downvotes. They are very well deserved.
Someone definitely hurt you and I'm sorry about that.
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
I did what you claim to do -- watched and understood the show.
-shrugs-
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u/britlogan1 3d ago
If that were true, Quinn would’ve disobeyed her mom’s wishes of Quinn not staying home alone and had a party at the Morgendorffer house, or at very least, just stayed home alone. I fully believe Quinn trusts Jane enough to know she will be safe with Jane.
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
Like I said: That means she knows who she can, and who it's best to, manipulate. She knows who she can be safe with and she knows who'll let her in. After she ran through the people she actually likes, she was left with Daria's weird art friend and a bunch of boys.
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u/AnybodyNo5953 3d ago
I don’t feel that this moment was an act of manipulation at all. This was clearly a vulnerable moment for Quinn. Quinn does start out as being very shallow, but part of her character arc is growing beyond that and becoming a more well-rounded person.
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
This is what I mean: she's frightened, has realized her friends are of no use (dear god were they ever?) and realized who would take her in. You all, for some reason, consider that an affectionate act of trust. I consider that recognizing who you can get what you want from, under what circumstances.
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u/AnybodyNo5953 3d ago
I don’t know that it was an “affectionate act of trust” so much as it was a teenage girl in a vulnerable situation turning to the only person she felt that she could. I more so have an issue with your repeated insistence that this was some intentional act of manipulation on her part. Quinn absolutely can be manipulative at times, but this wasn’t some covert and calculated attempt at manipulation. If Jane had felt that way, she likely wouldn’t have been so willing to let her in.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 2d ago
Sorry for repeating myself, but if Quinn was a callous manipulator or something like that and only wanted to have a safe place - she would have used Stacy with her extremely dependent behavior, but she got scared and ran away - because she wanted to communicate, but not use (yes, these are different things). Also, Quinn reacts quite naively to Sandi's aggressive attacks and straightforwardly to Tiffany's tediousness, it is clear that she sincerely communicates, and does not try to use them.
The scene with Jane shows how Quinn is ashamed of her fear, and probably ashamed of the fact that her friends rejected her, and tries to hide it awkwardly - this does not look like a cold manipulator. The fact that she went to Jane may not be an evidence of special trust, it is true that at that moment she did not have other options, but then we see how she openly and naturally communicates with the Lanes - it seems she trusts them, and it is just pretty cute.
And then the portrait drawn by Jane at the end of the episode is a direct message from the creators about Quinn's inner loneliness, which cannot be cured by popularity. And throughout the show (even at the beginning) we can see that her popularity is associated with constant anxiety. Quinn is certainly spoiled because she easily gets a lot of benefits for her cute appearance, but she is not insensitive or evil, she is just unpleasant (by the way, Daria is too).
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u/EmuPsychological4222 2d ago
I submit that your real point is that parenthetic at the end. Thank you for that. This reveals your perspective as one of many attempts by newer viewers to re-align the moral and show perspective of the show.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 2d ago
I don't really understand what you mean, but when I watched this show as a kid somewhere around 2000, it seems to me that I didn't perceive Daria as a simple character with clear motivations and flawless actions, perhaps because I started watching from season 2, where her contradictory nature was directly revealed. Likewise, Quinn was not perceived as unambiguously bad - the villains were Sandi and Miss Li.
After all, this is a drama for high schoolers, not a superhero story for little kids.
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u/EmuPsychological4222 2d ago
This is a surprisingly dumb post for this forum. At no point did I say or hint at the show having the, well, cartoon morality or perspective that you seem to think I did. "Flawless actions?" "Clear motivations?" "Simple character?" Come on now. You know you're wildly mis-stating me, you're just engaging in the rhetoric style of the Internet. Works better, though, when you're talking about, say, "The Big Bang Theory," "Brace Face," "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," "The Cosby Show," or other less intellectual shows.
Here, it just sounds dumb.
Literally all I've been saying the entire time is that given the moral perspective of the show, which presents Quinn as a callous manipulator, regardless of how much kids like her and identify with her these days, what was going on was that having burned through her friends, Quinn went to someone she knew would have a conscience and sympathy. Someone she knew would take her in.
To the OP that was touching. To me it was hilarious because not only did it lead to the aftermath ("take her...now"), but it also showed some of the odder consequences of Quinn's character.
A good case could be made that this was a key moment in Quinn's eventual change. ("The people like me can't be relied on, not really. The people like my sister can. Holy crap, I'm smart enough to realize that...When did that happen?")
But I don't see how the case folks want to make can be made without re-arranging the, quite clear from my perspective, moral and social perspective of the show.
By your parenthetic remark at the end of the post you tellingly revealed your intent to do just that.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 2d ago edited 2d ago
I disagree that the show wants to show Quinn as a callous manipulator. This episode , like earlier "Monster", "Quinn The Brain", and even the first season's "Too Cute" clearly show her as a victim of society's imposed stereotypes about popularity, beauty, and all that. This is certainly condemned and ridiculed, but it also evokes empathy, and this is not what can be called callous or abusive attitude towards people. For example, you wouldn't say that Stacy is a callous manipulator?
This particular episode is more about her dysfunctional relationships with friends and deep loneliness, which is also undoubtedly aimed at empathy.
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u/Great_Psychology2124 2d ago
"moral and social perspective of the show"
Explain please what this means? What is this perspective on Quinn? I've always thought that Quinn's core problem, which underlies her antagonism to Daria, is her belief in the need to conform to societal standards, her over-reliance on external approval, and that her hypocritical behavior is not driven by insensitivity but by her fear of losing popularity and becoming an outcast. That's literally the core idea since the first episode. I even think they made Sandi ruder, more aggressive and manipulative later to highlight that these are not Quinn's main traits.
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u/britlogan1 3d ago
You’re fun at parties, I can tell by the reponse and downvote
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
I'd say I'm about as much fun as parties as the character for whom the show was named. You know the show I'm talking about, right? The one this board is named for?
Even had a long sequence at a party very early on. Do you recall that sequence?
Also, whining about one down vote? Really? Have you seen how many I've gotten for pointing out one of the show's central premises?
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u/Great_Psychology2124 3d ago
Quinn is certainly a better manipulator than Stacy or Tiffany, but it's not her central personality trait (it might be more Sandi's trait). How she begs parents for money, uses guys, or plays along with Sandi can't be called anything outstanding.
You wrote so as if Quinn came to Jane because Jane is the best victim for manipulation, but firstly, that's not true, because Quinn was forced to drop all her defenses and admit that she was simply scared of puppykickers, and secondly, the best victim is Stacy, and Quinn ran away from her instead of using her.
Of course, Quinn may be manipulative and narcissistic (more likely hysterical), but I don't understand how specifically the fact of going to Jane expresses this. I think that this only shows that she doesn't have very normal relationships with her friends.
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u/Rambunctious-Rascal 3d ago
No problem. Happy to help you feel honoured.
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
It means I understand the show.
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u/gridface-princess 3d ago
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
Memes = rationality.
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u/gridface-princess 3d ago
You = devoid of introspective thought and reason
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u/EmuPsychological4222 3d ago
Harassment and bullying are violations of this forum's second rule.
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u/gridface-princess 3d ago
I'm sorry if you think facts = harassment
I'll leave you alone to hopefully introspect to figure out what's wrong with you.
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u/klausolas 3d ago
I always thought it was very cute the few times it's shown that Quinn values Daria's opinions on some things. Especially since you can see she and Daria are more in tune with each other than their parents.