Thursday, October 13, 2005
growing up with mtv
“I do not have low self esteem, I have low self esteem for everyone else.”Daria
created by the producers of MTV, daria was first introduced as the only female friend on MTV’s controversial cartoon, beavis and butthead. i fell in love with this toon diva when i was 19. i loved her wit, her dry, sour disposition and sardonic nature, she was like THE epitome of teenage irony. she may be american yet her identity's strangely not.
she was classified as a cultural phenomenon and the archetype for all misfits of the world, regardless of age. obviously, daria wasn't produced for tween consumption alone. like the simpsons, king of the hill and ren and stimpy, they've been created for the grown up audiences. daria’s notoriety and characteristics are best known and uncannily similar to the subculture generation xers no? don't we share a similar disillusioned, cynical and sober perspective of society and family that no one else seemed to understand? (yes, i'm an xer and at times despise the opportunities which baby boomers had).
digressed. daria appeared to be used as a subversive tool in concealing propaganda or messages frowned upon if displayed directly. controversies about american imperialism and how american popular culture has often been targeted and criticized as “debased, manipulative and narcotizing”. but honestly speaking, how many programmes out there are produced purely for entertainment (except reality programs) rather than messages about society? i mean, the local dramas are a good enough example where the gahmen tells us when to have babies, why we should live with our parents, why young couples should get married blah. what may be seen as a mindless comedy has in fact a different kind of social criticism built within it.
likewise our local propaganda, daria's essentially a parody of american teenagers and society. each episode is presented in the form of a narrative of personal events circling around her, her sister Quinn, school, family and friends. she may reject society but she has to learn how to live with and in it. the humour derived from the irony and hypocrisy in daria allows one to take life less seriously and see a different side to life. daria’s skepticism and mistrust for things and society affirms her character as a derivative of postmodernism. the show does not offer any sense of utopian ideologies, it is in fact the contrary. the dysfunctional family in daria where nobody listens to anybody, say... isn't that a mirror image of the present society?
being the brainchild of MTV’s sizable animation unit, daria also displays a strong resemblance to her channel’s style and discourse. media scholars or academics have long ignored MTV thinking it as anarchist, much to the extent of essentially pointless playfulness. but daria's a rebel. she manipulates her parents, mocks her peers and does not really care what anyone thinks of her, the attitude and lines reflective of MTV’s culture. it's complex trying to separate a discussion on daria without bringing in MTV itself. the latter has always been part of popular culture; critique or praise. many have always thought of MTV as a flurry of images that invoke negative behaviour or characteristics among the “mindless” younger generation (hey i doubt LKY ever watched this pop culture "rubbish"). daria may not be “real” cos of her animated status but she offers her viewers a construction of her world that generally does not expect much from society. it's a celebration of teenage species and their angst, displaying their disaffected natures as “pseudo intellectuals”. the comedy and satiric storyline of daria could be MTV’s way of using amusement and self reflective sarcasm to imply that something is profoundly wrong with the contemporary society.
television's like a mirror, a version of reality and if we chose to ignore programs on television, are we then choosing to ignore the changing cultural phenomenon and the younger generations who would grow up to be future leaders?
bee wrote this at 9:32 AM
