Storytelling Engine: Quinn Morgendorffer (and Sandi Griffin)

Because the cast of Daria is so large, characters only get one or two character traits. The defintion of a complex character is one with more than two traits, and if that is the case, my argument is that Quinn Morgendorffer serves as a character just as complex as Daria or Jane.

The real question among fans has been if there's any character who can command the same amount of attention as Daria or Jane: "who is this show about?" Some have claimed that Helen serves as a character who is just as rich as Daria and her best friend, but I find that hard to believe. Helen's purpose is to be unreasonable and to make Daria do things she doesn't like -- she's a plot contrivance, from where we get the tired Daria fandom trope, "Helen is a vicious bitch". Near the end of the series, she gives good advice to Daria and tries to help her, but Helen's role is primarily comic relief -- for jokes about Jake and Helen's passionate love life and for being a workaholic.

Quinn, however, gets more screen time. As Daria's sister, she's not only an important part of Daria's life but an important part of the social scene at LHS. Quinn's character traits force direct opposition with Daria's values and make for an interesting clash of personalities.

1. Attractive. If you had to pick one word to describe Quinn, it would probably be "good looking", with all the baggage that looks carry both good and bad. Oddly enough, Daria and Jane are not characterized as good looking. Daria and Jane might be "Hollywood ugly" -- attractive girls whose beauty is downplayed to cast them in an unattractive way. (In "Too Cute", both Dr. Shar and one of her customers make disparaging remarks about Daria's appearance. In "I Don't", all a seamstress can do with Daria's figure is make an ill-fitting bridesmaid's dress. Daria shows us that she's really pretty in "Quinn The Brain", but no one ever points out that Daria or Jane is a beauty.)

Quinn on the other hand, is the uber-beauty. She's cute, and therefore held in high esteem by the kids at Lawndale High School. Every guy wants to be with Quinn, and Quinn is paid the kind of attention that Daria can never earn through all of her hard work. Someone famous said that a pretty girl's attractiveness excuses everything, and Quinn works as hard at being good looking. (In "Ill", we see that Quinn carries in her purse a bevy of appearance accessories, all testaments to Quinn's hard work.)

Daria resents Quinn's good looks. Since Daria is a natural cynic, and most likely rejects the value society places in beauty, Daria makes the decision not to be beautiful. It's a perverse act of egoism on Daria's part, one pointed out quite rightly by Jane in "Through a Lens Darkly" when Daria rejects contact lenses. Daria does not want to be the "attractive girl" that Quinn is.

2. Manipulative. Quinn is a manipulator. Whereas Daria rejects the system, and where Jane blows off the system, Quinn plays the system for what its worth. Not only that, she plays the other people around her for what they're worth.

Jake is always there to pay the bills for Quinn's shopping sprees, which run into the hundreds of dollars. Quinn is quite happy to have the boys at Lawndale at her beck and call. The Three Js fight over her, but note that Quinn never throws in her lot with any of the Js. Jeffy only manages to win a family dinner date with Quinn in "One J at a Time" through a sheer endurance contest as Quinn pushes all of the Js to their limits so that they can prove which one is more deserving of her.

One could claim that Quinn merely has a grand sense of entitlement, but Quinn is actively working the system. She even tries to play David Sorenson in "Is It Fall Yet?" until David makes it clear that he'll have none of it. She can talk people into buying phone cards, she manages to get herself elected "Keg Queen" of a college that she's only visited for a few hours -- is there anything this girl can't do?

Daria is, of course, manipulative, but only to the extent that it gets the system off her back or gives her some valuable breathing time. The impression is that Daria is essentially honest with people. I can just hear Quinn saying, "Gahd? What's that all about?"

3. Friendly. Despite all of Quinn's popularity and her good looks, we never see her become a "mean girl" like Sandi. (More on that later.) Quinn never goes out of her way to put people down, she doesn't say even the accidentally cruel things that a Brittany might say.

A real argument could be made that Quinn doesn't possess this trait at all. It's a trait that has to be inferred by what we see in the episodes. If Quinn were openly hostile to others or ignored them, people wouldn't want to be around her. Quinn however, has no enemies (save for perhaps Sandi at times, and more about Sandi later). No one ever says, "Gee, Quinn sure is friendly!" but I think it goes without saying.

Quinn always manages to put up with the failings of her Fashion Club friends. She never strikes out at Sandi despite Sandi's multiple attempts to remove her from the Fashion Club. When Stacy becomes a bit creepy in "Gifted", Quinn makes excuses and runs off rather than saying something unpleasant.

Quinn's nastiness -- such as it is -- is limited to her sister Daria (who does so much to cramp her style) and to kids at school who make fashion faux pas. This is a trait where Daria could learn some lessons from Quinn.

4. Shallow. By shallow, we mean "concerned only with what is obvious". Quinn has intellect, but unlike Daria, Quinn's intellect goes unused.

In "Quinn The Brain", Quinn gets some attention from an impassioned essay she writes. In "Fair Enough", Quinn is at least smart enough to memorize lines and we know that Quinn's PSATs make her the most intelligent member of the Fashion Club. Quinn's brainpower, however, goes unused. It gets its workout in popularity, gossip, Val magazine, boy bands and FashionVision.

Quinn appears to have no interest in history, literature, or anything beyond what makes her personally comfortable. She's the kind of person who would question whether history was even relevant to her life. Quinn is quite happy to be worshipped and to have others pay attention to her. She has the potential to be as smart as Daria...but we'll never know. Quinn's brain has atrophied, and Quinn has allowed it to happen.

To Daria, this is the ultimate sin. Daria has no interest in stupid people, much less deliberately stupid people like her sister. Being shallow actually has its advantage: a shallow pool is not deep. It is safe for swimming. Quinn is living "safe", coasting on her popularity and her good looks. Daria has chosen a more difficult path, and can only have contempt for the choices that Quinn has made.

(* * *)

Quinn's personality traits make her a great foil for Daria. In a lot of ways, she's the anti-Daria. Quinn's friendliness also makes her an anti-Daria, as Daria rarely says an encouraging word or seeks the friendship of others. Quinn's words might be sickeningly sweet, but they're not sarcastic or hurtful. This is why people pay homage to Queen Quinn, and why Daria eats her lunch at the Loner's Table.

A few words need to be said about Sandi Griffin, Quinn's obstensible best friend and leader of the Fashion Club. Sandi, however, lacks the complexity of Jane Lane. Like the other members of the Fashion Club, she simply mirrors Quinn's characteristics in an inferior manner.

If one word can describe Sandi, that word would be "bitchy". Bitchy as in being a female who happens to be unpleasant, difficult, and spiteful. (Yes, it's a sexist term but the one word captures so many sub-attributes that there isn't another word that captures its power.)

Sandi sometimes attempts to engineer Quinn's dismissal from the Fashion Club on the most flimsy of pretexts. In general, she's portrayed as a horrible person, prone to jealousy from any positive attention paid to Quinn. (Another argument that Quinn must be friendly, or she would have dropped Sandi in Season One.)

On the other hand, it's this "bitchiness" that makes Sandi such a fascinating character, and one of my favorites. As Rebecca West said, "People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." Sandi is a "bitch" in the feminist sense: she's forthright, strong, and speaks her mind even when she's foolish and wrong, and she often is. She's not a doormat at all. Sandi would rather put it this way: "I might be a bitch, but at least I'm top dog", and I'm sure Sandi would have harsh words for Daria's wishy-washy behavior in Season Five. Vive la bitch!