Storytelling: Jane Lane

We now take a look at Daria's friend, Jane Lane. We give a thumbnail sketch of what she's about and how she's generally written.

1. semi-cool.

You're smart and you're funny, you have a great attitude... you do everything on your own terms. You're, like, from a cooler world." -- Tom Sloane

Tom only got it half-right. Jane is not quite "cool". To be "cool" is to possess both composure and self-control, to be unflappable and to have the right response for every occasion. Both of these qualities command admiration.

Jane doesn't seem to command much admiration, but only because the rest of Lawndale High School seems to ignore her more admirable qualities. Somehow, Jane ended up in the outsider caste with Daria. For the most part, however, Jane is indeed composed and has a great deal of self-control. She's not as quick with a quip as Daria, but Jane doesn't have Daria's inner drive to puncture authority. (When Jane has a quip, it's usually devastating.)

In many ways, Jane is above authority of any type. Even though being banished to O'Neill's self-esteem class is a massive drop in status, Jane has had the power to graduate anytime she wants but takes the class because "it makes me feel special". Jane seems to "go along" with Daria -- most of the fanfiction written during Seasons One and Two have Jane as "Daria Junior", the Robin to Daria's Batman -- but Jane is no camp follower like Amelia.

Jane's first reaction to any bad situation is resilience. Bad things -- like having annoying family members around, or being hassled by Ms. Morris in gym class -- appear to roll off Jane like water rolls off a duck's back. However, when things get really bad, Jane lacks that inner core of self-certainty that most cool people have. When the chips are really down, Jane is more likely to fold than to go all-in. Daria's certainty that the world is a shallow and unforgiving place probably attracts Jane, who could use some certainty of any kind in her life.

2. Exuberance. Jane, however, has a flip side, one which has probably kept her from obtaining True Coolness like Andrea. Jane is the kind of person who can occasionally throw caution to the wind, working several hours on a Jackson Pollack theme to a school dance, or make out with Bobby Bighead in a laundry room -- or even consider becoming a cheerleader for Lawndale High School!

Jane is athletic, likes to run and oddly enough, likes to compete in the rare chance we saw her running with Evan and the LHS track team. This exuberance proves vital for the Daria storytelling engine. The problem with cynical, antisocial characters like Daria is that it's hard to get them to do anything. No matter what kind of situation you can think of them being in, the character will naturally resist and seek an escape.

Jane's exuberance, on the other hand, is contagious -- at least where Daria is concerned. If you have trouble putting Daria into a situation, Jane can always talk her into it, like say, Jane convincing Daria to go on a trip to Alternapalooza. "C'mon Daria. It'll be fun," is a line that many a fanfic has Jane saying...and for Jane, it will indeed by fun. And of course, it will be fun imagining Daria's discomfort.

3. Artistic. Normally, "artistic" isn't much of a character trait. It simply indicates that the character in question likes art. For Jane Lane, however, the artistic tag provides many functions.

The first is that being artistic gives Jane a field where she can excel without Daria overshadowing her. Daria's emotional guardedness and general mistrust has resulted in a stripped-down world for Daria. Daria wears generally plain clothes, has a flat monotone speech, and lives in a padded room with little ornamentation. Jane, however, is anything but "plain Jane". Her world is one full of life and color, right down to the character concepts. Daria is drawn as plain green and brown; Jane has jet-black helmet hair, blue eyes, and dark red lipstick. There will be no problem distinguishing between Daria and Jane.

Jane's artistic flair gives her a second purpose, namely one which provides a "nonlinear" logic to contrast with Daria's straight-ahead thinking. Unlike Daria, Jane doesn't need reasons to do what she does. She'll glue pieces of an exploded pot on the walls of her room. She'll gladly bring auto parts to an arts and crafts class for sick children. Whereas Daria provides order, Jane provides just a bit of chaos to make things interesting.

Daria and Jodie would never have worked as best friends. They are too much alike and their attitudes towards authority would have caused real problems. Jane, however, complements Daria perfectly and makes a great "wacky best friend" for a storytelling engine.

(* * *)

I suppose a good question would be, "is Jane so well fleshed out that they could have called the series 'Jane' instead of Daria?"

A show centered around Jane would have been difficult to write. Jane simply doesn't have the problems with authority that Daria has, and Jane's semi-coolness doesn't allow things to affect her very much. Jane's job is to influence Daria...and I suspect that the influence doesn't extend in the other direction. Jane would have no trouble finding friends on her own, if she needed to.