Storytelling: Jodie Landon and Mack Mackenzie

Aside from Tom Sloane and Trent Lane – and we will get to those two characters at the conclusion – the rest of the characters in the Daria universe serve only as background characters, to act as scenery holders while the main characters take the stage. They are not meant to act as foils or to move the plot forward.

Why have background characters at all? Generally, because the writers wish to make a comment about some character trait and the background character serves that purpose. Want to make a comment about greed? Create a character whose only trait is that he’s greedy. Background characters are like the paints on an artist’s palette: they provide color to the canvas and illustrate what needs to be shown.

Two of the better examples of this are Jodie Landon and Michael Jordan “Mack” Mackenzie. Landon and Mackenzie are African-American, but neither are used to spark any serious discussion of race in America – that’s not their role. The only time the race of Jodie or Mack come into play is when both complain about the lack of diversity at Lawndale High School. The two are paired off, blunting any chance of an interracial relationship ever being examined in Daria.

First, take a look at Jodie. Jodie is intelligent, and at least at Daria’s level of brainpower. (In “Prize Fighters” it is revealed that only Jodie and Upchuck challenge Daria in intelligence.) This allows Jodie to be used as a “bridging character”. Jodie can help develop how Daria feels about plot points by simple conversations, as Daria wouldn’t feel that Jodie was beneath her – Daria isn’t going to share how she feels with Sandi or Stacy, and it keeps Daria from having to talk to Jane in every scene.

Jodie’s primary character attribute is not intelligence. It’s acceptance of authority, which automatically throws Jodie into contrast with Daria. Whereas Daria doesn’t want any part of the school or its bevy of activities, Jodie has thrown herself into the mix with full force. Jodie is in student government, belongs to other clubs, and her attitude towards school is positive and cheerful for the most part. Jodie is always trying to get Daria to take part and join up with the new Civil Service that Ms. Li and other high school principals across the land are trying to form; Daria tones her sarcasm back to minimal levels and tells Jodie, “no”. Jodie simply dusts herself off and tries again in the next episode.

So what does Daria (the character) and Daria (the show) have to say about school and authority? Daria herself might change – in Seasons Four and Five Daria seemed a lot less sure of herself – but the show’s message regarding authority is always the same.

The best example of this is not “Arts ‘N’ Crass”, but “Fizz Ed”, where Jodie and Daria clash over the fact that Ultra Cola has bought out the school. Jodie concludes that despite Daria’s protestations, Daria couldn’t be bothered that much – because she doesn’t do anything. For once, Daria decides to actually tread the halls of authority and talk to the Superintendent of schools.

The Superintendent immediately jumps to the conclusion that Daria’s protest is some attempt to add to her poor record of extracurricular activities. Daria has real concerns, but the Superintendent is dismissive of them. (It’s as if he’s not even listening.) The Superintendent shows up just as Ms. Li is at her craziest, but his arrival appears more happenstance than anything else. Daria’s lone attempt to give a little and meet authority on its own terms was not promising.

In the Daria universe, Jodie is an example of what happens when you give in too much to authority – you become an unpaid servant. Jodie’s entire life is rushing here and there, every hour scheduled to the last minute. Jodie’s parents also put her to work, doing this extracurricular and that so that she can add it to her resume. Jodie moans under the pressure, but her parents don’t appear to care. The poor girl’s life has probably been scheduled down to retirement. Death will probably come as a relief for Jodie, unless they make you do paperwork in heaven, too.

Daria doesn’t have the respect that Jodie seems to have earned. But she has freedom, which is more important than institutional respect. It is part of the “be yourself” lesson of Daria, to make friendship and freedom of the mind the most important priorities of life.

We come to Mack Mackenzie. The joke is that in all of Daria fandom, Mack Mackenzie is the perfect male, more perfect than even Trent Lane. He’s the only male character with whom Daria has regular contact that is not portrayed as some sort of flawed example of a Y chromosome.

Mack’s primary attribute appears to be loyalty. The two most important people in Mack’s life – from what we see – are Kevin Thompson and Jodie Landon. In Kevin’s case, Kevin’s stupidity exasperates Mack to no end. In “The ‘F’ Word”, Mack takes on the impossible task of teaching Kevin the three branches of American government. (He chooses this task because he knows that Kevin is a dunce – the point of the assignment is to choose something that can’t be done.) Kevin frequently calls Mack “Mack Daddy” even though Mack tells him (to no avail) that he can’t stand being called that.

Does Mack drop Kevin? Does he beat the living tar out of him at any time? Not at all. Even when Kevin drops the ball (literally, it seems) in Mr. O’Neill’s failure assignment and gets kicked off the LHS football team, Mack is there to pick up the slack. He works with the coach and with the other players, and soon, Kevin is back on the team…thanking Mack by calling him “Mack Daddy”.

Why would Mack do this at all? Probably because Kevin is Mack’s friend, and Mack is loyal to his friends. He accepts Kevin, warts and all, when others would not. (Daria should have learned some loyalty lessons from Mack in that whole triangle thing.)

Mack patiently accepts the fact that his girlfriend, Jodie, is rarely available. She’s either working for the school or working on some extracurricular for her parents, shedding papers for lying and cheating congressmen. There are several attractive girls at Lawndale High School (even the “ugly” ones like Daria are only Hollywood ugly) who would/should be glad to have someone like Mack. But Mack sticks with Jodie, tried and true. (*) In the final episode of the series, Mack actually speaks with Andrew Landon about the fact that Jodie would rather go to Turner (a historical Black University and her father’s alma mater) than to the elite Crestmore. This sets off a chain that results in Jodie finally getting her wish, being allowed to go to Turner where she won’t be expected to be the perfect representative of African-Americana.

(* * *)

In the end, however, neither Jodie nor Mack get an episode centered around them. (Even Sandi got her own episode, “Fat Like Me”.) They’re consigned to making guest appearances in Daria’s personal universe. Next time I’ll talk about the final two minor characters – Stacy and Upchuck – before we examine Daria’s love life. (Sorry, no nudity.)




(*) – This might be a problem for Mack. I can’t imagine Mack ever breaking off a romantic relationship, even when it’s not working for him. Loyalty has its moments, but shouldn’t be treated as an absolute.