Quinn Morgendorffer
Encyclopedia
Quinn Morgendorffer is a fictional character on the MTV
animated series Daria
.
and a freshman (later sophomore and junior) at Lawndale High School (previously Highland). At the age of 14½ years, Quinn was the chief nemesis for Daria for the bulk of the series. The polar opposite of Daria, Quinn was perky, popular, and attractive in the eyes of her fellow classmates, much to Daria's mostly-muted horror and disgust. Quinn goes on dates most every night, usually a different boy every day, but always has the same three desperate boys (Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie) follow her around at school, ready to wait on her hand and foot.
The later seasons of the series have Quinn reconsidering her priorities and coming to value her intelligence and her family in her own way.
After getting a short glimpse into her past in "Boxing Daria", it seems that Quinn was rather starved for attention as child, because her parents attention was focused on Daria's social issues. This may be the deep-seated reason for her need to be popular and disdain of being associated with either her sister or being intelligent.
John J. O'Connor of The New York Times
describes Quinn as "ever-so-cute and empty-headed" and states that she becomes "an instant star" at her school. Quinn, described by John Allemang of The Globe and Mail
as "silly" and "boy-crazy", pretends that she is not related to Daria.
On some rare occasions the two sisters have worked together to achieve some goal, usually to get out of trouble or to avoid it. Most often these instances are dealt with in a rather businesslike fashion, such as when Daria incites Quinn (in episode 205: "That Was Then, This Is Dumb)", with an offer of some form of payment or benefit, to gather scandalous blackmail
information about their parents from the son of visiting family friends. Later, when Quinn begins to uncover some such stories, her response is "These have got to be worth at least 20 bucks [to Daria]."
While she had many boyfriends (even going as far as to come up with a ranking system for the boys she dated), her only consistent interest lay with three teenage "jocks" from her grade level: Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie, three of her classmates who constantly followed her around and who were constantly being manipulated by Quinn for her own selfish purposes.
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
animated series Daria
Daria
Daria is an American animated television series produced by Paramount Television, and created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn for MTV. The series focuses on Daria Morgendorffer, a smart, acerbic, and somewhat misanthropic teenage girl who observes the world around her...
.
Background
Quinn is the younger sister of DariaDaria Morgendorffer
Daria Morgendorffer is a fictional animated character from MTV's animated series Beavis and Butt-head and its spin-off Daria. In 2002, Daria placed at number 41 on the list of the Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of all Time by TV Guide for her role in the two shows...
and a freshman (later sophomore and junior) at Lawndale High School (previously Highland). At the age of 14½ years, Quinn was the chief nemesis for Daria for the bulk of the series. The polar opposite of Daria, Quinn was perky, popular, and attractive in the eyes of her fellow classmates, much to Daria's mostly-muted horror and disgust. Quinn goes on dates most every night, usually a different boy every day, but always has the same three desperate boys (Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie) follow her around at school, ready to wait on her hand and foot.
Personality
Quinn Morgendorffer is a stereotypical self-absorbed teenage girl who is concerned mainly with clothing, shopping, dating, and being popular. Her interest beyond such trivial things are minimal, save for getting into a "Party College" with her friends. However, in spite of this Quinn does have some depth, though it's hidden by a great deal of low self-esteem in terms of her value. As she confesses to Daria in the season two episode "Monster," Quinn feels that looking pretty and being popular are the only things she is good at, hence she focuses on them exclusively. Also she does feel some ambition towards doing better, though her efforts almost always end up getting her in trouble with her friends, who all deride the notion of intellectually bettering oneself. Still, despite Quinn's refusal to show her intelligence, she is shown to be as crafty and manipulative as her sister on rare occasions, particularly when she can get something out of it. She is also prudish when it comes to sexual matters.The later seasons of the series have Quinn reconsidering her priorities and coming to value her intelligence and her family in her own way.
After getting a short glimpse into her past in "Boxing Daria", it seems that Quinn was rather starved for attention as child, because her parents attention was focused on Daria's social issues. This may be the deep-seated reason for her need to be popular and disdain of being associated with either her sister or being intelligent.
John J. O'Connor of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
describes Quinn as "ever-so-cute and empty-headed" and states that she becomes "an instant star" at her school. Quinn, described by John Allemang of The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
as "silly" and "boy-crazy", pretends that she is not related to Daria.
Relationship with Daria
Quinn spent most of the series having a rather adversarial relationship with Daria; each is very dismissive of the other, and their differences regarding social standing and personalities drive a large amount of the conflict in the series. Each loves to antagonize the other (though Quinn is less open about admitting to do so) though in spite of these differences, there does exist a level of sibling love between the two, even if they refuse to openly admit it. When not openly annoying or insulting Daria, Quinn's dealings with her often involve laying out terms of requirements, expenses, exceptions, and final payment—in fairness, Daria also relates to Quinn on a similar, mercenary level. A recurring joke involved Quinn refusing to even admit to being Daria's sister, and telling her friends that Daria was her cousin or some other vague relation, leading to her friends referring to Daria as "that girl who lives with you." However, by the final episodes, their relationship warms considerably, to the point that she happily states that Daria is her sister. It's also revealed that Quinn's friends already knew Daria was her sister, but Tiffany and Stacy didn't say so in order to be polite to Quinn, while Sandi's failed plan was to use this knowledge to embarrass her frenemy.On some rare occasions the two sisters have worked together to achieve some goal, usually to get out of trouble or to avoid it. Most often these instances are dealt with in a rather businesslike fashion, such as when Daria incites Quinn (in episode 205: "That Was Then, This Is Dumb)", with an offer of some form of payment or benefit, to gather scandalous blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
information about their parents from the son of visiting family friends. Later, when Quinn begins to uncover some such stories, her response is "These have got to be worth at least 20 bucks [to Daria]."
Social life
Socially active, Quinn quickly became one of the most popular girls in Lawndale, much to the horror of her fellow members of the Lawndale Fashion Club, a clique of teenage girls that Quinn was friends with. Notably Sandi, the president of the club, feels a love/hate friendship with Quinn. While during early episodes Sandi and Quinn got along very well, as time progressed Sandi became more jealous of how much more popular and better liked Quinn was than her. After a while her jealousy turned to thinly veiled dislike as she regularly insults her, though Quinn will often parry these insults or take them as a compliment (interestingly, Sandi's mother is equally rude to Helen Morgendorffer, and Helen also deflects these insults with little overt reaction). Stacy, who suffered from severely low self-esteem, was the opposite of Sandi, showing immense fondness for Quinn, to the point that she wanted to even look like her at one point. Tiffany meanwhile, who lacks any sort of personal identity and follows the blind commands of anyone who speaks to her, generally went along with whatever either Sandi or Quinn said at any given moment.While she had many boyfriends (even going as far as to come up with a ranking system for the boys she dated), her only consistent interest lay with three teenage "jocks" from her grade level: Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie, three of her classmates who constantly followed her around and who were constantly being manipulated by Quinn for her own selfish purposes.