SCENE 1 (Griffin residence, that evening)
(Shot of the outside. Cut to shot of Linda Griffin sitting on one end of the living room couch, Sandi on the other end. Linda's got the phone to her ear and a no-nonsense look on her face. Sandi sits there with her arms folded, looking tired and pissed-off.)
LINDA: (into the receiver) Just what the hell do you think you're doing suspending my daughter??
(Split screen with her on the left and Ms. Li, still in her office at school, on the right. Li appears irritated and wary... even more so than usual.)
MS. LI: It's all veeeeeeeeery simple, Mrs. Griffin. Jodie Landon said your daughter wrote her a racially offensive note a while back, so I merely wielded my powers under the new "zero tolerance" policy.
(Linda peers over at Sandi, who looks back at her with a pouty "Oh come on" expression.)
LINDA: (to Li) Where's your evidence?? How can you be so sure it was Sandi who wrote that note??
MS. LI: I've got aaaaaaaaall the evidence I need in the "Class Land" footage, in which your daughter was threatening Ms. Landon. [*] see "Surreal World"
LINDA: (looking at Sandi) Threatening Jodie Landon on television??
SANDI: (defensive) She was threatening me, too! Like, you'd understand if you watched.
LINDA: (to Li) I would like to see this footage of which you speak.
MS. LI: Certainly Mrs. Griffin... if you can handle watching your daughter also declare that she's ashaaaaamed of you.
(Pause. Linda's normal expression of cool assurance gets replaced by one of shock, as though she's been punched in the stomach. She again looks at Sandi, who thinks she's still talking about the threats. Sandi shakes her head decisively.)
LINDA: (to Li, slightly hoarse) I-I just don't understand how you could treat her this way, after everything I've done for the school.
MS. LI: Ooh-hoo, some new security lights and free publicity don't quite make up for a class action lawsuit that's threatening to shatter our reputation. (Bt) Besides, those items were contigent on your daughter being Vice-President of the Student Body, a role which she gave up weeeeeks ago. [*] see "Outvoted"
(Pause. Linda looks at Sandi, this time with anger.)
LINDA: (slowly) She quit student council?
(Quickly, Sandi goes from looking defiant to pale and subdued.)
MS. LI: Ohhh, yes. And let me tell you something else, Mrs. Griffin. (eyes narrow.) People like your daughter make me sick. The way she and others think they can just bully minority students, I'm only too glad to be able to put her in her place. So until she apologizes to Jodie Landon, her suspension staaaaaands.
(Linda clicks off the phone decisively. Cut to full shot. She lays the phone down slowly, her eyes still narrowed.)
LINDA: (slowly, with an edge) Why did you quit student council?
(Pause. Sandi reddens.)
SANDI: (mumbling) My reasons are personal.
LINDA: Was it because you threatened Jodie Landon and made racist comments?!
SANDI: No. Like, all I did was bring her down a peg. She was acting all high-and-mighty, treating me like I was a big jerk, and I just told her what the hell did she know? What made her the exper--?
LINDA: You are going to apologize to her.
SANDI: (eyes widening) But nothing I said was racist!
LINDA: (hard) Dammit, Sandi, after all I did for you, pulling strings to get you the vice-presidency, only to watch you throw it away, the least you could do --
SANDI: Mother, I'm telling you the truth.
LINDA: (unyielding) You will not make me look bad to the other businesswomen in this community. Especially Michele Landon. She may not be with U.S. World any longer, but she still carries influence --
(Sandi looks as though she's ready to protest again, then closes her mouth and tries to suck in her resentment.)
(cut to:)
SCENE 2 (Morgendorffer house, next evening)
(Shot of the outside. Cut to shot of the four Morgendorffers at dinner. [Let's try to guess what they're eating! Go on, it's not so hard!] Quinn's in mid-conversation.)
QUINN: ... and so Ms. Li's been cracking the whip, punishing any student who she even thinks is acting racist.
HELEN: Oh my... sounds like a violation of their rights to free speech. (frowns.) If the courts hadn't taken them all away.
QUINN: And Mr. O'Neill's gotten really into it, too. He's, like, making us hold hands and talk an' stuff. (shudders a little.) He's even setting up a multicultural fair in a week or so. I, of course, plan to work at one of the cuter booths.
DARIA: Naturally.
JAKE: Sounds neat, you guys!
HELEN: Yes, it's so good to see that they're starting to take diversity seriously at your school. (Bt. no-nonsense.) But the minute they fall off course, we'll slap them with a lawsuit so big, it'll make their head spin into the next century.
DARIA: (sardonic) What better way to promote compassion?
QUINN: Mr. O'Neill also encouraged us white students to get to know some of the minority students better -- like talk to them one-on-one and hear their painful stories. So I've decided to hang out with Tiffany for the next few days.
DARIA: (rolling her eyes) But you already hang out with Tiffany.
QUINN: (thoughtful) Yes, but not... the real Tiffany.
(Daria cocks an eyelid. Helen raises a brow as well.)
HELEN: Daria, why do I get the feeling you're less-than-enthusiastic about these new developments at your school?
DARIA: Because. My skeptic alarm always goes off whenever the school tries a new social engineering experiment. And this one seems destined to fall into the figurative dustbin like all the others.
HELEN: Meaning?
DARIA: It's every bit as misguided. To promote so-called diversity, the school insists on stripping away our personalities -- what little some of us have -- and reducing us to our race or ethnicity.
HELEN: So?
DARIA: So it's degrading. They claim they want us students to find a common ground -- but how can we do that if our common tastes and experiences have been chucked away? Forget personality, forget experience -- now it's just "this person matters because he or she came from a background of suffering."
QUINN: So?
DARIA: (rolling her eyes) So, it seems as though they're encouraging the students who have no such background to feel sorry for the ones that do.
JAKE: So??
DARIA: So, can you really understand someone when you have to keep your distance, by viewing that person as a pity case instead of an equal? When the guilt and fascination wear off, we'll all be back to Square One. We'll just go about our business, and nothing will have changed.
(Beat. Helen, Jake, and Quinn look a little floored, as they so often do after one of Daria's speeches. Then Quinn waves a hand nonchalantly.)
QUINN: Oh, like you would know about understanding people anyway -- you barely ever leave your room. (Bt) Listen, Daria, guilt is in. It's chic. Especially where minorities are concerned. I mean sure, we used to, like, make them sit at the front of the bus and mop lunch counters, or whatever -- but now the trend is toward rejecting the boring old status quo and embracing minorities as cool and interesting and in some ways superior. And I, for one, don't want to miss out on it.
DARIA: Today, minorities. Tomorrow, endangered bunnies.
HELEN: Quinn has a point, Daria. Guilt isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's the only thing that can keep the people in power from completely destroying a minority culture. (Bt) It kept us from oblitering the Native Americans. It helped establish a Jewish homeland in 1948 --
QUINN: Oh that reminds me. Mr. O' Neill said he wanted us all to find an oppressed minority group in our background and, like, share our pain. So I'm gonna talk about how it feels to be Jewish.
DARIA: (cocking an eyelid) Since when are we Jewish?
QUINN: (slightly defensive) Hey, if Dad is a member of the Jewish race, then so am I. (to Jake.) Say Daddy, were any of our relatives killed in the Holocaust?
JAKE: Nope. They all came to America in the 1890's.
QUINN: (looking somewhat disappointed) Oh.
JAKE: And anyway, Judaism isn't really a race, honey; it's more of an ethnicity. Like "I'm Slavic... I'm Jewish."
DARIA: But there are black and Hispanic Jews, too.
HELEN: It's a religion. And a very noble one at that. (Bt) But you know, Quinn, if you want to hear stories of oppression, my ancestors in Northern Ireland faced some terrible --
QUINN: (dismissive) Yes, yes that's very interesting. (Bt) No offense, Mom, but I don't really want to hear about a bunch of white Protestants -- they, like, rule this country. I want to hear about real minorities.
(Helen looks slightly hurt. Daria cocks an eyelid with mild amusement.)
QUINN: So Dad, didn't your relatives, like, suffer at all?
JAKE: Well there was the difficulty with assimilation, naturally. (chuckles.) They even made up a Revolutionary War ancestor to help them fit into American society better. Phineas T. Morgendorffer was his name. (starts to go into a rage.) When the kids found out the truth about him, oh how they laughed. LAUGHED, I tell you!!
(Quinn leans her chin on her hand, intrigued.)
JAKE: Ohh, what a can of worms that just opened up! Before military school, I'll never forget about every stinking year at Christmas time. "Santa's not coming to your house, Jakey. You're not getting any presents, Jakey! Have fun with your dreidel, Jakey!!" Well I'll DREIDEL you!!!
(cut to:)
SCENE 3 (Morgendorffer house, that night)
(Shot of the outside. Cut to shot of Daria standing in front of the bathroom mirror, dressed in her pajamas. Quinn comes in, also in her pj's.)
QUINN: (chipper) Wow, Dad's got, like, so many repressed memories. This'll be so cool to tell the other kids.
DARIA: (deadpan) That's just what they need: more pain and rejection.
QUINN: Too bad Sandi won't be there to hear it. (brief look of irritation gets replaced by a thoughtful frown.) Y' know, it's weird she got suspended.
DARIA: No weirder than the other kids who did.
QUINN: Yeah... but Sandi never seemed like the racist type. (instructional.) Her prejudices are based on a very strict definition of who's well-dressed and has a good body, and who isn't. It never mattered to her what color you were just as long as you could coordinate.
DARIA: (sardonic) Well that's much more reassuring.
QUINN: But I guess if Jodie Landon said she did it then she had to have done it. 'Cause Jodie's, like, perfect, right?? She never lies about anything.
(A strange look crosses Daria's face.)
DARIA: Um, right...
QUINN: (sighing) It's too bad. Before this happened... (frowns slightly.) during the times Sandi wasn't making fun of me for being a four eyes or threatening my power with the Fashion Club... I kind of... well... every once in a while... there were times... really, really brief times...
DARIA: (impatient) Yes?
QUINN: ... when I missed her.
(cut to:)
SCENE 4 (O'Neill's class, a few days later)
(Shot of the outside.)
ANDREA: (offscreen VO. same dramatic tone she used in "Cafe Disaffecto") I am the minority viewer...
(Cut to shot of her standing in front of the room, giving a presentation to Daria, Jane, and company.)
ANDREA: I am black... I am brown... I am red --
DARIA: (thought VO) Wow. Blending into a wooded thicket must be no problem for you.
ANDREA: ... I am yellow... I am multiracial. I want to see a face on screen that looks like mine, I want to see experiences that have been my experiences. But instead, all I get is a vast vanilla... wasteland. (Pause. ominous, low voice.) And I am the white programmer that saturates the airwaves with white programming. (eyes narrow.) "Seventh Heaven"..."Providence"..."Dawson's Creek"..."Ally McBeal" without Ling or Rene. (lips curl.) "Friends."
(Many in the class shudder at her icy tone.)
ANDREA: I despise you, minority viewer. You, who do not fit in with the white-washed, middle-class, cookie-cutter, spirit-crushing norm of society. You who are not marketed to in the commercials that keep me afloat. I will never give you a lead role. I will have your parts played by white actors. I will destroy you!
(She takes several colored bean bags out of her pocket and drops them on the floor. She then takes a ruler and proceeds to beat the stuffing out of them.)
ANDREA: DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE... !!!
O'NEILL: (somewhat nervous) Um, um... that's very nice, Andrea, very, very nice. Feel free to take your seat. (Expressionless once more, Andrea lays aside the ruler, picks up the bean bags, and heads back to her desk.) Um... so did any of you students learn anything valuable from her performance?
(The class takes a few more seconds to recover. Then one girl toward the back of the class raises her hand.)
GIRL: Wow, what she said was just sooo true. It's sooo true, but I hadn't ever thought about it before.
BRITTANY: Yeah! (looks at Jodie, lower lip trembling.) I'm so sorry, Jodie. I'll never ever watch "Friends" again!
JODIE: (amused and a bit uncomfortable) That's okay, Brittany, don't worry. "Friends" is a cool show.
O'NEILL: (tipping his head slightly in a "caring instructor" way) So, Jodie, did Andrea's presentation hit a sensitive place within you?
(Beat)
JODIE: (awkward) Um, well... I guess. It would be nice for there to be more multiculturalism on T.V., just so there's a wider range of viewpoints to draw from.
O'NEILL: Yes, yes! Isn't the black point-of-view being oppressed (dramatic shudder.) by that of the dominant culture?
JODIE: Sure... I guess.
(Beat)
O'NEILL: Now Daria, it's time for you to share your oppressed heritage with the rest of us.
(Pause. Daria stands up, reads from a sheet of paper.)
DARIA: (deadpan) Because of their Protestant beliefs, my mother's ancestors were encouraged by the English crown to settle in Seventeenth Century Northern Ireland. Little did they know that a century later, these same Protestant beliefs would lead to their persecution. For you see, they were not Angli-- (Suddenly interrupted by a sob from O'Neill.) What? It has a happy ending.
O'NEILL: (sniffle, sniffle, sob) Oh Daria... why must you remind me of how my people were beaten down by the Ulsterites?!
(Daria gets a stunned "O-kaaaaay" look on her face.)
(cut to:)
SCENE 5 (lockers, after class)
(Shot of Jane and Daria standing at their lockers. Daria still looks unnerved by O'Neill's outburst.)
DARIA: (annoyed) That went well. Maybe tomorrow we can discuss the potato famine.
JANE: Aw, c'mon, cheer up. Mr. O'Neill's eyes ought to unswell any day now.
(Just then, we see a bunch of kids trudge past in the foreground, mumbling and cursing.)
JANE: Ahhh, a new crop of sinners for Ms. Li to sentence. (taps her fingers together with faux anticipation.)
DARIA: I predict death by electric chair. Or by crushed ribs from too many stacked rocks.
JANE: The way she's doling out suspensions, pretty soon we'll be able to fit all the students into a single class. (smirks wickedly.) Which, of course, will make it easy for us to get dirt on the popular people and use it against them.
(Before Daria can reply, we see DeMartino chasing Li down the hallway, looking even more agitated then usual.)
DeMARTINO: I don't underSTAND, Ms. Li -- why can't I even call the WHITE students names?!
MS. LI: (irritated) Because, Mr. DeMartino -- sooome of those names might have components deemed offensive to minority students. Damned if I'm going to put my ass over the fire so you can unleash your daaaily avalanche of abuse.
DeMARTINO: (clasping hands) But Ms. Li, have some huMANity! Think of Kevin Thompson. THINK OF KEVIN THOMPSON!!! (shouts this as he follows Li offscreen.)
DARIA: Think of how quickly he'll crack if he loses his primary method of torture.
JANE: (smirking) Brookside beware.
(Beat)
DARIA: On a more serious note: doesn't it seem to you like this rash of suspensions is just furthering our school's reputation for being a Stalingrad?
JANE: (frowning mildly) Maybe... but at least this time Our Tormentor has her stone-cold heart in the right place. Didn't you ever notice how frequently words like "nigger" and "gook" and "wetback" got tossed around without any punishment?
DARIA: I guess. (frowns.) Though I was too busy fending off my own share of nasty comments to pay attention.
(Just then, Jodie and Mack come up.)
MACK: Hey, you guys! You both did a really good job today.
DARIA: (sardonic) Liar.
MACK: Say Jane, it was cool hearing about your dad's Comanche background.
JANE: (smirking) Yes, well where else do you think the Lane family gets its good looks from?
MACK: I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but even though I'm a "minority," I've never taken much time to learn about other minorities.
JODIE: Yeah, me neither. I liked your presentation, too, Daria. (smirks.) What little we got to hear of it.
DARIA: Yes, well I might have chosen differently, had Quinn not claimed Judaism all for herself.
(Sweeping pan-over to where Quinn is standing with Tiffany and Stacy. Quinn's in a chipper, dramatic mode.)
QUINN: ... and if they hadn't left Germany fifty years earlier, they definitely would've been exterminated by the Nazis.
STACY: Oooooooooh...
TIFFANY: Close call.
QUINN: Hearing about my people's struggles have, like, totally made me want to find out more about them. So I've been plugging my dad for some info., and I might even like, learn the language or something. (chuckles.) Like, listen to some of these expressions. (Bt. heavy Brooklyn accent.) Gawd, Stacy, sometimes you can be such a goy! Oy vey!
TIFFANY: Cooool. (claps a little.)
STACY: (looking worried) What's a "goy"?
(Quinn shrugs.)
TIFFANY: (to Stacy) It's a gentile.
QUINN: (surprised) You know the termonology??
STACY: (more worried) What's a "gentile"??
TIFFANY: (to Quinn) Yeah. My parents, like, taught it to me.
QUINN: Oh right -- 'cause they're Jewish, too. (faint note of regret -- she'd wanted to be the only Jewish person.) So that, like, means you could be in the Israel booth with me at the fair this Friday.
TIFFANY: (regretful) I can't. I got stuck with the China booth.
QUINN: But you are Chinese, aren't you?
TIFFANY: Yeeeah, but that doens't mean I, like, know stuff. My parents tried to make me go to Chinese school once, but it was soooooo boring. They make you learn all those symbols.
QUINN: Eww... sounds hard.
TIFFANY: I wanted to be in the South America booth... the outfits they wear are soooooo cute.
(Meanwhile, neither notices that Stacy has started hyperventilating. She now bursts into tears.)
QUINN: Stacy??
(Beat)
STACY: I tried and I tried, but I couldn't find any oppressed minorities in my background. I'm not interesting at aaaaaallllll!!!
(Quinn reaches over and pats her back sympathetically.)
QUINN: There, there, Stacy, it's okay. (Bt) Whoever said you were?
(Resume shot of Daria, Jane, Jodie, and Mack.)
DARIA: Not that I care she took it. I'm not gonna pretend to love a culture I don't know anything about, just to make the school think I'm not prejudiced.
MACK: What do you mean "pretend"?
DARIA: Doesn't our classmates' sudden embrace of minorities seem superficial to you? Do you really think that deep down, people's opinions have changed?
JODIE: Well no... at least not in a major way. But then again, I never thought it would happen overnight. You have to start somewhere, and this is somewhere.
DARIA: (cocking an eyelid) That's not quite the attitude you had a week ago.
JODIE: Hey, a week ago I was scared of what might happen. I thought for sure people would treat me like some alien from another planet. But not only have they been supportive, they've even gone... (smirks.) overboard. And talking about stuff to you guys in O'Neill's class helped me a lot. A lot.
MACK: Same with me. You don't know how great it is to have people look at you and realize: "That black dude has feelings."
DARIA: I'm sure it must be. About as nice as it would be to have someone say the same about the "Misery Chick" and her "weird art friend."
JODIE: Yeah. Discussion's been sort of limited to race and ethnicity, hasn't it?
JANE: (offhand) The outcasts fall to the bottom of the barrel -- so what else is new? (Bt) At least injustice is being fought on one front.
JODIE & MACK: Right.
DARIA: And if there are enough people at school by the end of this week, we'll see how well the message of racial tolerance has sunk in.
JODIE: You mean... ?
JANE: The suspensions. It's nice to see some idiots get what's coming to them, but y'know, I'll bet half of the kids in trouble didn't even mean to sound racist.
MACK: Maybe not. (suddenly frowns.) But you can do a lot of damage just by saying stuff without thinking.
JANE: (smirking) Hey, you don't need to tell me and Daria that.
DARIA: So you support the "throw the book at them under any circumstances" approach? (Mack nods. Daria looks at Jodie.) And you?
JODIE: Well yeah... sure. (Bt. with more conviction.) If there's one thing I'm realizing, it's that there are a lot of people hiding in the cracks who will try to hurt you. Better to find them than to let them keep on hiding.
(Beat. Obviously this was an answer Daria wasn't expecting, and the disappointment she feels can be seen ever-so-slightly on her face, if not heard in her tone.)
DARIA: So I s'pose that went for Sandi Griffin as well.
JODIE: Yeah. (surprised to hear Daria mention her name.)
JANE: Geez, who if not Sandi Griffin? (a little bitter.) Let her see what it feels like to be in the doghouse because of her attitude.
MACK: (to Daria, trying not to sound irritated) You're not saying you think Jodie did wrong by fingering Sandi, are you?
DARIA: (shrugging) Not if she knows for a fact that Sandi was guilty.
JODIE: Of course I... (Pause) All right, I didn't have absolute proof she said anything when I gave her name to Ms. Li, but it sounds like something she'd do. If not at that time, then later.
(Beat. Again, Daria can't completely conceal her disappointment. She cocks an eyelid.)
DARIA: I see. Cool. (Bt) Well it's getting late, Jane -- we'd better go.
JANE: Late? (Something in Daria's bearing makes it clear her suggestion is urgent.) Um, yeah, we'd better. See you guys.
(They leave. Jodie and Mack watch them for a few seconds, confused by the suddenness of their departure. Then, after glancing an "I'll see you later" to Mack, Jodie goes after them. She walks up quickly along Daria's other side.)
JODIE: (mild exasperation) Daria, did I say something that rubbed you the wrong way?
(Beat)
DARIA: (clipped) Nope.
JANE: Yeah, I'm kind of curious, too.
(Beat)
DARIA: (to Jodie) It's not so much what you said now as what you told me a while ago -- during our crazy "Class Land" experience. And other times. (Bt) Just some boring stuff about how most people are good and how if we tried, different personality types could get along.
JODIE: (rolling her eyes) No offense Daria, but I never even knew you believed that stuff.
(Daria frowns with some resentment. Jane gets a reflective look.)
JANE: (to Jodie) I guess it's more important that you believed it.
DARIA: And I may be your run-of-the-mill, cold-hearted outcast, but even I know that this "zero tolerance" policy won't do anything to further that goal.
(Pause. Jodie reflects on that for a few moments, then grows yet more frustrated.)
JODIE: Hey, I still want that, okay?? But I'm not gonna give up the chance to give people their just desserts. You just don't understand what it's like!
DARIA: (stopping in her tracks) Try me.
(Beat. Jodie and Jane stop, too. Jodie gets a look of determination.)
JODIE: I have to deal with people calling me names behind my back...
DARIA: Oh no, I wouldn't know what that's like. Would you, Jane?
JODIE: (frowning darkly) I've had people treating me like I don't belong here. I've been pushed, spit on, threatened --
DARIA: Nope. Wouldn't have a clue.
JANE: (sardonic) That nastiness during my campaign was all just a figment of my imagination.
JODIE: Would you just be quiet?! (Daria and Jane look at her, stunned.) There's a difference between you guys and me. You choose to have people poke fun at you.
(Pause)
JANE: (surprised) "Choose"?
DARIA: I wouldn't call being ostracized from Day One based on my personality a "choice."
JODIE: So?? You wear those clothes, you refuse to participate in school activities. All you have to do is put on some normal clothes and you'd blend in in a second.
(Beat. Daria and Jane glance at each other, irritated.)
JANE: (sarcastic) Oh yeah. It's that simple.
JODIE: Whereas I'm President of the Student Body, I'm on practically every club imaginable, I'm a straight-A student, and I still get harassed. I'm a model teenager, and it's not enough. I've done everything I possibly could to blend in, and it's still not enough!
(Daria and Jane listen expressionlessly. Jodie is red-faced and agitated, making jerky motions with her hands as she speaks.)
JODIE: You think I work as hard as I do just to please my parents?? NO -- it's because I want people to know me for who I am before they decide by my skin color that I'm something else. And you will never understand what that's like!
(long Pause)
DARIA: (quiet, cool) You're right. I wouldn't understand what it's like to be judged unfairly. I'm white. (Bt) Come on, Jane...
JANE: (quiet) See you around, Jodie...
(fade-out. fade-in to:)
SCENE 6 (lockers, after school)
(Shot of Stacy and Tiffany walking away from their lockers together. Suddenly Quinn comes toward them from the opposite direction. They both freeze when they see her -- obviously her presence wasn't expected.)
QUINN: (chipper) Hey guys! Got sprung from math prison 'cause Mr. Phelps got in trouble for mispronouncing a student's last name, so what d' you say we go hit Cashman's?
(Pause)
TIFFANY: Um...
STACY: (timid) Um... we'd like to, Quinn, but Tiffany and I have to go somewhere. Not together, of course, just...
TIFFANY: Yeah. Not together.
(Beat)
QUINN: (suspicious) Oookay. (Bt) So where are you going -- separately?
(Pause)
STACY: Um... (winces.) not to Sandi's.
TIFFANY: No way.
QUINN: (rolling her eyes) Why are you guys going to Sandi's?
STACY: Um... we're just going to, um, give her her as-assignments.
QUINN: Why? You know she'll never do them.
STACY: Yeah, but... we just wanna (quickly.) see-how-she's-doing. (Bt. bursts out.) We're sorry, Quinn!! We would've told you, but we know how you hate Sandi, and --
QUINN: (quiet) I don't hate Sandi.
TIFFANY: You don't?
STACY: B-but you always get so mad whenever we mention her name, so we thought --
QUINN: (flat) Well you were wrong. I don't hate Sandi -- Sandi hates me. (Bt) Look, why don't you guys go? I'll see you tomorrow.
(She leaves immediately.)
(cut to:)
SCENE 7 (Landon residence, that evening)
(Shot of the outside. Cut to shot of Jodie and Mack sitting in Jodie's room. Jodie's sitting up on her bed, hugging her knees, wearing a troubled expression.)
JODIE: (weary) Well Mom and Dad are happy. You should've heard them at dinner, about power to the people and finally getting the school to see what's been unseen 'til now. The only thing they're upset about is having to pay Daria's mom's legal fees.
MACK: That's great. (Bt. sympathetic.) Isn't it?
(Jodie sighs quietly.)
JODIE: Sure. (Bt) But I've also been thinking: maybe Daria had a point earlier today.
MACK: (rolling his eyes with slight exasperation) What -- you mean her point about Ms. Li's crackdown on racists in the student body? Listen Jodie, Daria may think she's right about everything, but that doesn't mean she is. You have every reason to be glad the school's finally listening to us.
JODIE: Yeah, but --
MACK: (firm, smirking slightly) If there's one problem you have, it's that you're too into self-denial. If someone complains "It's not fair," you automatically think you have to compensate them. Well just enjoy getting benefits for once. Just because some people have been hard hit, or because outcasts aren't getting the same good response as we are, doesn't mean things won't correct themselves eventually.
(Jodie seems mildly reassured by Mack's response. But then another troubled look crosses her face.)
JODIE: I hope so... because sometimes I feel as though this crackdown isn't doing any good.
MACK: (startled) What d'you mean?
JODIE: I still see the nasty looks... don't you?
(Beat)
MACK: (a little uncomfortable) Yeah... sometimes. But things are still better than they were. And if you keep seeing the looks, go to the principal and complain. Don't be afraid to speak up about this.
(Beat)
JODIE: All right. (Pause. We hear the phone on her side table ring. Jodie reaches for it, and is about to pick it up, but it stops on the second ring. She lays her arm across her knees again and sighs.) And while I'm at it, maybe I could say something to Mr. O'Neill about his approach to teaching about minority cultures. I have to agree with Daria on that point -- it is kind of shallow.
MACK: You think?
JODIE: I mean it's all "suffering" this,"suffering" that. How we as a race of people have suffered. No one at school's been learning about the positive aspects of black or other cultures -- or that there's more than one type of black experience. Some of the discrimination Mr. O'Neill's been talking about is stuff I've never had to deal with.
MACK: Hmm... then maybe you should say something to him.
JODIE: But it just makes me feel guilty, you know? Like: "Geez, they've done so much for us already. I can't ask them for any more favors, or they'll accuse me of being ungrateful."
(Beat)
MACK: (shaking his head slowly) Yeah -- sadly enough, I do know.
(Just then we hear a knock on the door.)
RACHEL: (offscreen VO) Jodie -- phone for you. (Bt) It's Sandi Griffin.
(Jodie looks at Mack, stunned. Then she frowns angrily.)
JODIE: I'm almost afraid to hear what she has to say.
(Slowly she reaches over and picks up the phone. Places it against her ear.)
JODIE: (cautious) Hello?
(Pause)
SANDI: (from the receiver. icy) I have just one thing to say to you. I do not know where you got the idea that I was one of the morons who said racist stuff to you, but frankly, I am insulted.
JODIE: (slightly stunned) Oh really?
SANDI: Yes, really. And for the humiliation you've put me through, I believe an apology is in order.
(Beat)
JODIE: You want me to apologize to you?
SANDI: Are you having trouble hearing, or something??
(Pause. Jodie feels herself growing angrier. Her grip on the phone tightens.)
JODIE: (cold) You want an apology?? Okay, fine. (Bt) Here's your apology.
(She slams the phone down on its cradle.)
[Split screen of Andrea beating bean bags on the floor and O'Neill shuddering dramatically.]
You are now entering SUPER BOWL commercial HELL!!!!!! Please keep your seatbelt securely fastened. You are about to see some of the lamest, most EXPENSIVE commercials put on television.
Following a bloated, confusing halftime special which was heavy on Disney promotion (on Disney-owned ABC, of course) and themes of globalization and the millennium (what else?)...
Back to the game. Quarterback throws a pass. Wide receiver catches it. Coach calls a time-out. We break for another commercial...
The game. Setting up for a field goal. It's... no good! How 'bout a commercial?
You are now leaving SUPER BOWL commercial HELL. Aren't you happy you survived? No... because that means you have to watch the game. ; >