*a cult hero to some, a leader to none*

If there is one group of people who keep on being defined and redefined within the world of telelvision, it is Generation X. In Webster's New World Dictionary (1995), this age group is mentioned as being the "persons born in the 1960's and the 1970's". Yet, in Rob Owen's book,Gen X TV: The Brady Bunch to Melrose Place (1997), Generation X is usually attributed to being "slackers". In fact, slackers are usually painted as being "members of Generation X who do not aspire to have careers, who sleep on the couch all day and who only wash their hair a few times a year" (xi). Trent Lane, one of the characters of Daria, is structured from these ideas. On the surface, he could be a caricarature constructed from the imaginations of Gen X writers. But when you look underneath, he is seen as a cult hero reflecting the cynical and quiet anger fueled by myself and others in my age group of twenty-somethings at the way things are. What is really fascinating when talking with friends about watching Daria is that almost overwhelmingly everyone identifies with Trent. And there's a reason for that.

Trent, within the show, is seen as a paradigm of anarchy and detachedness. His character is fashioned around surliness and sleepfulness that seems to catch him after his nightly activities. Furthermore, there's that infamous "hack-cough" that leads to the impression of drugginess and blankness that could only come after the onslaught of emotional turmoil and disappointment. He could have a job, but he doesn't have any drive. Or he could be affected by the social issues around him, but his pessimism persists. There is also his distaste for authority. Trent succinctly punctuates the stereotypes of what the popular culture relates to Generation X. The evidence is clear. The constant depressive state that he displays from show to show could translate into the disaffected cynicism that some people from Generation X feel towards the world. The call to action is over. A narcoleptic, numbed culture continues to persist. Thus, Trent is set up to parody the idealism of the past in a bitter, mocking way.

This is meant to be funny in terms of the comedic nature of Daria. However, when you read the entire aura surrounding his character, it isn't a laughing matter. Unfortunately, Trent's character produces the calling out of harsh truths about reality as it really is--not to mention the utter apathy that follows. These truths are a residue of seeing repeated acts of broken relationships, social violence and career-related, narcissistic competitiveness. No wonder why he wants to sleep all the time.

There are two key episodes from the third season of Daria that summed it up for me about how Trent ticks. First, of course, is "Lane Miserables", the episode in which all the members of the Lane clan come home for an impromptu get-together (which could only erupt in disaster). The second would have to be "Jane's Addition". In this show, Jane finds a boyfriend, stirring up the complacency of Trent and Daria's lives in more ways than one. Although those two shows featured Daria and Jane as the main protagonists, I think that the real story belonged to Trent. From the way he's been portrayed on "Lane Miserables" and "Jane's Addition", you'd have to think that Trent is one screwed up individual. But when seeing those two programs again, I find he isn't that screwed up. He's just a product of forces that were larger than him.

When you think about a lot of Gen X-er's lives, you have to consider that this age group still displays the bitterness and frustration that cultural figureheads harped on in the first place. Too many things have happened to my generation to devestate our optimism. If anything, the decades of the eighties and the nineties unleashed the dark side of human nature. Rampant shootings every other week. Presidential scandal. Bizarre murders. Divorce. The end of privacy. Detatchment from meaningful relationships. It goes back to McLuhan's statement in The Medium is the Massage (1967) about "integrated electronic information" being the glue that ties society together. In his point of view, the mass audience was affected by societal events because they had to see with their own eyes the trials and tribulations of others in raw form. How can you not feel things when you see one big event after another pouring out on the television screen? And what's so scary is that sometimes it is too much to take. So much, that you have to tune out and retreat inside yourself in a dreamless haze.

That's how I see Trent. His character is built around retreating into his inner world, running by his own philosophy. Building up a shield so that the pessismism and anger against society doesn't allow his deepest feelings to come forth. He's afraid to care because of the chance of getting hurt all over again. And he masks his feelings with distaste for books and all things traditional. In my opinion, Trent is caught in between what McLuhan says "19^th century educational enviroment and the television generation" (18). This is the idea that social order continues to be taught in schools with no recognition of connectedness of life or free expression. It's no mistake that he was caricatured as the "narcoleptic slacker". With all the things that continually traumatize you on the news, what else can you do but sleep and drown endlessly in music?

Is he a part of the television generation? Trent hasn't stated whether he was a self-avowed television watcher on the show, but music seems to be the only boundless and structureless form for him to vent his inner anger. When you actually listen to the lyrics of his band Mystik Spiral's songs (even with the latest one, "Mr. Normal"), it's all about rage against love and "conformism". Conformism is synonymous with losing the passion inside yourself as well as "giving it all up to The Man". Conformism is a social order that causes even the smallest dreams to be crushed and not recognized. It's hard to reach out to others without getting your hand bitten off in this day and age.

His rebellion is a cause celebre. In fact, when you lay it all down to brass tacks, Trent's feelings are justified. Because social order has to deal with this idea of "family values" and "joining the work world", how can your nerves not be deadened? It's not that hard to get a job. But with dealing with the inner office politics of trying to get "one up on someone else" as well as trying day by day to make it in a world in which such rage is expressed in disastrous ways…maybe it is better to lock yourself up inside your house and retreat from the world. But then again, you have to think about the deeper recesses of his character. In him too, there is this need to be loved and to be cared for. That is evidenced when he spends a night over at Daria's house and unwittingly shares dinner with the Morgendorffer family. Trent, here, shows the complexities of love, loss and the need for connection. Everyone in their human nature wants to care about something or somebody. But his attempts to find some social investiment become frayed when he "breaks up" with Monique (his "girlfriend") for the latest time (as related by his sister Jane). Thus, the detatchment that fuels his character rings with bitter resonance in the climax of "Lane Miserables". In this scene, he circumvents his "oblviousness" and tells Daria (in acknowledgement of her "crush" on him) that he would "take her out" if she were older. Laugh. Laugh. Cough. Cough. The barriers still remain.

Fury is a way to vent out at the frustrated attempts of trying to connect without being shoved away for the sake of someone else's problems. And what is worse is that these feelings tie you up so much that when it gets down to finally doing the act that could show someone else that you are invested in their welfare, well, you just run away. This is at the heart of "Jane's Addition" when finally the inner psychology of Trent's character seeps through the content of the show. To Trent, the need to aid Daria and Jane on their project is evident. But his fears of abject failure seem to override his sense of action. A lot of realizations hit him as he tries to explain to Daria in a later scene about his lack of initiative to write a song for Daria and Jane's school work. As he made his explainations in the climax of the program, his words echoed like a mantra of "slacking" and "apathy". You lose the power of your art. You retreat within yourself because you are afraid of disappointment once again. It's difficult for you to reawaken the deadened soul due to the cynicism of modern day living and the trail of hurt from being ignored by the people who matter.

However, Trent's soul is not entirely dead. You've got to think about that last scene of "Jane's Addition" where Trent and Daria finally get down to talking about commitment. There isn't a fairy tale ending, but there is an understanding. He is the way he is. But there's room for change when Trent realizes someone is actually invested in him and means it. I think that's when his old, deadened soul changes to one of utter guilt. This guilt serves to wipe away some of the separateness that he continues to follow. So the question is asked as he gets up to leave and kisses Daria on the cheek in recognition of their conversation: Is there hope?