Real Person Fiction

Real person fiction, also called real-person fanfiction, RPF, actorfic, or celebrity fanfiction, is fanfic that uses (usually) live, famous, real-world individuals as primary characters. As might be guessed, RPF's existence rests on questionable legal and ethical grounds; its use is often discouraged out of the well-reasoned fear of legal reprisals for libel, though some celebrities have actually encouraged RPF featuring themselves. Fanfiction.net banned RPF in 2002.

Fewer legal and ethical issues are seen when the Real Person appearing in the fanfic is actually long departed. The Sidhe's long-running series, "The Other Side of Time," features a number of major American Civil War personages, primarily from the Confederate side.

RPF in Daria Fanworks
RPF is rarely seen in Daria fanfic, except for the occasional use of characters based on real-life fanfic authors, artists, and fans, usually in comic dream world, reality crossover, or alternate-universe tales (e.g., "Fandemonium," TAG's "Aunt Kara," Dervish's "The TAGinator"). These characters almost always play secondary roles to actual Daria characters as they interact.

It is possible to consider real-person fiction as the exact opposite of a reality crossover. In the former, a real-life celebrity appears in a Dariaverse; in the latter, Daria or one of her cohorts appears in the real world. Telling the difference can be tough with some stories. As a rule of thumb, given a story that could be either a reality crossover or real-person fiction, the story is real-person fiction if Lawndale exists much as it appears in the Daria show.

"Camp Fear" Campers
The fifth-season episode "Camp Fear" featured two characters based directly on Daria fans: Michelle Klein-Hass and Erin Mills. Erin (a.k.a. Shallow15) won a trivia contest on MTV's Daria Website, and Michelle (a.k.a. MsGeek) operated Lawndale Commons and wrote magazine articles on Daria. Further details are available here. The Daria Character Database entry for "Mystery Character" probably referred to Erin Mills.

Famous real-life personalities were referred to on a number of occasions in canon Daria material and its predecessor, Beavis and Butt-head, but never shown—with two important exceptions. These celebrities are also seen or referred to often enough in Daria and related fanfiction to warrant special mention.

Glenn Eichler
MTV Daria show staff, particularly co-creator Glenn Eichler, have been seen now and then in Daria fanfic (see Asha Williams's "Not So Parallel Universe," Ace Trax's "Misery Chick," and Rey Fox's ""). A background character based on Glenn Eichler in fact appeared in crowd scenes in the series itself as a sort of Mary Sue (see his character illustration at the Mary Sue link). Mr. Eichler's name has also appeared in numerous fanfics in Tuckerizations, such as "President Eichler" in Richard Lobinske's "Alien Home" and the Eichler-Lynn Parkway, a street in Lawndale, from "Darius," by TAG.



U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton
While he was still President of the United States (1993-2000), Bill Clinton had the distinction of appearing twice in Beavis and Butt-head productions (the episode "Citizen Butt-head" and the movie Beavis and Butt-head Do America), and once as part of a Daria alter ego picture featuring Janet Barch as Monica Lewinsky.

In "Citizen Butt-head," Clinton actually meets freshman Daria Morgendorffer, one of a group of Highland High honor students selected to ask questions of the president. Daria's question, which went unanswered because of an untimely interruption by Beavis and Butt-head, was: "Mister President, in your campaign you promised to help every young person get a college education. Did you mean that or were you just jerking us around?" Daria saves the misbehaving B&B from the Secret Service by telling everyone that they are "special," which leads Clinton to give the boys Student of the Year awards. Daria is ignored thereafter. In Beavis and Butt-head Do America, President Clinton makes the two weinerheads honorary members of the BATF for their "help" in saving the world. Butt-head is unable to locate Chelsea Clinton in the White House, however.

A Tuckerization relevant here is Clinton County, from TAG's "Invisible Planet," which was a play on Carter County from The Daria Diaries.

Bill Clinton has appeared in cameos on numerous other animated shows, such as The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy, and in political newspaper comics running the spectrum from "Doonesbury" to "Mallard Fillmore." It is left to others to explain his popularity in cartoon/comics media. He does seem to get around.