Amy Barksdale: Difference between revisions

 

==Getting the Barksdale Timeline Straight==

Amy Barksdale is the youngest Barksdale sister, behind [[Rita Barksdale|Rita]] (the oldest) and Helen. [[Glenn Eichler]] said in an interview that at the time of "[[I Don't]]," when Daria was 16, Rita was "about 48-49," Helen "45-46," and Amy "about 40." This estimate is roughly consistent with the dates in [[Richard Lobinske]]'s essay, [http://www.outpost-daria.com/essay/rl_daria_temporal_analysis_project.html "The Daria Temporal Analysis Project,"] but even chronological data from the show itself did not match up exactly.

 

More detail and images concerning the minor physical differences between the "Aunt Nauseam" Amy and the previous two can be found on the [http://dariablog2.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-12-22T22%3A18%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=30 Daria Fandom Blog II] at the top of the right column, in the first five posts (read in reverse order, by date).

 

 

==Personality==

As an adult, Amy is sarcastic to the point of rudeness when speaking with or about her sisters, even if she's talking to her nieces or her sister's spouses/boyfriends. She says what's on her mind and doesn't care what anyone thinks of it. (In "I Don't," she feels "no particular obligation to listen to anyone else's B.S. Ever.") Her wit is quick but with a sharp, angry edge. Her lack of involvement in Barksdale family life has carried over to the point that Daria and Quinn barely recognize Amy when she appears in "I Don't." Amy can't recall whether Daria is in high school, college, "or something." She's deliberately remained out of the picture for decades, a willing and determined outsider who is always "out of place" when with her siblings.

 

In "Aunt Nauseam," Amy makes a curious comment. In response to Daria, who says: "Mom and Aunt Rita are on the brink of mutually assured destruction, Quinn's obviously having a nervous breakdown, and Dad's on the lamb," Amy says, "Gee, reminds me of my childhood." This suggests that Helen and Rita's frequent fighting caused their father to absent himself from the home to escape it, and it had a negative effect on their mother as well.

 

 

To paraphrase something [[Canadibrit]] once wrote in a fanfic, Amy is the best indication that Daria is related to these people. That is likely why she has appeared way more often in fanfiction than she has in the series.

 

==Personal History==

Beyond the three episodes in which she appears, we know almost nothing about Amy. That's probably the way she wanted it. She had no desire to share any part of her life with her sisters, except on her own terms.

 

In "[[I Don't]]," Amy attended [[Erin Chambers|Erin]]'s wedding, then escaped with Daria to get cheese fries and, more importantly, implicitly suggest that there's a place for one of Daria's mindset in the real world after all. In "[[Through a Lens Darkly]]" she gave advice about Daria's wearing contact lenses. Finally, in "[[Aunt Nauseam]]," Daria called her in to mediate between Rita and Helen. Amy ended up, to the surprise of many viewers, adding more fuel to the fire until Daria and Quinn saved the day.

 

==Fanfiction Portrayals==

Presumably due to her similarity to Daria, Amy proved to be very popular for fanfiction writers, despite her appearances in the series being rare and ambiguous.

 

===Saint Amy===

The most common stereotype, particularly in fanfics written just after Season Two in the TV series, is '''Saint Amy'''. Amy Barksdale is believed to have developed a special relationship with Daria in "[[I Don't]]" and "[[Through a Lens Darkly]]," offering her advice and moral support. In certain ways she appeared to be a grown-up version of Daria herself (see their mirrored images in "I Don't"). This has been taken to the extreme in fanfiction, leading to situations in which Amy rides in like the cavalry to rescue Daria from bad situations. (Amy even says, "The cavalry has arrived!" in "Aunt Nauseam.")

 

Related to the Saint Amy theme is '''Maternal Amy''', in which she either has a baby or else acts ''in loco parentis'' for Daria because Jake and Helen are either dead, absent, or otherwise unable or unwilling to raise her. The best example is the Amy Barksdale of [[Kara Wild]]'s [[Driven Wild Universe]], who has a baby with her live-in boyfriend, [[Joel Silverman]]. Amy proves herself a good if occasionally exasperated mother. Perhaps the best Maternal Amy story in this [[series]] is Ms. Wild's "[[Mother's Milk]]."

 

In this same vein, Amy gets married to a wealthy Air National Guard pilot, [[Maurice 'Reese' Wyatt]], in [[Brother Grimace]]'s "[[A Path of Roses and Thorns]]," a [[Dariaverse crossover]] with [[Richard Lobinske]]'s [[Falling into College]] series. Amy inherits twin girls from Wyatt's previous marriage and becomes a beloved stepmother to them both. (She is more than a bit of the Saint Amy here.) Amy gets married and has children in [[Richard Lobinske]]'s "[[Alien Heritage]]."