Brittany Taylor: Difference between revisions

Though Brittany is no Einstein, she sometimes displays an unusual sensibility about things, and is certainly smarter than Kevin. In [[Malled]] when Kevin stole "a cute thingy with a cute thingy" she dragged him back to the store to return it while Kevin apparently didn't understand why. When Daria was having a crisis over wearing contact lenses in "[[Through a Lens Darkly]]," Brittany was able to console her and defuse the problem, perhaps repaying Daria for the help she gave Brittany in "[[The Misery Chick]]." She also displayed an uncanny knack for military tactics in the episode "[[The Daria Hunter]]," surprising many of the characters with her plan to win a paintball match. In several episodes, she displays an ability to manipulate males.

While it would be easy for many to say that Brittany is generally stupid; several facts must also be taken into consideration: that Brittany had her own advice column in the [[Lawndale Lowdown]], that she was a competent fiction writer that simply needed experience in order to better relate the concepts and ideas she wished to convey in her writings (as seen in the [[The Daria Diaries]], that despite any outward appearance, she did not only manage to graduate high school under [[Angela Li]] (who did not even graduate [[Kevin Thompson|Kevin]] because he did not meet academic standards), but that she also was accepted into [[Great Prairie State University]] - regardless of the level of academic ''gravitas'' the institution possesses, the fact remains that between her academic and extracurricular achievements, she did manage to get accepted on her own merits. While Brittany is definitely not in the same intellectual league as Daria, Jane, Mack, Upchuck, Jodie and many others, to define Brittany as 'stupid' is misleading at best and cruel at worst.

It should also be mentioned that like Brittany (who was fashioned after her) Jenny McCarthy managed to be accepted to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where she studied at the university's nursing school until, needing money to continue her studies, she posed for Playboy (and subsequently became both ''Playmate of the Month'' for October 1993 and the ''1994 Playboy Playmate of the Year''). Like Jenny (who may have become an excellent nurse if not for her finances), Brittany's excess of wealth and privilege (as well as a lack of caring individuals willing to push her to do better and improve her outer persona) may be responsible for her outer appearance and personality, as well as her not striving to become more intelligent.