Helen Morgendorffer: Difference between revisions

|firstappearance=[[Esteemsters]]

|lastappearance=[[Is It College Yet?]]

|episodecount= 63 <br/> 2 TV movies

|gender=Female

'''Helen Morgendorffer''' (née '''Barksdale''') is a character created for the MTV animated series ''Daria.'' A corporate lawyer, she is the mother of [[Daria Morgendorffer]] and [[Quinn Morgendorffer]].

 

 

 

{{quote|I think it's so important for a family to find the time to eat together and share their day. Did I share with you how many meetings I had to rearrange so that I could be here -- not that I'm complaining...|[[Lane Miserables]]}}

 

==Background==

Helen Barksdale's early years were spent in the shadow of her older sister, [[Rita Barksdale|Rita]], whom her mother spoiled rotten with attention and money. Helen grew up extremely resentful of being ignored but at the same time determined to be the best at everything she did, probably in hopes of one day winning the approval of her parents. Unknown to her, this caused resentment from ''Rita'' (and her other sister [[Amy Barksdale]]) who felt they were expected to be the equal of Helen when it come to studying. Helen never got on with Amy, but the two of them both felt that their mother never gave ''them'' any encouragement or affection. ("[[I Don't]]", "[[Aunt Nauseum]]") Helen, in adult life, has intended to stay in contact with her mother but rarely has the time ("[[The Daria Database]]"), and may not feel that committed to the idea ("Nauseum").

 

 

Helen enrolled in law school and, like her husband, rejected the hippie lifestyle and embraced the world of corporate America. She has, on occasion, felt guilty about not retaining her hippie ideals (though she gets over it quickly).

Helen became a corporate lawyer, a career that became the focus of her life. Even after she became the mother of two daughters, she continued to work at the expense of her family. While failing to make partner at the firms she worked for, Helen likely became the family bread-winner due to her long hours put in at work, though the exact amount that she earns in comparison to her husband is never revealed either in actual salary numbers or real work hours put in respectively with either parent.

 

 

==Personality==

{{quote|It isn't easy raising two teenagers all by yourself. With Jake.|Helen on Jake in "[[The Daria Hunter]]"}}

 

 

Jake often frustrates her with his various personality quirks, neuroticism, cluelessness, and crazy antics; most of the time, this is shrugged off as background noise, though in "[[Psycho Therapy]]", "[[Gifted]]", "[[This Year's Model]]", "[[One J at a Time]]", and the [[Broodbeat]] website she showed far greater discontent lurks under the surface. She became quite vicious in "Psycho Therapy" when she had to roleplay as him, and in "One J" she expresses anger over the fact Jake won't get over his childhood.

 

She's shown discontent that the "spice" in her marriage is gone, as far back as "[[Too Cute]]" where she admitted regaining it was her highest priority. She's attempted to do so with various trips and mechanisms ("[[Antisocial Climbers]]", "[[Camp Fear]]"), but often these get cancelled due to work commitments ("Camp Fear", "[[Of Human Bonding]]"). On several occasions, however, they've regained the "spice" ("[[Road Worrier]]", "[[Antisocial Climbers]]", "[[Fire!]]", "[[Is It Fall Yet?]]", "Camp Fear") and Helen has been left ''very'' happy.

 

In "[[Sappy Anniversary]]", prolonged absences due to work causes Helen and Jake to spend less time together, and both of them miss the other.

 

Later on in "Sappy", Jake becomes worried Helen is bothered about being married to a loser - she reassures him she isn't bothered (quickly saying she doesn't think he's a loser), and reveals that she's still kept the badly-made, ugly hobbit candle he made for her back during their first anniversary, as it was something he created especially for her: it's a reminder of why she married him, that he's a "kind, decent, intelligent man I fell in love with all those years ago". (She's a bit put out when he recoils in horror at the candle, having no idea what it is)

 

==Relationship with her daughters (in general)==

{{quote|That's exciting, isn't it Daria?|Helen}}

{{quote|No.|Daria ("[[The Daria Hunter]]"}}

 

[[Image:Helen_Daria.jpg|right|220px|thumb|Helen and Daria in an attempt at conversation ("Lane Miserables")]]

 

 

Daria tends to speak with her mother more often than her sister [[Quinn Morgendorffer]] does, and usually the conversations are of an adult level of maturity. At times Helen will succeed in getting Daria to talk about whatever current trouble she is dealing with. On occasion Helen demonstrates a deeper understanding of her daughter's habits than most of the family gives her credit for, such as in the episode "[[Write Where It Hurts]]," where she succinctly explains Daria's cynical habits and offers some help and sage parental advice. In "[[Dye! Dye! My Darling]]", Helen was who Daria turned to in one of her darkest hours and Helen immediately dropped work to help.

Helen's perception of Daria is made clear in the final regular episode, "[[Boxing Daria]]." In this story, Helen and Jake learn that their daughter is concerned they considered her a burden. At this fear, they firmly explain that while her cynical and sardonic loner personality has been a concern, they consider it worth the price for having a gifted and perceptive daughter of deep principles.

 

 

Helen has taken stances in past episodes against beauty standards for women, whilst simultaneously trying to get Daria to look less off-putting. In "[[This Year's Model]]" she expressed negative views about the modelling industry and about plastic surgery for girls & young women in "[[Too Cute]]"; however, right after stating plastic surgery was bad, she then started to talk about how it was understandable if a middle-aged women did it to get ahead in work. In "[[Of Human Bonding]]", after lecturing the [[Fashion Club]] about how a few lines and spots aren't sins and how women shouldn't be pushed aside just for age, she abruptly asks Sandi if her mother knows "a good collagen man". She keeps trying to hide her exact age. [[Glenn Eichler]] has stated this isn't a comment on Helen "so much as a comment on the pressures the working world exerts on women and on middle-aged adults in general".

:''DIGITAL DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this page are for entertainment purposes only. Although Helen Morgendorffer is employed by Vitale, Davis, Horowitz, Riordan, Schrecter, Schrecter, and Schrecter, the aforementioned firm is not responsible for the views presented here, especially those of a personal and/or resentful nature.''

 

 

She also has a "Morgendorffer Family Update":

==Fanfiction Portrayals==

===Evil Helen===

Helen's workaholism affects her ability to be a good mother, a character defect that was explored in the episode "[[Psycho Therapy]]" but is visible as early as "[[Esteemsters]]" ([''to Daria''] "We tell you over and over again that you're wonderful and you just...don't...get it! What's wrong with you?") Though Helen also shows herself at times to be quite perceptive (e.g., "[[Write Where It Hurts]]" and ''[[Is It Fall Yet?]]''), certain fanfics carry her parental disconnection to the extreme, producing the Evil Helen stereotype. This stereotype was especially strong in early fanfics, as revealed in "[[To Helen Back]]," by [[C.E. Forman]], "[[Diane Long Continuum|Connect Four]]," by [[Diane Long]], and the fanfics by [[Michelle Klein-Hass]]. However, it persisted in later ones as well, such as "[[Darius]]" by [[The Angst Guy]], an [[Alternate Universe|alternate-universe]] story in which grave marital and family stresses have overwhelmed her motherly instincts and made her quite ruthless. Another AU portrayal in this vein appears in [[The Angst Guy]]'s "[[It Slipped Through My Hands, Like a Shadow, Like a Dream]]" (see "Author's Notes II" at the end of this tale). The gold standard of the 'Evil Helen' stereotype is depicted in [[Brother Grimace]]'s government conspiracy-based fanfic '[[It's All About Respect]]'. See also [[Tired Daria Fandom Tropes]].

 

===Sapphic Helen===

 

 

 

==Trivia==

 

Helen Morgendorffer is voiced by [[Wendy Hoopes]], who also voiced Daria's sister Quinn and her best friend [[Jane Lane |Jane]].

 

An internal character bio for the production crew was produced, and can be seen briefly in the "Cast Interview" feature on the DVD. It mentions several thoughts about the character that were dialed down in the show or not used at all, such as Helen getting a prestigious "big firm" job right out of law school, taking a bare minimum maternity leave, and doing a lot of work in the local community & believing that "should exempt her neighbourhood from having to put up with the half-way house".

Helen's family come from a southern state, most likely (according to Eichler) Virginia.

 

 

==External Links==