Mack Mackenzie: Difference between revisions
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Mack is the only recurring male character of Daria and Jane's age at [[Lawndale High]] who acts with courage, intelligence, and integrity, and as such he enjoys their respect. Ironically, in interviews with [[Kara Wild]], both [[Glenn Eichler]] and [[Anne D. Bernstein]], two of the driving forces behind the show, stated that this was because Mack was never developed fully, as the show's staff never cast his voice actor to their satisfaction. (Four different voice actors did Mack's voice over five seasons.) Because Mack wasn't fully developed, he wasn't given flaws.
Subtle references are made in the series to Mack's high intelligence, though one wonders if it is high only in comparison with 95% of his fellow students, who often appear to be (generously speaking) morons. With help from the school Computer Club, he and Jodie [http://web.archive.org/web/20010618230754/www.mtv.com/mtv/tubescan/animation/daria/lhs/about.html designed the school's website] and he runs the [[Lawndale Lions]] sub-site, according to an extinct MTV webpage. He knows Shakespeare at least as well as Daria Morgendorffer ("[[Cafe Disaffecto]]" comments about the skull in ''Hamlet''). An avid sports fan, he has an extensive knowledge of American football and its history, making numerous references to the same in a short written speech that appears in ''[[The Daria Diaries]]''.
Though Mack is portrayed as being a competent football team captain and a good leader, he is not as competent at playing certain positions in the game. He is unable to successfully perform in the quarterback role when Kevin is knocked out of action by a leg injury in "[[A Tree Grows in Lawndale]]."
Mack is quite popular at [[Lawndale High]]. Aside from being the football team captain, he has been elected several times running as the Homecoming King for the school's homecoming parade, with [[Jodie]] always as the Homecoming Queen ("[[I Loathe a Parade]]"). When serving as a football game announcer, Upchuck calls him "Mad Mack" (a play on the character Mad Max of ''The Road Warrior''), which might be his team nickname ("[[A Tree Grows in Lawndale]]"). Though Jodie says everyone at school calls him "Mack" ("[[Gifted]]"), he signs his class papers as "Michael Mackenzie" ("[[Murder, She Snored]]").
In "Parade", he expresses distaste for being made Homecoming King, feeling it's tokenism so everyone can feel good about few minorities living in Lawndale. In the Lawndale Lion's website, he also expresses bitterness with his role in the team (see "Antagonists").
[[Image:angrymack2-mss.gif|frame|left|Mack loses his temper with Kevin—in a dream ("[[Murder, She Snored]]")]]
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[[Image:mack-sjr-1.gif|frame|A rare moment of real anger: "I've told you a million times, don't call me that! When are you going to get it through your thick skull already?" ("[[See Jane Run]]")]]
In the Lawndale Lions website, he expresses secret disgust with the rest of the team and the adults around it: "Sports are a great way to build character. You learn how to take orders from an ignorant, often abusive authority figure, abandon any semblance of thinking for yourself, and sublimate your own values and ethics in order to bring some kind of cheap glory to a community of frustrated, embittered fatcats too old and well fed to go out on the field themselves... we'll get college scholarships, unlimited credit at all the stores on campus and our pick of female students to mistreat. And not one of these mindless cretins to the left and right of me on the line of scrimmage will ever give a second thought to whether they deserve any of it."
===Drawbacks===
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