Mack Mackenzie

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Mack Mackenzie

Michael Jordan Mackenzie is "Mack" to everyone except Kevin Thompson, who calls him "Mack Daddy," to Mack's eternal annoyance. An African-American classmate of Daria Morgendorffer and Jane Lane, Mack attends school at Lawndale High with his girlfriend, Jodie Landon, and is the captain of the Lawndale Lions football team.


General Notes on the Character

Mack is the only recurring male character of Daria and Jane's age at Lawndale High who acts with intelligence and integrity and as such enjoys their respect. Ironically, in interviews with Kara Wild, 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 him to their satisfaction. Because Mack wasn't fully developed, he wasn't given flaws.

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 Mack "Mad Mack" (a play on 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").

The one exception to his popular standing is Ms. Barch, the misanthropic science teacher. For reasons unknown, Janet Barch appears to have marked Mack as her favorite whipping boy. References to this decidedly ugly conflict abound: "The Lab Brat," "Gifted," "Fair Enough," The Daria Database ("I will not show Ms. Barch fear, no matter what she does to me," and being made to write "I am male, therefore I suck" repeatedly on the blackboard during study hall). Mack's level of self-control is astounding, given episodes like these and his list of frustrations as the football team captain (The Daria Diaries). His New Year's resolutions in The Daria Database all involve attempts to control his irritation with other people, including Jodie.

We know little about Mack's family, though in "The Misery Chick" he reveals his name was originally "Michael James Mackenzie, but Dad went to a Bulls playoff game when I was twelve and then he changed it." Jodie in "Partner's Complaint" describes him as being "bad with money," still owing his father his overdrawn allowance from third grade. (Mack finally pays his father back during Is It Fall Yet?, and also has enough money from his summer job to take Jodie to Chez Pierre "once.") He participated in the betting pool on Mr. DeMartino's upcoming roller-hockey battle in "The Big House", but so did everyone else, so gambling is not likely one of his few vices.

The series generally portrays Mack's and Jodie's relationship in a positive light, though Jodie often places a higher priority on her own commitments than on the relationship. The implication in "My Night at Daria's" is that the couple is sexually active. Jodie promises to tell Daria all about it "once my parents are dead."

Mack is clearly and specifically portrayed as in a lower socioeconomic class than Jodie, though the details are not known. (Being in a lower socioeconomic class than Jodie Landon is not difficult.) In Is It College Yet?, he states that he can get into Vance University if he gets a scholarship, which he does.

He is portrayed as being a competent football team captain and a good leader, but not as competent at actually playing 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."

"Saint Mack" ("Write Where It Hurts")

Fanfic Stereotypes

Saint Mack

Mack is in a curious position in the pantheon of Daria characters in that he seems to be without fault, or at least lacking major drawbacks as a male in a female-dominated story universe. In Is It Fall Yet?, Jodie bemoans Mack's cash-flow issues, but that appears to be the extent of his flaws. This characterization is sometimes referred to as "Saint Mack." One extreme example of a "Saint Mack" is "The Thirteenth Man," by The Angst Guy. A less extreme instance appears in Bob Marley's "You Don't Know Mack."

Mack-Who-Belongs-With-Someone-Else

Debate has arisen on a number of occasion over the issue of why Mack dates Jodie. Is it because they are among the very few black students at Lawndale High (a situation implied several times in the series)? Couldn't they find anyone else to date? This is the late 1990s in the series, after all. The few true-blue shippers left in Daria fandom have taken pains to hook Mack up with other characters in alternate-universe or post-canon tales. Among those usually chosen as his new mate are Jane Lane (a popular one), Brittany Taylor (also popular, though she did irritate him in the series), and Daria Morgendorffer (a more difficult mix).

External Links


Fanfiction

'Shipper Pairings

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