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'''“This Year's Model”''' was the sixth episode of the first season of <i>Daria</i>.
==Plot==Ms. Li is positively beside herself when she announces that Claude and Romonica, two talent scouts from the Amazon Modeling Agency, are to visit Lawndale High to look for potential models. Daria objects, naturally, pointing out the drawbacks of dropping out of school to pursue a career that's essentially over at age 25, but is paid no heed by Ms. Li (who's receiving a "small fee" for the school's cooperation). She can't even convince Jodie, who thinks it's perfectly fine since it's voluntary, and there's no way she'll convince Brittany, who believes that her dream is about to be fulfilled. When Claude and Romonica arrive, they take an interest in Brittany (and her, ah, "assets"), but immediately lock onto Jane and Daria. Jane immediately alienates them with a nasty caricature, and Daria blows them off with her usual sarcasm. Helen and Jake share Daria's concerns, a position that's put to the test when Quinn announces that she's been accepted into the class. Against her better judgment, and with a little coaxing by phone from Romonica, Helen allows Quinn to attend the open class, but that's it... then she's astonished when Daria easily agrees to keep an eye on her (which, of course, is for her own purposes: she senses "the total humiliation of Quinn" to be imminent). At the class, Claude and Romonica instruct the girls and the guys in rudimentary modelling moves, while Daria and Jane console a devastated Brittany (who wasn't accepted into the class). Things swiftly spiral out of control, however, when the girls are instructed to start rubbing the guys' chests, an action that Quinn refuses to take part in. When Ms. Li wanders into the auditorium to check up on things, she immediately shuts down the class as soon as she sees what is happening. The next day, Ms. Li gathers the students into the auditorium to announce the winner of the modelling contract. As she's about to announce the winner, a group of mercenaries marches into the auditorium, and the group's leader, General Buck Conroy, starts his recruitment speech. When Ms. Li objects, Conroy explains that she was the one who invited both him and the news media. Ms. Li is humiliated -- thanks to Daria, who was actually the one that called Conroy and the media -- and Quinn is devastated when she discovers that Kevin, of all people, has won the modelling contract.
In this episode, Daria deals with a modeling agency coming to her school to recruit the next generation of models from among the student body.
==Plot Summary==
At [[Lawndale High]], principal [[Angela Li]] interrupts English class to enthusiastically announce the visit of representatives from the [[Amazon Modeling Agency]] who are searching for potential models among the students. As modeling is a shallow profession based on youth and looks, both [[Daria Morgendorffer|Daria]] and [[Jane Lane|Jane]] protest - and at the same time hint of the possible money the school is being offered for the visit. [[Jodie Landon|Jodie]] argues with Daria and Jane, saying that the two don't ''have'' to be against everything.
As [[Diane Bennett|Mrs. Bennett]] explains the marketing aspects of the fashion industry, Amazon representatives [[Claude]] and [[Romonica DeGregory]] appear during Economics class and give Mrs. Bennett fashion advice. Their goal is to convince students to sign up for a complementary modeling class. [[Brittany Taylor|Brittany]] agrees right away, but they are less successful with Daria and Jane.
During dinner at the Morgendorffers a very upset Daria relates the day's events to her parents, stressing the dishonesty of the whole situation. Both [[Helen Morgendorffer|Helen]] and [[Jake Morgendorffer|Jake]] agree with her. When [[Quinn Morgendorffer|Quinn]] enthusiastically announces that she has been chosen for the modeling class both parents try to dissuade her, stating that modeling is not a good choice for a profession, and only a timely call from Romonica convinces Helen to let Quinn attend the free modeling class. As Quinn leaves the kitchen, Helen asks (and eventually bribes) Daria to keep an eye on her sister.
The modeling class is held at the school auditorium and includes the four Fashion Club members and a red-haired, slightly plump girl (whom Romonica calls a "decoy"). Romonica and Claude first coach the female students on how they must walk and what attitudes they should project. They then invite [[Kevin Thompson|Kevin]] and the [[Three Js]] to help out, asking them to remove their shirts and have the girls rub their chests. Quinn is clearly ill at ease and excuses herself (claiming that she needs to visit the bathroom) but the other girls oblige. Brittany, watching from the audience with Jane, Daria and [[Trent Lane|Trent]], has a crying fit watching Kevin on stage and is miserable for not having been chosen to attend the class. However, when Ms. Li enters and views the salacious scene taking place she immediately stops it and ends the class.
Later that night, the Morgendorffers discuss the day's events, with Quinn enthusiastically thinking she’ll be chosen for the modeling contract despite her parents' warnings that they hadn't agreed on further participation and that she might not win - a thought inconceivable to Quinn.
At an auditorium assembly Mrs. Li is preparing to announce the winner for the modeling contract (after warning the students that modeling has nothing to do with sex, to the amusement of some of those present). She is unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of [[Buck Conroy|General Buck Conroy]], mercenary and editor of [[Brutal Mercenary|Brutal Mercenary Magazine]] - Conroy is also looking for potential recruits. He answers a surprised Mrs. Li that it had been ''her'' idea to contact him, showing her an invitation with her name. A television news crew shows up and states that although Li denied inviting Conroy to the school, she allowed a modeling school to solicit students on school property.
That night the Morgendorffers the family learns that Kevin, of all people, has received the modeling contract. Later, Daria is shown in her room retrieving the issue of Brutal Mercenary Magazine from her backpack (implying that she was the one to have mailed Conroy) before tearing it up. In the final scene, Kevin is shown during a photo session in the modeling agency, clearly having no idea what to do.
===Daria's Reading Material===
Daria is reading Henry David Thoreau's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden ''Walden''] in the kitchen in the scene immediately following the class in the auditorium. This is for a school assignment: the opening scene has Mr. O'Neill trying (unsuccessfully) to engage [[Brittany Taylor]] in a discussion of whether Thoreau's retreat "to live deliberately" is a withdrawal from life or an attempt to understand its essentials. ''Walden'' is also referred to obliquely at the end of the episode, when her father exclaims in shock at the news of a scandal on the local news, "Does no one have any ethics anymore?" Daria replies, "Only you and Thoreau, Dad."
==Trivia==
The title of the episode is a play on the 1978 Elvis Costello and The Attractions album, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Year's_Model ''This Year's Model''].
After agreeing with his daughter about ethics, [[Jake Morgendorffer|Jake]] goes off because he remember he has to "call that baby formula guy": a reference to the ongoing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott Nestlé baby formula scandal.]
Jane refers to her and Trent's parents as being at home.
==“This Year's Model” and Fanfic==
*Several [[alternate universe]] fics will find a way to put Daria into the onstage class: this happens in [[John Lane]] story "[[New Model Year]]" by [[Richard Lobinske]]; "[http://thepaperpusher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=32229 Mad Dog's Legacy 6: Model Misbehaviour]" by [[Hyrin]].
* A stand alone and partly finished Dariarotica piece by [[Wouter Jaegers]] depicts Romonica instructing the girls of the Fashion club to perform fellatio on the boys they invited onstage stating that as a model it is something they "Will be doing a LOT."
* Buck Conroy has turned up as an antagonist in several fics. [[Nemo Blank]]'s "[[Ring Toss]]" is an exception, where he's the amoral boyfriend of Ms Li.
==Transcript==
[[This Year's Model/transcript|Transcript]], originally from [[Outpost Daria]].
==External Links==
* [https://sites.google.com/site/dariatranscripts/106-this-year-s-model Episode Transcript] at [[Daria Transcripts]]
* [http://dariaphans.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html The Daria Fandom Blog, March 2007 archive]. The [[Daria Fandom Blog|DFG]] was maintained by [[CINCGREEN]] and [[Greybird]]. The entry for Saturday, April 7, 2007, is “Barbizon and Banality: A Look at ‘This Year’s Model’”
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{{succession box | title=[[List of Daria Episodes|Daria Episodes]]<br/>"This Year's Model," Season 1, Episode 6 | before=[[Malled]] (105) | after=[[The Lab Brat]] | year=(106)}}
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