Sandi Griffin gets a bad rap. There, I said it.
We're all guilty of Sandi bashing, myself included. I did mine in "A Day in the Life of Stacy" where I subtly compare her to Adolf Hitler.
Sandi Griffin is no Hitler by any stretch of the imagination. She's not even a Heather Chandler. To me, she seems more like a combination of Brenda Walsh and Posh Spice.
Yet most fans consider her the American Antichrist. If you ask a fan, he or she will tell you that Sandi will hire an assassin, set a rival's house on fire, have a mentally handicapped person beat up, and toss a slush cup at Daria to maintain her evil popularity regime. On a good day.
Is she really this bad? No. It seems that Sandi's bitchiness tends to grow in our minds' television sets. Until the third season, Sandi wasn't so bad. In some instances, she was actually even nice.
In the first season, Sandi wasn't bitchy at all. She was supportive of Daria in many situations. In episode 101("Esteemers"), she was one of the few students who actually applauded Daria and Jane when they graduated self-esteem class. Then, in episode 102("The Invitation"), Sandi was also reluctant to criticize Daria on her outfit and lack of makeup, instead wondering aloud, "Is that a new look or something?" Also, Sandi supported Brooke when she wanted to get a nose job in episode 109 ("Too Cute"). Of course, this ended in disaster, but Sandi can't be blamed for that.
So why, then, is Sandi so hated? One major reason is the sibling rule. For those of you who don't know, the sibling rule is this: No matter how much we claim that we hate our brother or sister, if someone messes with him or her, we always take his or her side. Such is the case with the Sandi/Quinn feud. When Sandi starts in on Quinn, we stop thinking of her as Daria's arch-nemesis and start thinking of her as Daria's sister. Another reason is fan fiction making Sandi exaggeratingly snotty. Sandi is--for the most part--written out of character to supply the fic with a solid villain. It helps the story, but it hurts the character.
To be fair, Sandi does bring some of this on herself. In episode 210 ("Fair Enough"), isn't Sandi just a trifle too smug when Quinn gets laughed off of the stage? But let's take a look at things from Sandi's viewpoint. You're the most popular girl in school. You've been that way since you first entered high school. You've worked harder than anyone else to get to where you are. Then, out of the blue, a virtual nobody, a new kid, comes along and steals everything you've worked for in one fell swoop. Wouldn't you be resentful of that newcomer?
But Quinn isn't really to blame for Sandi's paranoia and competetiveness, either. Were I to place a blame on anyone, then I'd say that it's obvious that the main source of Sandi's problems lie with her mother. Much like in The Joy Luck Club, Sandi's mother pushes her too hard to excel. The only major difference is that instead of chess, Linda wants her daughter to be the most popular girl in school, and Sandi and Quinn's problems are an offshoot of Linda's problems with Helen. Notice that Linda is the one who usually starts in on Helen, and not the other way around. What is Linda's motivation? She was probably disliked in school, and doesn't want to see any of her children go through that. So she's foisting off her values onto Sandi.
Sandi isn't nearly as bad as everyone thinks. In fact, when you think about it, Sandi is more like Stacy, only her neuroses stem from family troubles rather than being intensely afraid of being disliked. If you watch the episodes from an objective point of view, you'll find that Sandi isn't that bad.
And then you see Daria Dance Party...