Buffy's life before Sunnydale

[Chosen Enemy]

How do you imagine Buffy's life before Sunnydale? Before and after she was called.

Ignore the Buffy movie, and rely on flashbacks and Buffy's words through the series, where she describes what her life was like.

what her love life looked like? Was her family a regular family? How she did at school? How was her relationship with her friends? was she happy? And how she dealt with the Slayer thing? How her life looked like back then?

 

[Taake]

I can't really ignore the movie because that's really what I think Buffy was like, 🙂 even taking flashbacks into consideration. To me she was a valley girl and as for her love life I'm sure she had flings but I think it was pretty innocent.

 

[wickedtiger86]

I totally think that she was Cordelia, with different hair.

😀

I do think that she was happy, but for the most part had no idea about life. Though I always feel bad for her when she listens to her parents fight. That seems to be a pretty difficult thing to go through for a teen. And she's obviously very affected by it, even after she moves to Sunnydale.

I do think that her lovelife was pretty innocent before she came, and boys were kind of . . .more of a game to her than being about looking for a connection or a relationship.

I don't think that she handled the slayer thing very well before she had Giles. Since she had planned to give it all up when she came to Sunnydale.

 

[white avenger]

There was a graphic novel several years ago that addressed that. Basically, it was Joss' original concept before it got changed into the not comedy, not horror movie that resulted. I saw Buffy as being more just plain un-focused than shallow or snobbish, the way that Cordelia was portrayed at first. The line that I recall from the movie that pretty much summed up the character is, "I just want to graduate, tour Europe, marry Christian Slater, and die." That pretty much sums up Buffy and her outlook on life before Merrick and her new Slayer responsibilities introduced her to the real world.

 

[Hale Caesar]

We did see flashbacks of Buffy before she was a Slayer, when Angel was with Whistler. She was basically Cordelia, but not as awesome 😛

 

[Abby27]

I wonder what happened surrounded her going into a mental institution. It obviously happened after she was called. I always imagined Buffy as this total Cordelia, even bitchier really. Then, she is called, is completely lost, and with Merrick even tries to give it a go as we see in her flashbacks. Then, it all becomes to much and she tells her parents who then have her institutionalized. When Buffy does get out, it's no wonder that when we see her in Sunnydale, she wants nothing to do with Giles or vampires. And it's not because she doesn't want to deal with the responsibility, but because the last time she got involved with it her parents thought she was actually crazy. That'd make anyone super unwilling to just jump back in.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

She was probably like Cordy.

Partying, shopping, hanging out with the girls, boy, cheerleading..

 

[AlyInWonderland]

I agree with all the Cordy comments. I think that is who she was, and I am glad that she changed though.

 

[Enemies]

I've just read here be monsters the novel and it explains a bit about Buffys past, how loss affected her when cousin Celia died and her dad left and how she was a cocky care free child thinking she had it all and nothing could touch her and then her whole world changed when she became the slayer, instead of people looking after her it was her looking after the people, a transition that would be hard for anyone. I do believe she was very much like cordelia and this could be the reason why she was drew to cordelia in the beginning after all they did seem to be getting along well...

 

[NothingButSong]

I imagine her to be a lot like Cordelia, but a little more sensitive to other people and their feelings. Interested in clothes and shoes and boys and being popular, but without being particularly nasty. In Welcome to the Hellmouth she seems genuinely shocked that Cordelia would be so horrible to Willow for no reason.

 

[IloveBuffy]

I think she would have been stick up selfish and superfical. I think she would have been really self centeredand expected everything to be handed to her on a plate. Even though her life was perfect- because of her mom and dad seperating and because they put her in a mad house for burning down the school- i think she had it all, or enough to have a huge ego. Her huge ego shines through from season 1-7. She's used to having it her way and doesn't want to share or comprimise. She is selfish. She always acted like she hated being the slayer because it got in the way of her socialising. She didn't ever seem forfilled that she was saving people lives and making the world a better place. It was likeshe didn't care about the people she helped, she cared about being a 'good slayer'. It always revolved around her.

In my humble opinion.

 

[Taake]

She always acted like she hated being the slayer because it got in the way of her socialising.

I never saw it like that , I mean yes she wanted time for friends and dating but that wasn't because her ego was huge but because she wanted to be normal and 'care-free' like the other teenagers around her (speaking of greener grass, [MENTION=10352]Chosen Enemy[/MENTION] 😉) and because being "THE" Slayer would have been a terrible burden on any young girl.
She needed a social life, doesn't make her stuck up or selfish, it makes her human.

She didn't ever seem forfilled that she was saving people lives and making the world a better place. It was likeshe didn't care about the people she helped, she cared about being a 'good slayer'. It always revolved around her.

To be fair, most people (if not to sayall) see the world through their own perspective where they are the focal point. You will always find a certain self-centered focus and in some people sure, that may get out of hand, I'd have to say that I didn't see that in Buffy. Buffy's focus on herself and her neediness to focus on her own issues I saw as an extreme reaction to the fact that she wasn't her own person. She wasn't just Buffy, she was 'the' Slayer, someone with a higher calling, for a long time under the thumb of the Watcher's council... and she never ever, got a break from that... no wonder she grew fiercely protective of who she was as a person (non-slayer traits) and non-slayer activities (which after all kept her out of normal life and in the dark with demons. She was more than a little jealous of her friends who could chose to walk away and who didn't have the weight of the world on their shoulders)

As for not caring I think you're so wrong her. She was reluctant at first, she wasn't always in love with the gig, but it wasn't because she didn't care about people. If anything I think she cared too much - imagine being a teenager, with all that that entails, and to know that you're responsible for other peoples lives! It's an incredible burden to care so it doesn't surprise me in the least that she didn't seem 'fullfilled' from Apocalypse averting (if we look into hero mythology I'd say few of them are truly "fullfilled" from their good deeds)