Cordy the bully

[Mr Giles]

She bullied/looked down on Xander, Buffy, Willow, Wes and Doyle. Basically, anyone she could pick on, she did. Does it make you like her less because of this? I notice she is alot of peoples favorite character.

 

[SlayerFest]

I always liked how blunt she was, for entertainment purposes. However, if I knew her in real life (I'm talking early Buffy) I'd probably hit her over the head with a blunt object. At least once. She definitely became less snooty as Buffy progressed. I think I liked her the most in season 3. But maybe the Jasmine arc was karma for how horrible she treated people. Which is a pretty screwed up thought. She did a lot of good. She didn't deserve to be possessed, impregnated, put into a coma, and then killed, just for being a bully. Maybe she deserved the possession...but not the death. As annoying as I found her at times, I really missed her season 4/5 🙁

 

[Dagenspear]

Cordelia looked down on everyone. And with good reason. She was better than them. All of them. And bullied? Lol. She wasn't nice to them. And she shouldn't have had to be. It wasn't her job to be nice. Or to coddle peoples insecurities. She didn't push them around. She didn't physically assault them. She didn't take things from them. She didn't force them to do things. She didn't humiliate them. Nor did she attack them with racial or homosexual slurs. Cordelia Chase was NOT a bully. She was pretty bitchy, A LOT of the time, and she proud of it. Which is the most beautiful thing in the world. But that's not a crime. Cordelia never hurt anybody. She had a very beautiful and good heart, as proven on ANGEL. So no, it doesn't.

 

[caritas08]

Cordelia looked down on everyone. And with good reason. She was better than them. All of them. And bullied? Lol. She wasn't nice to them. And she shouldn't have had to be. It wasn't her job to be nice. Or to coddle peoples insecurities. She didn't push them around. She didn't physically assault them. She didn't take things from them. She didn't force them to do things. She didn't humiliate them. Nor did she attack them with racial or homosexual slurs. Cordelia Chase was NOT a bully. She was pretty bitchy, A LOT of the time, and she proud of it. Which is the most beautiful thing in the world. But that's not a crime. Cordelia never hurt anybody. She had a very beautiful and good heart, as proven on ANGEL. So no, it doesn't.

This is a really good point. Although Cordy often said rude and/or blunt things, I can't think of ways she tried to take things from people or hurt them. Even when she was in competition with Buffy over Angel (early Season 1 & 2) or Homecoming Queen, she played fair (at least as fair as Buffy) which differentiates her from a lot of TV show "mean girls" or highschool "bi***es."

 

[BuffyElevated]

I don't think Cordelia was necessarily a bully. Was she mean? Of course! But she didn't make it her life's mission to make people's lives miserable. Larry in Season 3 was a bully, but even though Cordelia's words might have hurt worse than a fist sometimes, she didn't consistently go out of her way to be a jerk. She was a mean girl, and that was it.

 

[Hale Caesar]

You need to look up the definition of "bully", Cordelia was not one. Was she complete b*tch on Buffy? Yes. But what makes her different is that everything she said had some honesty to it, and people don't like hearing things that makes their favorite characters seem flawed..Cordelia is just honest.

 

[Gum Gnome33]

It's interesting--I was just about to say that Cordy was never a bully but then I thought about the first episode in which she completely insults Willow and embarrasses her in front of Buffy. Aside from that though, I think she's pretty tame. As others have said, she can be bitchy but not overly so, and I think that she "got as good as she gave" when it came to her relationship with the scoobies. For example I think a lot of her nastiest moments occur in exchanges with Xander, who is able to sling the burns right back at her!

 

[This Year's Girl]

Cordelia said nasty things to people, but as far as the scoobies go I wouldn't call it bullying - they could hold their own and I always felt like she wasn't "above" them, they were at the same level. I can imagine that Cordelia did bully people in the beginning of the show (like Jonathan for example), but I think when she got to know the scoobies that side of her started to fade a little. Even in the early seasons it's clear that she has a good heart and that she deep down is insecure and are being mean sometimes just so she can fit in. In Ats it's really clear that she changes a lot and regrets how she has treated people in the past.

I don't like Cordy any less because of the way she treated people. It's more the opposite - because she was pretty mean in the beginning and then makes a journey to be someone completly different I think she is one of the most interesting characters of the shows. It makes her very human, trying to change and be a better person, and that's what I love about her. She is my absolute favourite character in Ats next to Connor :heart:

 

[Ripper666]

I didn't really liked her in the beginning of Buffy and Angel. But she changed and become a great character. Now she is one of my favorites. I loved the Cordelia/Xander relationship and I think she changed because she noticed how the things she said hurt others. She noticed because she just had to feel exactly the things on her own which she used to say to others. For example when Angel left Angel investigations and wanted to come back.
Angel: Are you allright?
Cordelia: No, ... you dam hurt me!
(Or something like this)
Love the new Cordi but I can still live with the old Cordi too!

 

[Dagenspear]

Cordelia said nasty things to people, but as far as the scoobies go I wouldn't call it bullying - they could hold their own and I always felt like she wasn't "above" them, they were at the same level. I can imagine that Cordelia did bully people in the beginning of the show (like Jonathan for example), but I think when she got to know the scoobies that side of her started to fade a little. Even in the early seasons it's clear that she has a good heart and that she deep down is insecure and are being mean sometimes just so she can fit in. In Ats it's really clear that she changes a lot and regrets how she has treated people in the past.

Cordelia wasn't insecure. And when did she bully Jonathan?

 

[This Year's Girl]

Cordelia wasn't insecure. And when did she bully Jonathan?

I think she was in some aspects. I can't remember which episodes, but I think when she decided to be with Xander och we got to see her reactions when her gang left her proved that she was sometimes. In the end she decided to go be with Xander anyway, yes, but it wasn't a easy choice for her. I also think we got to see some of her insecurities when she didn't tell anyone that her family had lost all their money. I don't think it's a bad thing that Cordy showed signs of not being just a confident bitch. It shows that she's more human. We all have insecurities and soft spots. It's nothing to be embarrased about.

About Jonathan. I didn't say that we actually got to see her bully Jonathan (as far as I can remember), I meant that I can imagine that she was mean to him and other kids before. I can see why you misunderstood though, I should've been more clear about what I meant. She was really mean to Willow in the first episode for example, before Willow had learn how to stand up for herself. So I can imagine that she was mean to other people too. Like Jonathan. We get to see several times when her gang are being mean to people (Harmony to Jonathan for example), so it's not impossible that Cordelia used to be that way too. But as time went on I think she stopped doing stuff like that.

 

[Anya2012]

Cordy isn't a bully. She has grown as a character as seen in Angel. She's easily one of my favourites.

 

[dexeded]

I'm surprised at how many people are standing up for Cordelia. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but you can't just dismiss what she did early on. She may not have been a fully-fledged bully but she still deserves to get a lot of flak on how she treated other people. When you say blunt, I think Anya. Cordy was both blunt and hurtful. One shining example was how she treated Willow, and probably the other nerds in the school. The popular kids who treat others like dirt shouldn't be lauded for their wittiness or honesty, because although their insults are tempered with those, they also go out of their way to hurt others. Of course, most of what I say only applies to S1 and maybe S2.

 

[This Year's Girl]

I'm surprised at how many people are standing up for Cordelia. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but you can't just dismiss what she did early on. She may not have been a fully-fledged bully but she still deserves to get a lot of flak on how she treated other people. When you say blunt, I think Anya. Cordy was both blunt and hurtful. One shining example was how she treated Willow, and probably the other nerds in the school. The popular kids who treat others like dirt shouldn't be lauded for their wittiness or honesty, because although their insults are tempered with those, they also go out of their way to hurt others. Of course, most of what I say only applies to S1 and maybe S2.

I totally agree. Cordelia was mean in the earlier seasons. But because of her journey it doesn't make me like her any less. I really think she had a change of heart and regretted what she had done to others.

 

[WileyDairyGnome]

I wouldn't call her a bully, I'd call her a bitca.

 

[Dagenspear]

I'm surprised at how many people are standing up for Cordelia. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but you can't just dismiss what she did early on. She may not have been a fully-fledged bully but she still deserves to get a lot of flak on how she treated other people. When you say blunt, I think Anya. Cordy was both blunt and hurtful. One shining example was how she treated Willow, and probably the other nerds in the school. The popular kids who treat others like dirt shouldn't be lauded for their wittiness or honesty, because although their insults are tempered with those, they also go out of their way to hurt others. Of course, most of what I say only applies to S1 and maybe S2.

Being not nice, or being a bitch, isn't being a bully. It's just being a bitch. Trust me. I know...

 

[arabella]

I feel like she was a bit of a bully in the first couple of seasons but still love her story and character. Girls often use being mean, bitchy, and excluding others as a means of bullying. It doesn't make me dislike her at all, but she and her group of friends were typical of 90s female bullies.

 

[Dagenspear]

agrees: LOL. Cordi never hurt anybody? Funny... but very cool pro-post! Impressed!.

Well she didn't. Like I said, she wasn't nice, but I never heard anything from her that was particularly damaging. Hell, I've gotten worse insults from my own Dad.

 

[strawberryeve]

I prefer Anya's brand of bluntness to Cordy's. Her ugly side never really lived down for me. I understand why many love her because of her turn on AtS but her bad behavior always left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't *love* her though, she's just one of my least favorite characters

Now that I think about it though, if any character (besides Larry) was a bully, for me it would be Faith

 

[Old Master 3.0]

Bully or bitca, she would have gotten the (expletive deleted) beaten out of her either way if she had gone to any of the schools I went to......