Normal life

E

Edmund Blackadder

Scooby
Joined
Sep 4, 2005
Messages
6,716
Location
Existential Heaven
In "Welcome to the Hellmouth" Buffy tells Giles that she just wants a normal life.
Normal, to her, was being the popular kid, something that is later proven when she reverts back to that way of thinking when she tries to be queen of the prom, or whatever.
So, knowing how the heirachy of a school works, being she was Cordelia in another part of her life, why did she befriend Willow?

To me its obvious she doesn't want a 'normal' life, that she likes being on the outside looking in and that being the layer didn't take anything away from her life, but instead made her be exactly who she craved to be.

What do you think?
 
I think that while being the slayer she could never have been friends with Cordelia. She may have acted like she thought that she wouldn't be the slayer moving to Sunnydale, but I don't think she believed this. She knew that she was going to continue being a slayer, even if she thought she wasn't going to fight demons.

Befriending someone like Willow was almost an instinct for her, she wanted someone that could help her with math, which she asked Willow. But someone loyal and a bit more clear cut.

So, in my muddled post I believe that although Buffy was in denial about her slayer duties, she still had a raw instinct that she was one, and knew she needed someone like Willow. Maybe it was just plain and simple fate.
 
Wasn't there a little defiance towards Cordelia in it, too, though, when Buffy befriended Willow? "You may very well fancy yourself the queen hereabout, but I'm no pawn."

Anyway, I agree that Buffy didn't completely want to go back to the normal life. Once you've learned something, you can't unlearn it. If Buffy were to be free of her slayer duties and skills, she would nonetheless know all the facts of unlife that she didn't know in her previous life. There could never be something such as "normal" again, and she probably knew that.
 
I know this is off topic but miromurr's reference to German just reminded me of this.

When I took my German oral exam, when I finished my teacher stopped the tape and burst out laughing (which was worrying as I was top in German) and then she said 'sorry but do you know what you just said?' What I had planned to say was (can't remember it in German - hurrah for you're theory EB) Wayne Rooney scores lots of goals. Now GOALS is schiest (with an etset) but I got confused and said scheist (again with an etset). So I actually said 'Wayne Rooney sh*ts lots of goals.'

Still got an A* though 😀

Back on topic!

I kinda got the impression that she wanted a 'normal' life as in not being the slayer, but I also think that she realised what sort of person she was when she was the 'Cordelia' of her school and that Cordelia's behaviour towards Willow reminded her of it and she befriended her, not just to make herself feel better but I think it was a way of demonstrating that she isn't that person any more.
 
Mumrik
Mumrik
I just burst out laughing there. But the scheißt/schießt mistake happens to us Germans a lot too. Written not spoken, though. ;)
I
InsaneMystic
*feeling nitpicky* "schießt" = scores. goals = "Tore". I know, I'm insufferable. ^^ but Mumrik is right, that's one of the most beloved and frequent spelling mistakes in written German.
I'd have to disagree with the premise here - being popular is not the same thing as being like Cordelia. One can be popular and also nice at the same time. Yes, she was shallow when we saw her in the flashback to Hemery in season 2, but not particularly mean-spirited. And she seemed very uncomfortable when Cordelia was rude to Willow in front of her - that seemed to make her want to reach out to Willow, and it seemed like that was more about feeling compassion for Willow than about proving anything to Cordelia.
 
I don't think she did it to prove anything to Cordelia, at all. She didn't want to prove anything to Cordelia until a little later!

But I do think that she was hurt by Cordelia's treatment of Willow, because she recognised that she behaved in the same way herself. I see people behaving in the ways that I used to and that makes me feel 1) annoyed at myself for behaving so abominably and 2) wanting to befriend the person who is suffering in order to show people change.
 
Edmund Blackadder said:
In "Welcome to the Hellmouth" Buffy tells Giles that she just wants a normal life.
Normal, to her, was being the popular kid, something that is later proven when she reverts back to that way of thinking when she tries to be queen of the prom, or whatever.
So, knowing how the heirachy of a school works, being she was Cordelia in another part of her life, why did she befriend Willow?

To me its obvious she doesn't want a 'normal' life, that she likes being on the outside looking in and that being the layer didn't take anything away from her life, but instead made her be exactly who she craved to be.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I don't think a "normal" life meant being popular; just being able to have a circle of friends and hang out at normal places, and not having to sacrifice her social life for the sake of slaying. When she tried to be the prom queen, I think it was more about proving that she could still be more than just the slayer. Maybe she missed what her old life in L.A. was like and wanted to recapture a little of that, but I don't think she was all about popularity. Obviously, when we see the way she was in the flashback scene to how she was in "Welcome to the Hellmouth", she had changed a lot as a person. I think Buffy would have liked to have been popular, but it was obvious that she wasn't going to fit in with Cordelia's crowd 'cause she wasn't a bitca like the rest of them.
So I don't think a "normal" life to Buffy was equated with being popular, but I do agree that she knew deep down she could never have a normal life again.
 
I don't think that Buffy could ever be like Cordelia in a sense where she was a bitca.
Yes I know at her old school she was popular and diva like, but once she found out she was the slayer and was confronted with all the baggage the slayer has to deal with.
She just didn't think it was worth being picky and a snob.

I think "normal" for Buffy would be something like going out on dates, going shopping, not getting kicked out of school, that kinda thing.
She wants to do the teenage thing, but with her responsibilities she's an outcast, which is yet another reason she would want to befriend Willow.
At her old school I'm guessing once she found out about her destiny she was "the freak".
 
Because Buffy changed. Yeah she was popular. She was pretty, good looking, everybody liked her. But when she discovered what she is, and when she acted like that, all her so called friends left her, as she said to Giles to prepare her for that, to get kicked out of school and loos all her friends. She probably knew back then she can't fight her destiny, even she tried. She knew what kind of girl Cordelia is, because she was like that, and she figured out she has nothing to give with it. When she decided to hang out with Will and Xander she showed how good person she is.
 
I think the biggest reason Cordy and Buffy did not start out as friends really has more to do with the fact that Buffy was trying to be normal but things continued to happen that made it impossible. I like to think that Buffy befriended Willow because she seemed genuine and caring which is something Cordy definitely was not in the begining.
 
G
Grey Ghost
[No message]
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom