Why is Buffy so friendless?

[EVIL UU]

Buffy saved a lot of people, those people have, I assume, friends and families and Sunnydale is a small town, barely 40000 people. Why doesn't Buffy have more friends? Especially after the class protector thing and the graduation day battle. I mean, save a person's life and chances are, that person and their friends will like you. Right?

So...why doesn't anybody like Buffy? Shouldn't she be like, I don't know, a local legend around season 5 or something? Something strange in the neighborhood, don't look good, who you gotta call? Call that Summers chick bro. Meanwhile, nobody even tries to buy her a beer. I get the whole secret-identity gal and stuff but still, this Buffy as an outsider idea is just some serious bullshit.

 

[janas]

In The Prom she receives "Class Protector" award as a reward for having saved his classmates from all the horrible things that they have faced in high school. A very beautiful and touching moment, if you ask me.

 

[brinkster130]

I think it's a combo of people being intimidated and afraid of her as well has her not being overly friendly with people outside of her group.

Sure, she saves people, and they are grateful; but it also shows that she is familiar with all the odd things that happen in Sunnydale. I think that scares people, like they'd rather be in the dark than learn about what really goes on at night....not associating with her kinda lets them off the hook.

 

[thetopher]

Well by that logic all police officers, firemen and doctors should be hugely popular and all have a ton of friends each. 🙂

But the truth is they usually have many more friends amongst their chosen profession than with any people they meet/save in their daily lives.
In fact some of those professions are decidedly unpopular with some people (police for example)

If we look at Buffy as just a a Slayer doing her job then she fits into the same catagory.

She has friends that share the same 'profession', as in fighters of supernatural things, and not that many people outside of that calling.

I don't know, maybe its human nature- people take other people and their roles in society for granted?

Maybe add in the Sunnydale denial syndrome which is certainly prevelant amongst all the adults of the town, if not the high school students.

Or maybe its like 'wow, that hot, weird chick totally saved me. That's great and all, but I don't want to like, hang, around with her and be part of her crazy life, y'know? I might get hurt.'

They should at least sent her a thank you card though, maybe some money as gratitude?

But whatever, people are basically awful most of the time, so I guess that's that.

 

[Blaze]

Probably the same reason that actors most likely don't have any more friends than me and you. When you're hugely popular, people tend to idolize you, or want to be like you, but few actually want to be your genuine friend. So on one side Buffy is more likely to have groopies than friends. On this other side, stars/Buffy is more likely not to be friends with her groopies. And chances are, seeing the popular crew at Sunnydale high (which I'll remind you included Harmony ), I'm pretty sure they just thought that Buffy was this weirdo kid.

Or you know, a doctor saves just as many lives as Buffy on a daily basis and no one is buying them beer.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Yeah I'm thinking people are offput by the "everyone around her nearly dying on a regular basis" part. And we've gotten glimpses along the way of how she looks to other people (Cordelia: "Excuse me, I have to call everyone I have ever met. Right now.") and like others have said it seems to be like a weirdo. Plus, look at her friends - they aren't the Popularity crew so that's going to cut down on it also.

 

[Taake]

I also find that she seems a little bit unapproachable. Like people knows something is going on with her, and she knows she's special, and all in all it kind of creates an uninviting atmosphere around her.

Not to mention... Buffy never seems to have that much time to socialize. Making solid friends, or even rather shallow ones, usually depends on actually putting in time and effort in seeing them on a semi-regular basis. For Buffy things are always going to be in the way, she's almost always going to have 'better' things to do - even if these things are unexplained or undesired by herself - which only more so makes her unapproachable even to people who might dare to try to make her acquaintance. (like when she spends time with Scott's friends in Beauty and the Beasts... it's rather awkward and Buffy tries, but she never really seems to be quite 'there'...)

 

[The Chosen]

Maybe it has something to do with her not wanting to get more people mixed up in danger? I think if Buffy had the time, she could have made hordes of friends.

I'm also thinking that the people of Sunnydale would be reluctant to accept a supernatural fighter into their social circle, as that might serve as some sort of overall acceptance of all the weird stuff that goes on in Sunnydale. It'd make it harder for people to pretend vampires, demons, etc. don't exist.

 

[Robb Stark]

A few reasons, I think.

1. It's dangerous: Buffy goes to lengths at the beginning of the series to keep people out of her life at school (while paradoxically wanting a "normal life", but that's another conversation) because of the obvious dangers she encounters on a regular basis.

2. It's the Scoobies: Let's be real, beyond their own group, the Scoobies, understandably given what they do on a daily basis, are not very inclusive, especially to new members of their team. None of them really have outside friends, and they almost go out of their way to isolate people who try and break through into their inner circle (look at how Xander talks to, well, just about everyone).

3. It's Buffy: In all honesty, despite what she says so often, I don't think Buffy really wants friends. She kinds of illustrates this in S7 in her conversation with Holden Webster. Buffy is a really good person, she's a hero, but she's not without her flaws. She does, by her own admission, think she's better than most people. She never seeks out new friends. She never really tries. All of this makes sense given what she does and the life she's been forced to lead, but still, even the hottest, coolest people in the world aren't going to have many friends if they don't put in the effort.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I agree with a lot of the points in this thread. I think it's a combination of the fact that Buffy cuts herself off from people because of her duties as the Slayer and because she doesn't want anyone getting hurt. I also agree that I don't think Buffy had a whole lot of time for friends outside the people who already knew about her responsibilities because she was always so wrapped up in their latest foes and latest apocalypse.
One thing I always wished, though, was that we would have seen more guest appearances from characters Buffy and the gang had helped in the past, like Percy showing up in Season 4. It would have been nice to see people showing back up and acknowledging that Buffy and the others had helped them before, and they were grateful and/or willing to help them help someone else later down the road.

 

[white avenger]

Most likely, it has something to do with the almost universal sense of denial that seems to cover everything supernatural that happens in Sunnydale. Sure, they recognize Buffy's strength and heroism when she saves someone, but they seem to forget all about it very quickly. Maybe her classmates retained a certain amount of residual memory of Buffy being there to protect them in time of danger, but they just don't remember any of the specifics of what that danger was. They almost all probably forgot all of the details of the final battle with Mayor Wilkins by the time they ate breakfast the next morning. Remember, "Ben is Glory, Glory is Ben"? Just about the same thing.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

Well the one time Buffy tries to make a friend they get trapped in a house with a demon. So I'm sure it's just hard for her to keep friends. It's not like she can't talk to people or has no social skills, she just chooses to be anti-social because of her lifestyle. The other time she tried to make a friend in 'The Freshman' he was turned into a vampire. I suppose at some point she just stops making an effort and realizes the only people she can be friends with are people that know about demons and vampires and are willing to be around Buffy even if it's dangerous. And those people are the scoobies. I don't suppose people who even know about vampires want to be put in a dangerous situation. I also think that's part of what makes the scooby gang special is that they are willing to put their lives on the line to help people and save the world.

 

[MarlieTheSlayer]

Buffy is untouchable and hard to reach. She is very mysterious and has a lot of secrets. Then there's also the fact that a lot of people die or get hurt around her. Sure she's a hero, sure she looks good, but people are selfish and don't want to risk their lives simply to be friends with her.

Besides I don't think Buffy wants to have a large group of friends. She's already happy with her scoobies 🙂

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Season 1 episode 5 "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" showed that buffy had to eliminate a potentially great guy from her life because he would not have lasted long following buffy around. She had to hide her identity and protect people around her. The scoobies only existed because in the first episode, he overheard Giles talking to Buffy about her calling as the slayer. She couldn't hide from Xander, but she made sure only people who were cleared to know who she was became part of her inner circle. These two episodes gave the reason for her solitary state.