Cordelia's change of character this year

[burrunjor]

Something that isn't talked about is how Cordelia kind of switches from one type of valley girl to another.

IMO there are two types of valley girl cliches in popular culture.

One is the mean girl, who is part of the popular clique, who is really nasty to unpopular girls, dorks, and is a nasty little gossip and has to take over any group. Mean Girls obviously popularized this cliche. The other however is one who is shallow, and more genuinely stupid, but isn't a nasty person. On the contrary she might be quite sweet and bubbly, though tactless, but never cruel. Examples of these types of girls are the two in Final Destination 3 who suffer that horrific tanning bed death and the girl in Zombieland 2.

In my opinion they completely change Cordelia into this in season 2. In season 1 she is the type 1, but they do a complete 180 and make her the type 2. In season 1 she is genuinely unpleasant and horrible to Willow and Buffy at times, and actually seems smart, but in season 2, she ironically seems to think she is their friend more than they like her LOL. The only one she is intentionally mean to is Xander, but to be fair that's more sexual tension so it's excusable. She's also a bit dumber at times LOL like her view on Marie Antoinette and thinking Xander is the fishman and still talking to him.

You really wouldn't have have a problem with Cordelia season 2 if she were real. Some might see that as growth, but I don't think so as she is still meant to be shallow and only really grows on Angel.

Personally though I MUCH preferred this change. I kind of wish they'd done it from the start as you can still show her grow from being shallow and self obsessed into the hero, but unlike season 1 you could have had her be part of the group more often, and the comedy around her was better in this season in my opinion.

 

[burrunjor]

Haha on her rewatch Charisma even commented on this saying about a season 2 episode "why does Willow hate me, what did I do??"

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Well, Cordelia is a series regular in Season 2, writing her as a complex character with conflicting motivations is to be expected. There's time to explore her.

In Season 1, Cordelia is a guest star on three episodes, and a day player on the rest, irregardless of what her contract said. For that type of cast member, I expect the same level of characterization as characters named "Ox" or "Maxwell Nerdstrom" or "Ready to Have Sex Girl." But I don't know why Cordie was a main character in Buffy S1.

 

[thetopher]

Easy; in S1 Cordelia gave Buffy, the popular new girl from LA, the time of day and her attention and then said new girl 'picked' the loser squad over her. That earned Cordelia's wrath, hence her antagonism for much of that season.

But post-Prophecy Girl Cordelia, on some level, better understand Buffy's role/purpose and so gives her less 'mean girl' crap. She still gives her some, like in 'Reptile Boy' but it lessens as the season progresses.
Cordelia stops giving Willow crap because Willow doesn't really push back at all, unlike Xander who gives Cordelia plenty of what she dishes out (but gets crap from a lot of the fandom because of his gender).

I think it makes sense overall. As for Cordelia's intelligence level varying, I see it as Cordelia being so vapid as to only 'know' the things she either actually wants to know/care about or needs to know for school, but that she is ignorant in a lot of other areas. She mirrors Buffy in that she isn't actually dumb she just doesn't apply herself that much.
Also she doesn't hide the fact that she doesn't care that she doesn't know some stuff, which is kinda dumb in itself, but she's narcissistic enough to not care what Buffy and co think most of the time.

 

[NotASlayer]

As for Cordelia's intelligence level varying, I see it as Cordelia being so vapid as to only 'know' the things she either actually wants to know/care about or needs to know for school, but that she is ignorant in a lot of other areas. She mirrors Buffy in that she isn't actually dumb she just doesn't apply herself that much.

Didn't Cordelia actually say, after the SATs when she scored highly, that she deliberately pretended to be less intelligent than she was?

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Cordelia got accepted into a number of prestigious colleges, so she is not stupid. As she said, she does well on standardized tests. She thought, like a lot of women are taught, be smart by playing it dumb. She started off as the classical mean girl, but that is a one-dimensional character defined by exclusion and they wanted to give her more of a presence, so they had to make some changes, as shown in Slayerfest 98 where she talks one vampire out of attacking by threatening him and later says, "When it comes to dating, I'm the slayer.". In Helpless, she offers the weakened Buffy a ride home, so she has some basic decency, something mean girls lack.

In the Buffy movie, there are three mean girls of the usual type and it proved to be unappealing. As one of the recently turned vampires said, "We got those bitches on the run." That was supposed to be the vampire's sales pitch for the male hero joining them.

Cordelia is easily the best-looking female in the cast. They wanted to get more screen time for her, so they had to take a one-dimensional character and expand her into someone worth getting screen time.

 

[DeepBlueJoy]

Embrace the power of both... Or even many. Cordelia is complex and of all the characters probably has the greatest character growth arc through both shows. It was clear early that she was smarter than she pretended to be

Wesley changed a lot too but his trajectory is essentially grow a pair; get more bitter. Hard to like.

Until Joss derails her, Cordelia stayed fun, got better, more caring, smarter & more three dimensional. What is not to love!?

 

[garfan]

I think Cordelia considered Prophecy Girl a bonding experience

 

[thrasherpix]

I personally can see how Marcie (invisible girl) forced her to reevaulate her life and the Scoobies, being grudgingly grateful. That was pretty much followed by the Master rising where she is tolerating Willow more and then finally stands with them.

That is, I do think they show growth. And season 2 also shows this drift. It wasn't sudden.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I think Cordelia considered them to be "friends" after they were all involved in the events of "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" and "Prophecy Girl" together. I always saw her change in Season 2 as a reflection of her feeling like they shared some traumatic experiences together, which bonded them in a way. But she still didn't like them much, which is why she's still a mean girl toward them at times.

 

[XanderesqueMan]

I personally can see how Marcie (invisible girl) forced her to reevaulate her life and the Scoobies, being grudgingly grateful. That was pretty much followed by the Master rising where she is tolerating Willow more and then finally stands with them.

That is, I do think they show growth. And season 2 also shows this drift. It wasn't sudden.

I think Cordelia considered them to be "friends" after they were all involved in the events of "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" and "Prophecy Girl" together. I always saw her change in Season 2 as a reflection of her feeling like they shared some traumatic experiences together, which bonded them in a way. But she still didn't like them much, which is why she's still a mean girl toward them at times.

I think Pix and Britt are on point here. Cordelia's distaste for Willow and Xander in season one is simply "the natural order of things" from her perspective, valuing social status over bothering to get to know who they really are. Until Buffy "chooses sides" and subsequently is revealed to be a "freak" (i.e., almost attacking Cordy in the Bronze, leading to her scoffing, "What is her damage?"), she tries to befriend her under the same behavioral model—she cares about image, not reality, and Buffy is not only socially acceptable (being attractive, girly, and from the much revered Los Angeles) but also socially desirable.

Not long after, in "Witch," Summers saves her from being run over due to magically induced blindness (not that she knows that part), then near the end of the year, in "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," Cordelia is protected by the group, with Buffy bodyguarding her. During this incident, she confesses that she is lonely, despite being surrounded by people, the first admission that her persona is a false one, and she shows actual gratitude for Buffy saving her from Marcie (even if she does return to be being a bitca immediately afterwards.) Following that, in "Prophecy Girl," she, Willow, and Xander are all in mortal danger together, and she takes her first positive act, driving her car into the school to get them to the safety of the library, and even stands with them against the Master's assault (though, of course, this is partially about self-preservation.)

I think this combination of early incidents certainly made her realize that she could pretend all she wanted for the social set, but there were more important things in the world than her image, and when she was in danger, it wasn't her alleged friends who protected her—it was the Scooby Gang, the outcasts.

Following this, in season two, I think there's a gradual build from her near death at the hands of the Anointed One in "She Was Bad" (during which she, in her own special way, tries to help Buffy get over her issues, showing she does care) to her involvement in "Some Assembly Required" (which begins as incidental, finding corpse parts, encountering Angel, and then becomes central as she becomes a target of the villains) and "School Hard" (where she, as one of the few who knows about vampires is forced to help against Spike's assault on the school) through to "What's My Line?", where she grows increasingly involved due to her realization of her feelings for Xander.

I don't think she changed anymore than Angel changed when he got his own series or Faith changed when we realized she hated herself in "Who Am I?" and "Sanctuary," or Wesley changed when we realized he could actually be quite competent and scary in "The Ring." It was always a part of the character. We just didn't get to see it to begin with (though I would argue there were hints of it early on.) And I don't believe it came out of nowhere. I found Cordelia's arc, like Faith's and Wesley's, to be slow, well set-up, and completely believable. And I think actual psychological studies of post-traumatic bonding and similar phenomena bear out the writer's treatment of her growth fairly well.

But that's just my two cents worth. For what it's worth.