Re: Cordy -- yeah, I mean, it's worth noting in "The Wish" that Cordelia wants for *her* to be the star, whereas Buffy freely credits Xander and Willow as what keep her grounded, and, as we see, Buffy needs her friends and Giles etc. to function. It's what Spike observes early on and what we see repeated again and again -- Buffy is the leader, but she can't fully function as a lone wolf, or, for that matter, as the star whose charges follow her with the same kind of lapdog-like behaviour that the Cordettes followed Cordelia. To be fair to Cordelia -- in "The Wish" she is reacting with shock at Xander's betrayal, and Xander, like Doyle later on, is someone who Cordelia found herself attracted to in spite of herself -- someone who was really *not* the star, someone who according to her value system should have been beneath her notice. It's part of why Cordelia/Xander and Cordelia/Doyle worked for me as relationships in a way that Cordelia/Angel doesn't (sorry, Cordy/Angel shippers -- I am just speaking for me!) -- when with Doyle, especially, it seemed as if Cordelia was accepting that the less-than-glamorous people had something to offer. Whereas Angel very much is the star, the dreamy male lead -- and that means that Angel & Cordy can very much become a closed off system, like royals. They're not *big* moments, but even without any external influence, Cordelia agrees that Angel has a right to kill Holtz, encourages him (and later Harmony) to torture Eve, encourages his decision to cut Wesley out entirely and not listen to his side of what happened in s3, etc. -- she ends up supporting Angel entirely.
And definitely -- knowing that "Birthday" was a setup from Skip changes the tenor of the episode a great deal. I sort of read it on two levels (well, at least two levels!) because it actually sort of works when read straight-up -- as a traditional story of choosing what is difficult and right over what is easy. But this is just the first layer -- the layer that is designed to appeal to and trick Cordelia. It's pretty ingenious as a trick for both Cordelia and audience -- because dig deeper, and Skip is offering her a false dichotomy, of a life in which Cordy is the star of a chintzy TV show, who has lots of fans -- or the star in a cosmic battle of good vs. evil, in which she is truly the only woman in all the world who can handle the terrible burden of the visions dropped on her. The same kind of false dichotomy is dropped on Cordelia in the finale -- in which Skip "makes her" choose between becoming the leading lady in the personal drama of Angel's life, or the leading lady in the world drama, the key player in good vs. evil.
Part of what is interesting about it -- is that it really suggests that there are no circumstances in which a person should be set so high above others. It goes in direct contrast to Buffy refusing more power in "Get it Done." I don't think it's as simple as that Buffy is selfless and Cordelia is selfish -- because we are reminded that Buffy could have been like Cordelia, and more to the point, I think Cordelia really is very strongly motivated, by s3 or so, to do good. Rather, it questions the idea at all that any human, even with the best of intentions, can truly be a "Higher Power." Or perhaps there are humans who have achieved some degree of enlightenment -- but heroes are basically people like us. That is the realization Buffy eventually comes to -- that being "better" than other people hurts both her and others, and that the solution is to bring other people to her level.
I think Cordelia's desire to help the helpless is pretty genuine -- and while there are definitely narcissistic elements in her martyrdom, re: the visions, her staying with the visions is still a pretty remarkable willingness to endure incredible pain for what she thinks is right. She trades in her old values of glamour and the like. The problem is, she picks up a different kind of glamour, of being a Champion -- which is part of Angel's problem as well. I think the two reinforce each other's bad habits to a degree.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2014-10-11 04:29 am (UTC)And definitely -- knowing that "Birthday" was a setup from Skip changes the tenor of the episode a great deal. I sort of read it on two levels (well, at least two levels!) because it actually sort of works when read straight-up -- as a traditional story of choosing what is difficult and right over what is easy. But this is just the first layer -- the layer that is designed to appeal to and trick Cordelia. It's pretty ingenious as a trick for both Cordelia and audience -- because dig deeper, and Skip is offering her a false dichotomy, of a life in which Cordy is the star of a chintzy TV show, who has lots of fans -- or the star in a cosmic battle of good vs. evil, in which she is truly the only woman in all the world who can handle the terrible burden of the visions dropped on her. The same kind of false dichotomy is dropped on Cordelia in the finale -- in which Skip "makes her" choose between becoming the leading lady in the personal drama of Angel's life, or the leading lady in the world drama, the key player in good vs. evil.
Part of what is interesting about it -- is that it really suggests that there are no circumstances in which a person should be set so high above others. It goes in direct contrast to Buffy refusing more power in "Get it Done." I don't think it's as simple as that Buffy is selfless and Cordelia is selfish -- because we are reminded that Buffy could have been like Cordelia, and more to the point, I think Cordelia really is very strongly motivated, by s3 or so, to do good. Rather, it questions the idea at all that any human, even with the best of intentions, can truly be a "Higher Power." Or perhaps there are humans who have achieved some degree of enlightenment -- but heroes are basically people like us. That is the realization Buffy eventually comes to -- that being "better" than other people hurts both her and others, and that the solution is to bring other people to her level.
I think Cordelia's desire to help the helpless is pretty genuine -- and while there are definitely narcissistic elements in her martyrdom, re: the visions, her staying with the visions is still a pretty remarkable willingness to endure incredible pain for what she thinks is right. She trades in her old values of glamour and the like. The problem is, she picks up a different kind of glamour, of being a Champion -- which is part of Angel's problem as well. I think the two reinforce each other's bad habits to a degree.