It's worse than that actually. It's not that she has no interest in lessening the brutality. Rather, she is using the brutality to increase her social capital. The brutality of social politics isn't something Cordelia created and it's not going to disappear if she doesn't reinforce the structure. But she figures she might as well profit from it and make herself safe. She then becomes the biggest bully so that everyone fears her and thus loves her. She is cruel to acquire her status. Being kind would mean siding with the losers. She doesn't want to be a loser, ergo she will be a bully.
It's only when she removes herself from the sheep system when she says openly that she's going to be dating Xander that she really progresses.
Being kind is counterproductive to her interests and so she is cruel. She chooses to be cruel because she'll profit from it. It's bloodthirsty social politics where Cordelia buries her ability to empathize in order to make herself safe. And like you pointed out above, Cordelia is already entering with a lot of advantages: beauty, wit, money, fashion sense, talent (erm, not singing), and confidence.
Have you seen Veronica Mars? I'm reminded of this one character Meg who was part of the popular group because she also had all these things (beauty, wit, money, fashion sense, talent, confidence) yet she was the only popular girl who was kind to Veronica. What's more, her being kind didn't hurt her social standing. Rather, all the popular kids understood that Meg was kind and loving--they'd tease her about it, but they didn't circle her like sharks sniffing blood.
Which really drives home to me that Cordy didn't have to become Queen C. She wanted it. And in order to get it, she had to be cruel. So she was. That's her character flaw. Her desire for status. She'll sacrifice a lot in order to be special. That's something that'll stay with her throughout her character arc. I'm reminded of Local_Max's commentary on how Season 4 Jasmine-as-Cordelia was actually meta on Cordy's own character flaws. Every time Cordy-Jasmine talked to Connor about being special and deserving things because they're special, it was a warped look at Cordy herself.
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Date: 2010-09-28 12:33 am (UTC)It's only when she removes herself from the sheep system when she says openly that she's going to be dating Xander that she really progresses.
Being kind is counterproductive to her interests and so she is cruel. She chooses to be cruel because she'll profit from it. It's bloodthirsty social politics where Cordelia buries her ability to empathize in order to make herself safe. And like you pointed out above, Cordelia is already entering with a lot of advantages: beauty, wit, money, fashion sense, talent (erm, not singing), and confidence.
Have you seen Veronica Mars? I'm reminded of this one character Meg who was part of the popular group because she also had all these things (beauty, wit, money, fashion sense, talent, confidence) yet she was the only popular girl who was kind to Veronica. What's more, her being kind didn't hurt her social standing. Rather, all the popular kids understood that Meg was kind and loving--they'd tease her about it, but they didn't circle her like sharks sniffing blood.
Which really drives home to me that Cordy didn't have to become Queen C. She wanted it. And in order to get it, she had to be cruel. So she was. That's her character flaw. Her desire for status. She'll sacrifice a lot in order to be special. That's something that'll stay with her throughout her character arc. I'm reminded of Local_Max's commentary on how Season 4 Jasmine-as-Cordelia was actually meta on Cordy's own character flaws. Every time Cordy-Jasmine talked to Connor about being special and deserving things because they're special, it was a warped look at Cordy herself.