whedoncon:
whedoncon:
bookmarking because I wanna talk about charisma carpenter and the way she brings nuance to the mean rich girl archetype
oh oh right I’ve always had thoughts on this.
So the Mean Little Rich Girl archetype is like, the least new thing ever conceived. So much so that, I strained muscles rolling my eyes when I was first introduced to Cordelia, my future light and inspiration. STRAINED MUSCLES CAN YOU BELIEVE. I don’t think I’ve ever had a more wrong first impression.
See the thing with giving life to initially unsympathetic characters is that you have to be ON THEIR SIDE. Joss Whedon may have written this character as the villain of buffy’s normal life, but charisma carpenter does not PLAY it that way much at all. Actresses in mean girl roles I’ve noticed often play them exactly that way, AS mean girls, as villains. They don’t believe in their character’s personal morality, and it glares through, making the portrayal flat and ultimately forgettable.
NOT CHARISMA. She believes in Cordelia; she plays Cordelia as the hero of her own story, which is EXACTLY how this character should be played because that is that character’s worldview. The world revolves around Cordelia Chase, and that is not an opinion IT IS A FACT to her. And that is why this character is so well-acted, because she doesn’t read these funny and vapid lines as funny and vapid, she plays them with this complete earnesty that is as disarming as it is fuckin hilarious. Everyone is self-centered, she reasons; she is just the only one bold enough to be open about it. AND I LOVE THAT.
But this is also why her eventual arc onto Angel is so believable when it easily could have felt like contrived writer’s room toilet paper. Cordelia initially has a limited, self-involved worldview, but she is also established as the most honest character across both shows (and that includes anya god love her, but remember she’d “never tell” lord imagine cordelia in omwf tho ahhhh) And when her original worldviews are challenged, she doesn’t retreat into her old ways out of self-presevation. Because that would be bullshit. And Cordelia Chase is NOT about bullshit. Her honesty-over-everything nature wins out and is what ultimately allows her character to evolve from mean girl into the hero she always saw herself as.