Tuesday 4 April 2017

C is for Cordelia

This month I'm participating in A to Z Challenge, where 100's of bloggers around the world challenge themselves to write every day for the month of April, working their way through the alphabet.  I'm stitching the Buffy The Vampire Slayer alphabet cross stitch pattern (available from my Etsy store).  Each day I will share that letter's stitching, as well as a bit about the relevant character.

C is for Cordelia Chase


Cordelia in her blue "come bite me" dress from The Wish
Cordelia Chase was a high school class mate of Buffy's for three years.  She was the quintessential popular, bitchy "Queen Bee" of Sunnydale High.  The childhood enemy of Xander and Willow (they had a "We Hate Cordelia" club), Cordelia learnt about demons and vampires and mystical going-ons at the end of the first season.  She reluctantly helped out researching and fighting, eventually becoming a member of the Scooby Gang, as Buffy's friends were known, even dating Xander for a period of time.

After graduating from high school, Cordelia moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career before joining forces with Angel as an employee of Angel Investigations in the TV show Angel.  Cordelia received the gift of visions from The Powers That Be which helped Angel and the team in their fight against evil. 

I always found Cordelia an intriguing character - although I was never sure if I liked her or not.  She started off as the stereotypical bitchy cheerleader, became a useful friend of the team (and frequent damsel in distress), returned to bitchy cheerleader, and then became a dedicated evil fighter.  She was always the one who said aloud what everyone else was thinking, the one with the sarcastic point of view who prevented the show from becoming too nice.  I was glad they moved her over to Angel though - she'd run her course with the core Scooby Gang, and if she'd stayed on Buffy she'd have become the useless, repetitive character who was only used for the occasional snide comment once or twice an episode (which is where she was starting to go towards the end of season 3).  Besides which, she actually got some serious character development over on Angel and became girl power in her own right.  She was no longer the damsel in distress - instead she was the one pointing the hero in the right direction, offering words of wisdom and advice, and helping to save the day.
  
I've stitched Cordelia wearing the blue "come bite me" dress from the episode The Wish.    The Wish is my favourite episode from the first 3 seasons.  Cordelia wishes the town into an alternate dimension where many of the other characters were polar-opposite versions of themselves (for example Willow and Xander were vampires).  The episode was very well done, and was an early example of how the show could easily turn everything on its head to do something new and different.

Happy stitching!

26 comments:

  1. The Wish was a great episode - and Anya remains one of my favourite Buffy characters. As for Cordelia - I loved how that character grew and changed. She was a good comparison figure for "people grow up". As for favourite episodes in the first three seasons? I was partial to the Hansel and Gretyl one as well. - Louise

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    1. Anya is a fantastic character (stay tuned - she will make an appearance!).

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  2. Hello from the A to Z! Also happy to meet a fellow Etsian on the challenge :) I'll have to stop by there next! I'll be back soon to see more of your work.
    Katy Trail Creations

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    1. Thanks for stopping by :) As you say, always good to meet a fellow Etsian!

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  3. I loved Cordelia's character development on Angel. If you told me when Buffy began she'd turn into one of my favorite characters, I wouldn't have believed you. I loved The Wish for another reason: it introduced what turned out to be one of my favorite characters on the show: Anya.

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    1. She was allowed to grow up and change, which was awesome. Stay tuned - Anya will make an appearance during this challenge :)

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  4. Cordelia is an old fashion name. Love the colors. I've never watched this series before, but occasionally watch young adult series as a writer.
    "Female Scientists Before Our Time a-z"
    Shells–Tales–Sails

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    1. I like that the character names on this show aren't your regular run-of-the-mill names, but they're also not so out-there/whacky

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  5. Cordelia was my daughter's favorite character, I think just because she never stood anyone else's nonsense. We love Anya, too, who plays the same role often - to say the really obvious thing that the other characters are somehow not getting.
    Alphabet of Printmakers

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    1. They both say what everyone else is thinking, but not game enough to say!

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  6. Wow :)That's some brilliant work

    Launching SIM Organics


    *Menaka Bharathi*

    *SimpleIndianMom*

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    1. Thanks :) It's my de-stressor in the evenings. I've been stitching for nearly 20 years

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  7. I love Cordy, and I agree with you about her transformation from a one-note character (the rich mean girl as an opposite to Buffy) to someone with a rich, deep world view and some serious attitude, without ever losing her basic Cordy-ness. Thanks for reminding me of her! I'll be visiting your blog a lot, I predict.

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    1. I love that she was given depth and a chance to grow and change. :) Thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to seeing you again!

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  8. I actually started liking her on Buffy after a while, but loved her on Angel! And he and Anya seemed to have the same trait, not just saying what everyone else was thinking, but also most of the time (at least in Anya's case) didn't seem to realize that maybe they *shouldn't* say it out loud...kind of like a toddler. :P But I loved how they let her grow up on Angel, and become the badass warrior she was meant to be...she may not have always been physically in the middle of a fight, but that didn't make what she did any less important for the success of the team.

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  9. I liked Cordelia's journey and agree it was good that she transitioned to Angel it allowed her to grow as a character. I never did like her with Angel though. WeekendsInMaine

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    1. Yeah, that story line didn't sit that well with me either. Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. Oh yes. I did enjoy her snark. She totally grew on me over the years :D

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  11. I liked her on Angel when she firmly took over the financial affairs at which he was hopeless. I liked the caustic comments. When you first meet her you think she's going to be the villain, but no - she was the one whose caustic remarks were absolutely spot on.

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  12. I remember that episode...it was crazy! Since I never watched Angel, I am happy to learn that Cordelia had great character developement there. I do like how her character grew in Buffy, so I'm glad that the writers continued that for her.
    Love all the stitches you create!
    ~Katie
    TheCyborgMom

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