Buffy - Primary Source 2

For my second primary source, I am once again looking at the pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This topic however, does not represent a single scene from the episode, but a trend that occurs throughout it as a whole; A trend that we see all across the country among teens. The trend is teenagers doing whatever they can to be accepted and fit in at school and with their peers. For example, when Buffy is getting ready to go to the dance club, she holds up two outfits and tries to decide what to wear. She decides to go with an outfit that she does not necessarily feel comfortable in. She chooses to wear an outfit that she refers to as “slutty” because she wants to be noticed by her peers and accepted. Later in the episode, one of Buffy’s friends (Willow), who is usually a nice and quiet girl, changes the way she acts around people in an attempt to be noticed. She approaches a boy, which is not in her character, just to try and get him to like her. As soon as they start talking, the boy asks her to leave the club with him, and against her better judgment, she does it, just so that she looks “cool” and people don’t make fun of her for being boring or strange. People changing who they are and doing things that they don’t feel comfortable doing in order to be accepted by their peers is a huge problem, especially in this country, that is having a very negative impact on our teen population.