10 Most Depressingly Realistic Lessons From Buffy The Vampire Slayer

8. Just How Insecure, Invisible, and Lonely High School Students Can Be

Episode: Season 1, Episode 11 - "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" High school student Marcie literally becomes invisible in this early Buffy episode not because of magic but because of indifference: Sunnydale High's students and faculty simply overlook her to the point that she is no longer there. She winds up isolated and alone, and angry. Why? Well, the population of Sunnydale High ignored her when she could be seen, and certainly didn't think of her when she was gone. Why wouldn't she be angry? It's a good dose of hyperbole to illustrate a simple point: high school kids often don't feel like they matter. They're already insecure, and they often feel invisible. With that comes loneliness. And when they feel like they don't matter and aren't seen, they begin acting out for attention - as Marcie did, first with petty crimes, then with more serious infractions like kidnapping, trying to choke a teacher, etc.. Oddly enough, however, it's Cordelia Chase (still in her full little miss perfect mode up to this point) who provides the most depressingly real moment of the episode, confiding in Buffy that she, too, is lonely - that despite being the most popular girl in school, she feels alone. Why, then, try so hard for popularity? Because it "beats being lonely by yourself."