The other examples of parental heavy-handedness, I think, are more ... malicious ... is the wrong term, but I can't think of the word that I want. Anyway, they are concentrated in selfishness, whereas I don't think Joyce is. She really wants what she thinks is best for her daughter without coloring it with her own personal drama.
I think you're onto something there. Joyce is doing her best, while suddenly being Buffy's sole support, financially and emotionally, a wrench is thrown in by her daughter having a destiny that guarantees a life of loneliness. A life that was told in the heat of anger, without any chance to truly absorb what it entailed. That was part of why, I think, Joyce chose to accept Buffy's sacrifices. It was easier to pretend everything was all right, because a mother she didn't want to burden her child anymore than necessary. And she has seen what happened when Buffy runs, how it affects her. Better to not cause waves and to suffer in private.
And that's a vast difference to Willow, Xander (especially him), Amy, or Cordelia's parents. Where Xander's parents prefer to bicker and argue, to show their son what would probably happen if he were to marry later on. It's willful negligence, I think is the term. Children are decorations, merely to be had, and acknowledged when it was necessary to look good to their friends. In private, they are a nuisance. Or, that's how I read most of the parents of the show, and that's why I see Joyce as someone wholly different. She's concerned about Buffy first, while her own needs are ignored, put aside.
I don't think Cordelia's relationship with her parents was ever meant to be indicative of her personality post-Buffy because she becomes a different person entirely AND an adult.
I think, it also can stand to reason that Cordelia was forced to grow up when the IRS took away all she'd known, forcing her to go from being princess to working class in order to pay for a prom dress in the end she couldn't afford. I would lay heavy odds on that being the case. Notice her reaction when meeting Angel again in L.A., and the skeezy agent that uses Wolfram & Hart.
On whole, I agree with your assessments almost entirely.
Re: oops, too many characters
I think you're onto something there. Joyce is doing her best, while suddenly being Buffy's sole support, financially and emotionally, a wrench is thrown in by her daughter having a destiny that guarantees a life of loneliness. A life that was told in the heat of anger, without any chance to truly absorb what it entailed. That was part of why, I think, Joyce chose to accept Buffy's sacrifices. It was easier to pretend everything was all right, because a mother she didn't want to burden her child anymore than necessary. And she has seen what happened when Buffy runs, how it affects her. Better to not cause waves and to suffer in private.
And that's a vast difference to Willow, Xander (especially him), Amy, or Cordelia's parents. Where Xander's parents prefer to bicker and argue, to show their son what would probably happen if he were to marry later on. It's willful negligence, I think is the term. Children are decorations, merely to be had, and acknowledged when it was necessary to look good to their friends. In private, they are a nuisance. Or, that's how I read most of the parents of the show, and that's why I see Joyce as someone wholly different. She's concerned about Buffy first, while her own needs are ignored, put aside.
I don't think Cordelia's relationship with her parents was ever meant to be indicative of her personality post-Buffy because she becomes a different person entirely AND an adult.
I think, it also can stand to reason that Cordelia was forced to grow up when the IRS took away all she'd known, forcing her to go from being princess to working class in order to pay for a prom dress in the end she couldn't afford. I would lay heavy odds on that being the case. Notice her reaction when meeting Angel again in L.A., and the skeezy agent that uses Wolfram & Hart.
On whole, I agree with your assessments almost entirely.