Bingowings said:

Back to the topic at hand, the bulk of the Buffyverse takes place out of sight of Buffy herself so does that knock the possible reading of Buffy (via Normal Again) that everything we see as happening is happening in her mind on the head?

She could be imagining everyone else's lives as well as her own, sort of a schizophrenic thing, which would be in line with being in a mental institution. How about viewing Buffy as either a) a teen monster show that's fun and cool or b) an allegory for teen angst and later early 20's anxiety? Too much?

Another movie is Vanilla Sky. Without spoiling too much, there are three or four different ways to view that movie.