Re: Douglas "Mean and Lean", Gossip Girl, and NYC Prep

Douglas’ chapter “Mean and Lean” made me think of Jaclyn Friedman’s lecture and brown bag last week in the discussion of shows like The OC and Gossip Girl.  During Friedman’s lecture and brown bag, she admitted to being obsessed with Gossip Girl, despite the horrible messages it sends about ideal femininity.  As Douglas points out, Gossip Girl characters epitomize the, “stereotype of girls as shallow and vindicitive social climbers, obsessed with conspicuous consumption, who can’t get along and are destined to get into serial catfights, especially over boys," (Douglas 239-240).  Yet, these characters have so effortlessly sucked viewers in worldwide, particularly girls, for the past five seasons.  

Friedman argued that one of the important things to keep in mind is the distance at which you watch these shows from and how much you buy into them, rather than using them as a tool for awareness.  I think she makes a very valid point, but at the same time, the lives of the girls on Gossip Girl have to some extent become a reality for girls whose lives are literally in close proximity to the set.  The school featured in Gossip Girl is very close to where I live, as well as a cluster of other New York City high schools in the neighborhood.  When I was in high school, I remember girls flocking from all of the high schools to see stars like Blake Lively on set.  I remember a blog created at my school by younger girls that attempted to emulate the mysterious “Xoxo, Gossip Girl” character, in addition to friend groups naming their Blair, Serena, Chuck, and Nate doppelgangers.  And not to mention, in the most blatant example of this phenomenon, I remember when a select group of elite girls and guys from all these prep schools were chosen to be in the reality TV show NYC Prep, which highlighted the same drama as Gossip Girl, but in “real life”.  Seeing the stars of NYC Prep became almost as juicy as seeing the stars of Gossip Girl as they sought to prove that the world of Gossip Girl really does exist.  With these memories in mind, I wonder if Friedman’s outlook is negligible when there are young girls who do not necessarily see the ridiculousness or irony in the show because they equate their lives much more closely, literally and figuratively, with the characters.  While adults have an easier time separating the real world and the fantasy worlds of these shows, teens are more likely to see themselves stacking up to these invincible characters, which is why Douglas finds them so problematic in the age of enlightened sexism.