Look at Blake Lively's face.
For a girl with all the money and popularity one could want, she certainly looks unhappy, even slightly angry.
Perhaps it's just me, but she's looking pretty sketchy and conniving. No doubt at this very moment she's passing along some inane gossip that is about to seriously screw up someone's social life. Whaaaaat a beeotch.
Now, I realize that this is just a singular google image, but I think it conveys the concept of the show in it's entirety: bitchy, well dressed, well-off females (and males) in the Upper East Side of NYC all trying to ruin each others lives online and offline.
To be perfectly honest, I do not have a problem with the show Gossip Girl. In fact, I crushed 2 seasons in about a week on the Internet. Call me a girl, but I love the clothes and the complete bitchiness that pervades pretty much every episode. However, what I have noticed upon watching umpteen hours of Gossip Girl is the complete and utter destructive powers of their cell phones. The entire premise of the show revolves around a gossip site concerning the characters,
and the effects its content has on its followers. Nice!
Cell phones have advanced leaps and bounds since the dawn of their time, and nowadays a Smart Phone can do pretty much anything: take pictures, send pictures, take videos, send videos....and in this case, ruin reputations. Back in the day, all that was needed for a rumour to run rampant was an loose pair of lips and a bad conscience. Today, there can be photo evidence of scandals, and it is easier than ever for secrets to become very un-secret.
Gossip Girl demonstrates perfectly how easy it is to accomplish this. Instead of rumours being based on word of mouth, people are able to capture condemning incidents simply by being at the right place at the right time- and with the right phone. How many times in the show (if you watch it) have you seen Serena or Chuck- or basically ANY of the characters- seeing something juicy or damaging, immediately snapping a photo, and instantaneously sending it from their phone to the site? Before long, everyone sees it and BAM! Drama. Most of the time, capturing these incidents is in the best interest of those capturing them- seeing the guy they like with another girl, a drug exchange...anything. Sometimes, the images may not even convey the truth, but come on its a gossip site...nobody cares about the truth.
What this demonstrates to me is that with cell phones and the internet, it is easier than ever before to create or perpetuate damaging rumours about people. Instead of just passing along crap, now we can have PHOTO or VIDEO evidence? Awful. What changes do we have to protect ourselves? How vulnerable does that make you feel?
Since I'm a total angel with a heart of gold, I feel relatively safe. But I don't live in the Upper East Side.
But I'd stilll be on the watch. You should too.
I just watched my very first episode of Gossip Girl the other night, but I already knew the premise of the show due to previews and reading the original novels (yeah, I am that cool, my younger sister had them and I blew through a bunch of them in little time, they are addictive, no wonder they made a television show…anyways…). Even with knowing about the whole Gossip Girl aspect I was kind of shocked at how crazy important their cell phones were. I don’t think the books had such an emphasis on cell phones because they were written awhile ago, I think it was just a website in the books. I was amused and somewhat disturbed when a bunch of girls’ cells beeped because there was a new GG update. This television show demonstrates the absolutely malicious ways that technology and citizen media can be used, especially among females (come on, you’re all thinking it, I’m a girl, I know how it is). It’s just become one more thing to use when wanting to spread rumours and so on. People our age and younger are able to adapt new technology into our lives so quickly that we don’t really realize it, and I think shows like this are good to show what can happen if we don’t pay close enough attention.
ReplyDeleteI find this idea of gossip girl so intimidating because it is so new to our technological culture. It's true that we do not live in a bitchy gossip girl sphere as of yet but I do feel like that will all change when the younger generations addicted to their technology grow into young adults in 5-10 years. Being exposed to the garbage that they see on Gossip Girls sets a disgusting standard in what it means to be adored and popular; it also makes it extremely easy for them to emmulate as they really only need access to technology and great looking clothes.
ReplyDeleteCommunicative technologies are interesting their ability to even out the hierarchy. Yes, the Paris Hilton cell phone is decked out Swarovsky crystals but other than that it's a Blackberry like everyone else's young/ old/ professional/ student. Basically, young girls 6 years from now will probably be creating GG scenarios around the world, regardless of whether or not they're living in priviliged society.