XOXO Gossip Girl
When I first began reading about feminism and pop culture and about, the now called, “media literacy” I thought I was a sufficiently mature and capable person to see and understand the messages behind any Reality Show, Series and Advertisement.
However, this was not true. I proved it to myself when I finished reading a book named Feminism and Pop Culture and I decided I was going to watch a show and be a “media literate”. I decided to watch the series Gossip Girl -a series based upon the books written by the American novelist Cecily Von Ziegesar which focuses on the lives and romance of a group of wealthy teenagers who live in the upper east side of New York City- from a completely “Media Literate” perspective. The result? I ended simply watching Gossip Girl like any other time before. Why?
Well, I should have started with investigating what media literacy really is. After my failure I searched a clear definition and I found that media literacy is:
“The ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms.”
The previous definition is really straightforward. However I prefer the following one,
“Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create and participate with messages in a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.”
The way I understand the previous definitions is by an analogy. I think media (Series, Movies, Advertisements, TV Shows etc..) are a Box of Candy and Media Literacy is the ability to read the nutritional table printed on the box.
Before we open a Box of Candy it is very intelligent to first read the Nutrition Facts. However, when we watch media we have to be reading and understanding that nutrition table at every single moment. It is not sufficient to only read it before watching a series, an advertisement or a reality show; in fact, it is almost- if not completely impossible.
On my first attempt to watch Gossip Girl as a “Media Literate” I didn’t see anything extremely wrong about it. What I saw in Gossip Girl were empowered women who obtained what they wanted and were not subordinated by their male counterparts. Then, after reading more about media literacy and how women are portrayed in pop culture I realized I was not seeing the small details, which made the big differences.
Having said so, for this particular case I’m going to focus on one of the main ingredients of the series: Blair Waldorf.
She is rich, successful, powerful, popular, and (most important) she seems to fit society’s definition of beauty (long hair, perfect skin, thin body) almost without trying.
At the beginning of the series Blair Waldorf was what Zeisler describes in her book Feminism in Pop Culture as: “The most stereotypically, beautiful, least independent women with the lowest-carb diets” In fact, we then learn that Blair has episodes of bulimia. She was insecure and she was always looking for male validation.
Although Blair experiences later on a change of behavior, interests and, in some cases, personality, which makes her a strong person who doesn’t need a man at her side (at least is what she is trying everybody else to convince of) she is still not getting where she wants to get in life.
This doesn’t only happen to her. It is a gender related denominator in Gossip Girl. The men in the show always get what they want, they get to have sex with many different girls without being judge and they are usually more successful in their careers than girls are. Clearly, Blair is more successful than other male in the show. But she is always less successful than “her equal”: Chuck Bass.
While Blair is absolutely dependent on her mother to buy her own things and is in repeated frustration for her attempts to attend a reputable University, Chuck Bass gets to own his personal hotel empire. This not only gives him the sufficient money needed to meet his standards of life but also gives him enough power to make look Blair as a completely helpless persona.
These characteristics shown in Gossip Girl strengthen the idea that women ought only to be pretty and dependent. Yes, they might be somehow successful, but they will never have as much money, power and freedom as their male counterpart. Are they telling us that women should stop trying so hard because, no matter what, they’ll never be fulfilled as women?
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Center for Media Literacy. "Media Literacy: A Definition and More." Center for Media Literacy. Center of Media Literacy, 2011. Web. 08 Oct. 2011.
Every Parent's Nightmare - Gossip Girl. Digital image. Cwtv.com. CWTV. Web. 8 Oct. 2011.
Zeisler, Andi. "Women Under The Influence: Pop Culture Now And Beyond." Feminism and Pop Culture. Berkeley, CA: Seal, 2008. 126. Print.
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