Class Injustices Within Gossip Girl
The television series Gossip Girl may seem adolescent on the surface but, when viewed under a cultural microscope, actually dives into social class injustices. The show follows rich teenagers through their socialite lifestyles and their high school drama. The last season, season 6, focuses the most attention on the issue of class standing and the different worlds in Manhattan. Dan Humphrey is seen as an outsider and all his life has worked to become a part of the rich upper class so he can be with the girl of his dreams, Serena van der Woodsen. Dan writes a novel telling the brutal truth about his ‘friends’ and all of their terrible lies to earn the respect of his peers in a fleeting effort to become one of them. The final season also reveals that Dan runs the online gossip site, Gossip Girl, therefore making him more powerful than any of the Upper East Siders.
Dan Humphrey is a native of Brooklyn, New York making him an outsider in the world of the Upper East Side. The teenagers there do not treat him with the same respect as their friends. Blair Waldorf, queen of the Upper East Side, continually mocks Dan’s upbringing even though they grow to become close friends. The only difference between Dan and the rest of the characters is that they were born on the Upper East Side and he wasn’t. Yet somehow he finds himself worlds away and invisible to them. The show follows Dan’s struggle to become apart of their world. Dan eventually ends up with Serena because he became a cold-hearted manipulator like the rest of the characters and therefore earns their respect.
The main concept in this TV series is Hegel’s theory of the One and the Other. Attending a prestigious high school where everyone is wealthy, Dan finds himself the Other. He dedicates his whole life to becoming the One and eventually changes his entire personality to be respected by the wealthy teenagers at his school. The ideas within Gossip Girl also relate to those within Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Both Dan and Changez feel out of place and an internal conflict because of where they came from. Although Changez was from Pakistan, a much bigger difference than from Brooklyn, they both faced animosity from those around them and had to deal with preconceived notions based on a simple fact of birthplace.
The creator aims to show the difference between the different wealth and social classes. The show asks the questions of how concrete is the social triangle and to what lengths does one have to go in order to cross it. I think the show inspires a conversation about the injustice between classes by drawing attention to how it can also affect teenagers. By focusing the show on high school students, the raw and immature nature of the class system shines through. Gossip Girl ultimately brings light to the issue of social class on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Ellie Masters’ review of Gossip Girl is amazing! As a fan of the show, I appreciate her insightful analysis of its portrayal of wealth and privilege. Masters raises important questions about the glamorization of toxic relationships and the impact they can have on impressionable viewers. I am currently working on the analysis of a TV show for my college task, and with the help of https://essaylab.com/do_my_assignment_for_me I got the perfect task with the critique of the lack of diversity in the cast. I agree with Ellie that it missed opportunity to address social issues is thought-provoking.