Gawker
The Times' Alessandra Stanley weighs in on the frightening phenomenon: “'Gossip Girl' goes further than most shows in depicting the excesses of the rich and under-age (in this fantasy teenagers are never carded), but most of all it represents the next evolutionary stage of girl power television after 'Sex and the City.' That pioneering HBO series, and the movie version that comes out later this month, celebrates girlish women who joined forces — 'Us against the world'— in the pursuit of success and happiness."
“'Gossip Girl' focuses on worldly little girls who join forces against one another. The series, along with such like-minded shows as the MTV semireality show 'The Hills' and a cautionary senior edition, 'The Real Housewives of New York City,' are focused on friends, and most of all on frenemies. They are so postfemininist that they circle back not just to 'Mean Girls,' but to the pre-Friedan era of Clare Boothe Luce and Rona Jaffe.
"There is even a nod to Edith Wharton. Serena’s mother is named Lily, and she is engaged to a billionaire named Bart, a sly reference to Lily Bart, the heroine of 'The House of Mirth,' who is socially ruined by, among others, her manipulative BFF Bertha Dorset." [NYT]
Comments
yet another page wasted to "analyzing" a show i only watch to kill brain cells and to see leighton meester/ed westwick.
i'm starting to think that someone at the CW is going around giving blowjobs to all these writers. give it a rest dear literati, please.
Oh noes.
I was at my local pirated dvd shop and I almost picked up the first season set but put it back.
Well hot damn, I'm going there first thing tomorrow.
All six of those girls are really pretty...
Also, the name Serena is derived from "Serene," even though the character is frequently under a lot of stress. And Blair is the name of a cheap clothing catalog, even though she wears outfits that are very expensive. And Dan could be taken from Daniel Boone, who lived on the frontier, just as this character lives in Brooklyn. And Nate might as well be taken from Nathanael West, a writer who satirized the wealthy, just as this character is wealthy and never says anything interesting. And Jenny is the prostitute in The Threepenny Opera, who, if given the chance, might also have stolen a dress. Chuck, of course, is what closeted "Peanuts" character Peppermint Patty called Charlie Brown, so, you know.
@TedSez: Solid gold, as usual. Thanks for the cliffs notes!
@TedSez: Ha!
@Alessandra Stanley: Stop, just stop. I'll stick to Television Without Pity (would it be higher-brow of me to call it Television Sans Pity? I bet you would do something like that) for my micro-analysis of the show. Jacob's line-by-line lyrical analysis of the background music and its implications for plot advancement is way more "in the now" than arcane literary-historical references are anyway. Nobody needs to know those things anymore because of Wikipedia, remember? Kthx.
@TedSez: ha. or chuck can derive from the term "upchuck" which means vomit, a reaction blair has to the younger bass everytime she sees him.
what about vanessa? is it sanskrit for "hipster"?
I read that whole god-awful column and I kept hoping that it would finally make some point, but it never did. It was like watching an episode of The Hills, only not entertaining. How on earth does she have a job?
Secret? The Emperor Wears No Clothes!
@TedSez: Ha! Ha! ( I'm not wild about" ha!" for some reason, so I'm saying it twice)
But where oh where is our Undine Spragg?
@Phyllis Nefler: just read a recap on TWOP and that Jacob guy is fucking good. He makes this show worthy of being overanalyzed.
@bess marvin, girl detective: I know, right? It's like reading someone's Lit thesis if you actually cared about the topic.
@Phyllis Nefler: If you like the Gossip Girl, recap...you should see them go to town on Friday Night Lights. Sometimes preferable to the actual show.
@jrhys: The New Adventures of Old Christine?
In the opening scene of House of Mirth, we see Lily Bart in Grand Central Station. Just sayin'.
@bess marvin, girl detective: I couldn't get through the last one, it was 23 pages. That's longer than my senior thesis!
"The series's underlying tone is knowing and sarcastic because viewers who grew up on 'The Simpsons' expect even their teen melodramas served dry, with a dash of satire.'' Okay, Matt Groening meets Edith Wharton. So, Lily Bart is Bart in the Simpsons. Okay...
@Phyllis Nefler: I've always thought Jacob should have Alessandra's job. Well, that seems like damning with faint praise. But you know what I mean.
@hamburgerhotdog: i know but it's so good, especially his analysis of the best episode this season "all about my brother". now here's my dilemma: is the show really that brilliant as jacob says it is, or is he overestimating the genius of the writers by projecting his own genius on them? discuss.
@TedSez: I am enlightened, and you have made my morning. I think I love you.
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