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Gossip Girl: Introduction

Gossip Girl is an American teen soap opera based on the eponymous book series by Cecily von Ziegesar. It aired on The CW for six seasons, from 2007 to 2012 and was developed for television by creative partners and show runners Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. Schwartz is also known for creating and executive producing The O.C., an American teen drama series that aired on Fox for four seasons from 2003 to 2007. Savage also worked on The O.C. as a producer and writer. The CW is known for broadcasting similar teenage drama series like Gilmore Girls, 90210, One Tree Hill, The Vampire Diaries, and Veronica Mars. Like Gossip Girl, The O.C. is concerned with cultural clashes and culture shock, particularly relating to socioeconomic class. 

A pop culture phenomenon, Gossip Girl follows the sumptuous, melodramatic lives of the old-moneyed, high society teenagers of New York’s Upper East Side. “Gossip Girl” refers to both the series’ mysterious, omniscient narrator, voiced by Kristen Bell, and the viral Manhattan blog that spills secrets about the celebrity-like private high schoolers. Gossip Girl deals with themes of revenge, power and corruption, class politics, beauty, and loss of innocence.

Gossip Girl stopped airing in 2012 but has since found a new home on Netflix and remains a television sensation, especially among teenagers. We decided to analyze Gossip Girl because, as a histrionic soap era, it is easy to quickly consume without engaging in critical contemplation of its themes and character representations. We were curious about what we’d unearth when viewing it through a critical lens of gender, race, class, and sexuality. 

Gossip Girl features a predominantly white cast. Vanessa, played by Jessica Szhor, is a series regular for three of the six seasons and is the singular character of color in a leading role for the entirety of the show’s run. Jessica is a mixed-race Black person with light eyes and a light skin complexion. Other characters of color are relegated to minimal or non-speaking roles and regularly sidelined through stereotypical evocations. Further, the world of Gossip Girl is exceptionally heteronormative. Eric van der Woodsen, the younger brother of one of the main characters, comes out as gay in the first season of the show and is one of just a few openly queer characters on the show. All of the leading characters engage in strictly heterosexual relationships. Further, non-normative gender identities are not represented or discussed. The women and men on the show are given roughly equal screen time and speaking roles.

The exploration of sexuality is fundamental to Gossip Girl. Much of the show’s drama is sourced from sexual relationships and scandals and its episodes are saturated with sex scenes and/or allusions to sex. It has been progressive – representing unconventional sex, showing women who enjoy casual sex – but also regressive – instances of slut-shaming, especially in the first two seasons of the show, are not uncommon – in its discourse.

The main cast includes Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgely), Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szhor), Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen), Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), and Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle).

– Kelly, Jadenne, Carsin, and Keren.

Citations

“Gossip Girl.” IMDb, Internet Movie Database, 19 Sept. 2007, www.imdb.com/title/tt0397442/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt. 

Schwartz, J. (Producer and Creator), Savage, S. (Producer and Creator), Levy, B. (Producer), Morgenstein, L. (Producer), Stephens, J. (Producer), Safran, J. (Producer). (2007-2012). Gossip Girl [Television series].  Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/title/70143811

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Gossip Girl’s Characters

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Serena van der Woodsen is a beautiful, charming, free-spirited Manhattan “it girl.” If Serena functions as the show’s (shaky) moral compass, her frenemy, Blair Waldorf, is its anti-heroine. Fellow Upper East Side resident and socialite, Blair is the school’s Queen Bee; she’s witty, frequently scathing, and ruthlessly ambitious. She and Serena have been friends for years, though their friendship is fundamentally fraught with insecurity and envy. 

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Dan Humphrey, nicknamed “Lonely Boy,” is described by Alfonso Espina as the show’s “Nick Carraway character we viewers could vicariously live through” (Espina). Unlike his peers, Dan is from Brooklyn and attends private school in Manhattan on a scholarship. He lives with Rufus, his single dad, and younger sister, Jenny, in (what’s intended to be) a modest loft in Dumbo. An aspiring writer and one of Serena’s main love interests, Dan hopelessly pines to become a participant in, rather than an observer of, the glamorous world of Manhattan’s elite. 

Jenny Humphrey, Dan’s younger sister, is an aspiring fashion designer who also attends private school on a scholarship. She is extremely sensitive about her comparatively low socioeconomic class status and is desperate to ingratiate herself to those at the top of her school’s hierarchy.

Citation

Espina, A. (2013, February 18). The End of Gossip Girl : Chair vs. Dair. Retrieved November 13, 2020, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gossip-girl-finale_b_2324665

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Nate Archibald is the show’s “Golden Boy.” His father is a wealthy businessman and his mother is an admired socialite. He engages in several romantic dalliances with the show’s leading female characters. 

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Chuck Bass is the most antagonistic of the show’s main characters. Son of a callous billionaire, Chuck is lewd, spoiled, and vain, though, as the series progresses, is softened and sympathized with more than he deserves. Much of his storyline revolves around his iconic on-again, off-again relationship with Blair Waldorf.

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The singular leading woman of color in the show, Vanessa Abrams is Dan’s childhood best friend from Brooklyn. She’s a beautiful bohemian documentary filmmaker, who, like Dan, finds herself ensnared in the sparkly world of the Upper East Side. It’s worth noting that as the only leading woman of color, Vanessa’s character is biracial and models many conventional Eurocentric beauty standards, such as light eyes and skin complexion.

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Lily van der Woodsen is Serena’s mother. She is known for having had many husbands and being obsessed with her public image, often to the detriment of her intimate romantic and familial relationships. While Lily comes from old money, she has gained more capitol by marrying various rich men throughout the show.

Rufus Humphrey is the newly single father of Dan and Jenny. He was a big rock star in the nineties but now runs an art gallery and lives with his kids in a Dumbo loft.

Lily and Rufus dated when they were younger and have an on-again, off-again relationship during the series.

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Poison Ivy 1x3

By Carsin Pinney

It is a stressful time for the students of the Upper East Side private schools. Attendees of Constance Billard and St. Jude’s face cutthroat competition during Ivy Week – a determining factor in each student’s acceptance or rejection into their dream universities. In addition to academic rivalry, tension builds between characters as relational drama emerges. Blair, the queen bee, seeks revenge on her best friend, Serena, for cheating with her boyfriend, Nate, and for fleeing the city in an attempt to escape guilt and social consequences. With the help of Chuck, Blair exposes a secret about Serena and her family, humiliating the Van Der Woodsens at the mixer. Moreover, Dan struggles to accept Nate’s appointed position as Dartmouth usher at the mixer. On a more positive note, Lily, Dan’s younger sister, and Eric, Serena’s younger brother, engage in a deep discussion about Eric’s struggles with isolation and self-harm. The episode concludes with Blair meeting Serena in the park to explain her perspective and hardships throughout recent months.

Within this specific episode and the show as a whole, gender roles and expectations follow a stereotypical and awfully misogynistic portrayal. Both Blair and Serena appear emotionally-driven and over-reactive whenever conflict arises. Rather than blaming or shaming her boyfriend for cheating, Blair immediately seeks revenge on Serena, depicting the sexual double standards for female characters in the show. Further, this sexism emerges again in the “Poison Ivy” episode as Blair retorts “‘Brown doesn’t offer degrees in Slut’” to Serena. Throughout the show, the female protagonists react in the form of catfights, public exposure, or vicious name-calling. Although not as explicit in this particular episode, many of the female characters utilize sexual appeal in order to receive attention. This objectification reinforces the negative stereotypes associated with women and pits them against each other to satisfy pre-existing patriarchal systems and values. In contrast, the male characters solve disputes with conversations rather than physical fighting or public humiliation. The link between gender and emotion highlights stereotypes of the male protagonists, as well. Rufus and Dan’s conversation following the mixer exemplifies this notion as Rufus states “We’re real men, son. We don’t like to share our feelings.” As discussed in the Gendered Lives article “Patriarchy, the System”, the very nature and values of the patriarchal system encourages “the ridicule men direct at other men who show signs of vulnerability or weakness” (Johnson). Only extreme stereotypes of men and women are explored, reinforcing the gender binary without any representation of non-binary identities.

Further elucidated in this particular episode, class and social status fundamentally encapsulate Gossip Girl. Attending private schools in the Upper East Side of New York, most of the characters in the show come from privileged, upper-class families. Rich, successful parents breed rich, successful children- or so they hope. At the beginning of the “Poison Ivy” episode, Blair’s housekeeper, notably speaking with an Eastern European accent, briefly surfaces to serve Blair an afternoon snack. The inclusion of a strong accent indicates compliance with a common stereotype of foreign or immigrant housekeepers. Often, as seen with Gossip Girl, media and public entertainment industries further systems of inequality and “require ongoing objectification and dehumanization of subordinated peoples”(Gendered Lives). The housekeeper’s various aspects of identity perpetuate stereotypes of immigrants and women as domestic workers. Another example of class distinctions relates to the concept of legacies within distinguished universities. Nate’s father insists that Nate attends Dartmouth like he did, regardless of Nate’s future desires. Nate’s father even attempts to privately persuade the representative to grant Nate admission later in the episode. This eagerness to continue the Dartmouth family legacy correlates with the assumption that reputation and financial success depend on higher levels of education. While this is refuted slightly with mention of Dan’s circumstances, many of the characters attending either Constance Billard and St. Jude’s rely on family connections and wealth to bring success rather than hard work or character.

The final aspect of intersectional identities within Gossip Girl concerns race. The show, overall, clearly lacks diversity within the cast. While some may argue that this can be attributed to the setting of the Upper East Side as a predominantly white population, New York in general includes a wider variety of ethnicities and races. In this episode, representation of minorities or marginalized groups strictly correlates with submissive or supportive character roles. Kati and Isabel, both characters of color, act as Blair’s minions and remain inseparable throughout the show. During the Ivy Week mixer, students pair up with an Ivy representative, acting as ushers for the evening. However, the only trio includes Kati, Isabel, and an Ivy representative. Whether intentional or not, the inseparability of these two in a professional setting suggests the inequality between races and portrays marginalized individuals as less capable of individually escorting representatives of an esteemed institution, such as an Ivy League school. This relates to a current political issue within the United States regarding unequal access to higher education. Aside from this scene and two short snippets of Kati and Isabel accompanying Blair, screen time is given to the white characters, reinforcing power and ideals of white superiority. In context of current political issues, these stereotypical character roles highlight the lack of inclusivity within popular media and entertainment.

Citations

Henderson, F., Schwartz, J. (Writers), & Tobin, J. (Director). (2007). Poison Ivy [Television series episode]. In J. Schwartz & S. Savage (Executive Producers), Gossip Girl. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/watch/70212578?trackId=14170287&tctx=2%2C2%2Cafd2fcce-2c32-4a72-830c-a61fb200ec3c-6811806%2C5e6b2ba8-0a59-4bfc-a2e5-0f0a76574243_1780421X3XX1605298882729%2C%2C

Johnson, A. G. (2020). Patriarchy, The System: An It, Not a He, a Them, or an US. In G. Kirk & M. Okazawa-Rey (Authors), Gendered lives: Intersectional perspectives (7th ed., p. 68). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Kirk, G., & Okazawa-Rey, M. “Identities and Social Locations” (2020) Gendered lives: Intersectional Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.

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A catfight erupts at school when Blair continues to provoke Serena during field hockey.

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As the only trio at the mixer, Kati and Isabel act as this Ivy representative’s ushers. Kati rambles on about her knowledge in science and chemistry while the other ushers promote their family legacy with the institutions.

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Blair takes revenge on Serena at the Ivy Week mixer, exposing Serena’s connections to the Ostroff Center, a psychological health institution and rehab clinic. In order to protect her family’s reputation, Serena jeopardizes her image and academic future and publicly “takes her brother’s place” as the rehab patient.

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A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate (1x13)

A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate explores teenage girls’ sexuality and the intersections of gender and class through a classically soap-operatic chain of events.

By Kelly Hunter-Lynch

Backstory: In a previous episode, Blair Waldorf secretly has sex for the first time with Chuck Bass just after breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, Nate Archibald. A few days later, Blair repairs her relationship with Nate and, later that night, pretends to lose her virginity to him. 

Gossip Girls is a delightfully soapy show. It revels in surreal, sensational storylines and scintillating humor, but, as we see in “A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate,” the show is at its most compelling when its primary narratives dare to probe weighty interrogations of a patriarchal culture. This episode serves as an imperfect exploration of cultural reactions to young women’s sexuality and promiscuity as well as an illuminating glance at the intersections of class and gender on the glitzy Upper East Side. 

Blair’s storyline is preoccupied with her potential pregnancy and recent sexual activity. Over the course of the episode, Blair and Serena clash over Blair’s reluctance to take a pregnancy test, Blair’s secret (that she slept with both Chuck and Nate in quick succession) is revealed on Gossip Girl, and, consequently, Blair loses her coveted social power. She falls out first with Nate, then with Serena, then with her peers at school, and finally, with Chuck.

In Blair’s hesitancy to address her sexual history and take a pregnancy test, we see a young woman who recognizes that there is currency in chastity, or at least discerned chastity. A cultural construction like virginity may seem personal, but it actually has intrinsically political implications. On one level, Blair understands that her power is rooted in her pristine image – an image that is certainly not divorced from her perceived sexual purity. On another level, Blair’s reluctance is entangled in larger systems of gender-based oppression. America’s fixation with young women’s virginity is mired in antiquated gender roles and heterosexual marriage. In this framing, women belong to the men around them – their fathers, their brothers, and their husbands. They must remain pure for their eventual husbands. Fatima Mernissi, a Moroccan feminist writer, contends that “one of “man’s most treasured commodities is the virgin, with hymen intact sealing a vagina which no man has touched” (Mernissi, 1982). Blair and her social circle are enveloped by this cultural conviction. After partaking in her first sexual experience, Blair and her peers believe her to be devalued. Upon learning that Chuck slept with Blair, Nate publicly brawls with Chuck – pushing him, punching him, pressing his hands against his neck. When discussing patriarchy, sociologist Allan Johnson contends that the messages the system sends “encourage in men a sense of entitlement in relation to women” (Johnson, 1997). Nate has been taught by patriarchy to view his girlfriend with a sense of ownership and entitlement. He’s angry that Blair is no longer his to have. She’s been taken by another man, she belongs to another man, and that man is Chuck. But, wait! Chuck doesn’t want her anymore either. In one of the most incensing, virulent moments of the show’s history, Chuck snarls at Blair: “you held a certain fascination when you were beautiful, delicate, and untouched. But now you’re like one of the Arabians my father used to own – rode hard and put away wet. I don’t want you anymore and I can’t see why anyone else would.” In other words, because Blair has had sex, she’s framed as undesirable not only to Chuck, but to all men.

There are other small moments throughout this episode that indicate a culture of slut-shaming. In one instance, Blair slights Serena with a sharp “well, I’m sorry if unlike some people, I haven’t been on the pill since I was fifteen.” In another, Blair’s minions are witheringly mean when they discover Blair slept with Chuck and Nate in quick succession. Even the simple virality of teenage girls having sex speaks to this larger culture.

In Jenny Humphrey’s storyline, we observe the thorny interplay of class and gender politics at Constance Billard, the elite Manhattan high school that Jenny attends on a scholarship. To Jenny, the opulence of the Upper East Side is everything. She and her family are comfortable, but Jenny, understandably, cannot resist comparing her situation to those of her peers. Her peers wear thousand-dollar dresses once before obliviously flinging them aside; Jenny makes her own clothes with a sewing machine or, in moments of desperation, buys designer dresses, tucks the tags in, and returns them the next day. Jenny is inclined to do whatever it takes to climb the social ladder and this very effort is gendered. Dan, Jenny’s sister, also longs for social mobility, but he doesn’t have to scrupulously track and tweak his appearance, attire, and body language to be taken seriously. He just shows up.

In this episode, Jenny endures incessant hazing at the behest of Queen Bee Blair. Blair Waldorf is often praised for her feminist instincts, but is power earned by oppressing others, especially other women, really feminist? Anarchist-feminist He-Yin Zhen contends with a similar phenomenon in “On The Question of Women’s Liberation” and ultimately wagers that “gender equality implies equality among all human beings, which refers to the prospect of not only men no longer oppressing women but also men no longer oppressed by other men and women no longer oppressed by other women” (He-Yin, 1907). Blair’s quick-wit and social prowess are certainly admirable, but the fashion in which she gleans power is arguably not very feminist. At lunch, on the steps of the Met, Blair smirkingly requests that Jenny sits several steps below her. Later in the episode, Jenny detects an opportunity to swiftly upgrade her social standing. She overhears intel from Serena and Dan’s date and ascertains Blair’s secret (that she “lost her virginity” to Chuck Bass). If Jenny liberates this secret, Blair will lose her social standing and Jenny will have an opportunity to fill that space and exist on a higher rung of the school’s social hierarchy. In other words, Jenny must harness the reins of a slut-shaming culture and use them to push another young woman aside and pull herself up. Jenny eventually relents and discloses the secret. Back at the Met steps, a disgraced Blair threatens Jenny to remain loyal to her, but Jenny just rolls her eyes and joins Blair’s former posse. At the end of the episode, we see Jenny, for the first time, incorporated into the high society group as a true equal, if not a leader. Jenny got what she wanted, but at the expense of another woman’s downfall – a downfall that she initiated. These proceedings serve as an apt example of how capitalist patriarchy pits women against each other – it ingratiates us to the fallacy that there is only room for one woman “at the top” and that we are thus competitors, not collaborators. 

Citations

Henderson, F. (Writer), & Buckley, N. (Director). (2008). A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate [Television series episode]. In J. Schwartz & S. Savage (Executive Producers), Gossip Girl. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/watch/70212588?trackId=14277281&tctx=-97%2C-97%2C%2C%2C%2C

He-Yin, Z. (2013). On the Question of Women's Liberation. In 1052134123 803375099 R. E. Karl, 1052134124 803375099 D. Ko, & 1052134125 803375099 L. H. Liu (Authors), The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory (pp. 65-66). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Johnson, A. G. (2020). Patriarchy, The System: An It, Not a He, a Them, or an US. In 1051735202 803135299 G. Kirk & 1051735203 803135299 M. Okazawa-Rey (Authors), Gendered lives: Intersectional perspectives (7th ed., p. 64). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Mernissi, F. (1982). Virginity and Patriarchy [Abstract]. Women's Studies International Forum, 5(2).

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Blair demonstrates reluctance to listen to Serena’s insistent advice that she confront her sexual history and take a pregnancy test.

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Jenny decides to disclose Blair’s secret, effectively making more space more herself at the top of the school’s social hierarchy.

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Blair’s sex life/sexual deviance becomes the subject of a significant school-wide scandal.