Gossip Girl, the truth unveiled

I sat down to kill some time the other day and started browsing through my video library. The only video I hadn't already seen was the first season of Gossip Girl. Checking to make sure I was alone, I turned on the first episode. I had no idea what Gossip Girl was, other than a TV show about and for chicks. I was fully expecting vapid plot lines peopled by shallow stereotypes that would drive away in about 15 minutes. I wasn't disappointed. In fact I watched the whole episode. I am almost ashamed to admit that I found Gossip Girl gripping, albeit, probably not for reasons you imagine.

Gossip Girl follows the lives of posh upper crust adolescence living in Manhattan. At least, this is what we are meant to believe. Actually, Gossip Girl takes place in a dark, twisted perpetual weekend; a pseudo-reality peopled entirely by stereotyped automatons where human interaction is governed entirely by the laws of social inertia, making no allowances for unpredictable behavior.

But this is what I expected. What caught my attention was the fact that the characters in Gossip Girl seem to be aware of their own limits. Bizarrely, the characters in this world recognize their own inability to be unpredictable. Even with their posh, glamorous distractions, they are unable to escape subtle feeling, that maybe their entire lives have been planned out.

If the characters themselves are on the cusp of realizing the predetermined quality of their life, then for the audience is it grossly high-lighted. Introducing the Gossip Girl, a semi-omniscient third person observer who draws our attention to these stereotypes by offering vapid and often snide commentary. We never meet this “Gossip Girl”, but we are led to believe that she is right there with us safely observing the tangled mess of the character's existence from the sidelines. This Gossip Girl offers a humorous tint to an otherwise dark dreamworld. The interaction and plot twist are predictable as it is, but the superfluous foreshadowing made by the Gossip Girl pushes the whole scenario to over the top ridiculous. It reminds me of the person who shouts at the characters in a movies, “No! Don't go in there!” or, “You dummy, can't you see she's using you?” If that person were shallow, judgmental and entirely wrapped up in the lives of people she doesn't know.

I would find the Gossip Girl a lot more humorous if only she weren't so scary. Who is this person? She claims to be a girl. Then again, she reminds her most captive audience that she will never tell who she is. We assume that she is an adolescent girl attending the same social functions and frequenting the same scenes as the other rich socialites. But if that is the case then why is she never observed by the people she is observing? Why don't they interact with her? What are her methods? How does she remain invisible? Perhaps she's not a girl at all. Maybe the “Gossip Girl” in an undercover agent collecting incriminating data to be used as blackmail and extortion. This would make sense seeing as these social scenes are supposedly exclusive and the Gossip Girl would need some trick up her sleeve to gain admittance. (“Give me an invitation or I'll put these pictures on my website.”)

Or even scarier. What if the “Gossip Girl” isn't a girl at all, but multiple members posting photos anonymously to a website designed to make social information freely available...

All these details are glaringly obvious within the first fifteen minutes of watching and I probably would have lost interest if not for the existence of Dan. Gossip Girl may follow the lives of the rich and glamorous, but it is actually the story of Dan. Dan is a normal guy and his struggle to find a place in a world where he is the only one capable of being unpredictable. The dilemma set before Dan is embodied by the beautiful popular girl whom he has been infatuated with since he can remember liking girls. He desperately wants to be a part of this girl's life, but in order to do so he must give up something of his freedom and become something less that human.

Gossip Girl is a fascinating bit of drama set in a bizarre, semi-realistic wonderland and populated by characters flattened to the point of artistry. I even found a nugget of wisdom. People cause their own problems. Whether living among the posh elite or regular Joe Shmoes, people need problems. Not one of the problems facing the characters of Gossip Girl actually matters, yet the world seems to rise and set on the question of who saw who do what with whom. It is a reminder to examine my own preoccupations and wonder, “Does this truly make a difference? Am I standing in the way of my own happiness?

The main failing of Gossip Girl is that it was never suppose to be a TV show (or a book for that matter). Gossip Girl was meant to be an incredibly dark Comidia del Arte complete with audience participation. The characters are stereotyped so the actors can change roles at the switch of the hat. The shallow popular girl suddenly becomes the misunderstood outsider. The lonely artist suddenly becomes the rich playboy. Audience member shout advice because characters are incapable of making decisions themselves.