Gossip Girl Review

I love tv, and I generally consider myself fairly open minded, even about shows geared towards teenagers, but I find Gossip Girl really troubling.  I'm a Gilmore Girls fan - I loved its witty repartee, countless fascinating and clever characters, and its strong sense of place and rootedness.  Those characters took risks, dealt with the ins and outs of wealth, and living like the rich.  That was a show about real people.

 Gossip Girl seems to be celebrating the complete pretense of upper class living.  OK, yes, the main character gets with an "average" guy, but can we be honest?  He's willingly sacrificing so much of himself to enter her world, and the annoying gossip girl voiceover seems to be indicating that Sabrina will always be willing to throw him under the bus for the sake of her pretentious world  Even the average guy - Dan's--little sister Jenny is being corrupted.  Again, yes, she's going about things in her own way, throwing over the rich girls, subverting their mischievous plans for her, but she's doing it so that she can rule the roost in the wealthy world, not so that she can be herself or live authentically outside of the trappings of materialism.

All in all, the shows early days are offering really mixed messages.  Yes, the glamour and the clothing and the cars are fun - who wouldn't want to live in a world where you can have anything you want?  But the people who are ostensibly normal are sacrificed, and the supposed "pain" of the rich kids rings hollow.  I see very little honesty in this show.