Do Television Shows Such as “Gossip Girl” Promote the Concept of Being a “Mean Girl”?

In searching for ways to preserve my sanity during the school year, I have found a number of solutions. One of them consists of watching mind-numbing fluff television such as “Gossip Girl,” which airs on Monday nights on the CW. Gossip Girl’s premise centers on an anonymous Internet blogger whom posts gossip blogs about the scandalous lives of New York City’s Upper East Side teenagers. She also sends text messages to the phones of those whom subscribe to her site. At the focal point of Gossip Girl’s blogs is Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), and her wealthy socialite friends Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), and Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick). Oh, and their “poor” friends/classmates from Brooklyn, siblings Dan and Jenny Humphrey (Penn Badgley and Taylor Momsen). Now what is important to understand is how Gossip Girl receives her information: From the same people that she is posting gossip about. Gossip Girl’s site is a major source of conflict that ultimately drives the show’s plotlines forward.

But underneath the fluff of teenage high school drama, is one underlying theme. Many of the characters on this show are mean (and not just the female characters either), with few redeeming qualities to justify their cruel actions. But with this being said, would it be fair to say that television shows such as “Gossip Girl,” endorse and glamorize the idea of girls being ruthlessly nasty? Society portrays women as catty, vindictive, and manipulative. In my opinion, shows like “Gossip Girl,” only perpetuate and enforce this notion. For example, in one episode earlier this season, Blair uses Gossip Girl to falsely accuse a new teacher of having inappropriate relations with a student. Why? Blair played a trick on the teacher because she was given a bad grade, and then was subsequently given detention. So for receiving detention, Blair decides that this justifies destroying the teacher’s career, and uses Gossip Girl to do so. She knows that Gossip Girl’s site has the potential to reach a large number of people, and exploits this to her advantage. In my opinion, this type of behavior is not justified at all.

The CW markets its programming to a predominantly young female audience in their teens and twenties. Blackmail and deception are recurrent themes that run throughout this show. While older audience members may realize how completely unacceptable this behavior is, younger audiences may not. And while it is just a television show, consumers may be influenced nonetheless. “Gossip Girl” has caught a lot heat from its racy commercial and print ads to the very topic I am discussing right now. America Ferrera, Blake Lively’s co-star in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie series and star of ABC’s “Ugly Betty,”, gave an interview last fall in which she stated that she felt that shows such as “Gossip Girl,” condition girls to be mean. If you even watch only a single episode of this show, you could understand her point of view.

This show also perfectly demonstrates the exclusivity aspect of cliques common amongst girls, especially high school girls. Cliques are used to create a sense of empowerment and worth. If you are not in the clique deemed to be cool, somehow that makes you less worthy. For example, for most of the first season, Jenny tries desperately to fit in with Blair and the rest of her mean girl clones. Labeled as “poor” by Blair and her friends for being simply from Brooklyn, this obviously means that Jenny is beneath them, giving them free reign to exclude her and treat her like dirt. These girls seek out ways to embarrass Jenny, utilizing Gossip Girl’s website in order to do so. Later on, Jenny replaces Blair at the top of the social ladder, and not surprisingly begins to behave just as nastily to others as she herself was once treated. Is behavior like this really necessary? Does the media really need to continuously perpetuate the idea that this type of behavior is commonplace and therefore acceptable amongst the female gender?

That brings me to another point. The world we live in today is very different from the world that existed before the boom of the Internet, cell phones, instant messaging and social networking websites. Today, girls can be just as mean, if not meaner, through the use of technology than they can be in person. Many schools now include “cyber bullying” as a component of its harassment policy. I remember seeing an Oprah Winfrey episode back in high school that explored the ways that girls bully one another. One incident was highlighted in this episode about a girl whom was being bullied through instant messaging. A as result of this ruthless behavior, the girl eventually hung herself. And this Oprah episode aired way before “Gossip Girl,” began airing on television. “Gossip Girl” without a doubt showcases how girls can use technology in order to humiliate and harass their peers. Whenever something even remotely embarrassing occurs, someone will pull out their phone and send a text or picture to Gossip Girl’s site so that everyone will find out about it, regardless of the subject content.

In my opinion, there are enough problems with “girl on girl crime” that exist within real life without its glamorization by the pretty faced stars of “Gossip Girl,” and other television shows. Yes, it may only be for entertainment value, but its message that it sends to girls is negative, with possible detrimental consequences.