Why Does Gossip Girl Makes Me Feel Like I Have Bipolar Disorder?
I really can’t take Gossip Girl. I started out watching the show because I had a teenage obsession with the Cecily von Ziegesar book series of the same title…which the show is supposedly based on. I’m not gonna sit here and discuss how badly the TV show has veered off of the books’ storyline. Here I want to discuss why the hell Gossip Girl, the CW TV show makes me feel like I have a serious mental sickness for an entire hour each and every single freakin’ week.
There’s this thing called watching TV for guilty pleasures like the Real Housewives franchise– or really anything on Bravo– versus watching TV to experience excellent storytelling and display of writing skills. This blog thus far has separated itself into two categories. Kris Gee covers the drama and the camp of reality TV, and Rick Carrion covers the analysis of serial storytelling. I think this attempt to organize the TV programs I enjoy, mirrors how I live my life. I have everything separated into different compartments. It makes me feel uneasy when my work-life enters my social life, or when my social life enters my family life. I don’t like to mix things. Each thing HAS to have their own separate compartment. It’s a little manic, but it’s me.
This is why I feel uneasy and bipolar when I realize I thoroughly LOVE watching Gossip Girl. I cannot fit this freaking show into its own category. Yes, it is a serialized show because we follow a storyline, but the subject matter is that of a cheesy soap opera, only it’s not entirely cheesy! Well, yes it is. The subject matter really is completely corny. BUT, the character development and the plot is so deliciously juicy that it has me literally biting my nails in anticipation every single week!
How can a TV show manage to be completely shallow and unrealistic (the amount of unrealistic crap that occurs in this show could literally be a blog in and of itself….actually, I’m sure if you google, or search within WordPress, you could find such a blog), yet kinda believable, while still having completely multi-dimensional characters put in completely ridiculous situations, while managing to keep me as a devoted audience member?!
Each and every time two characters interact on the show, two thoughts run through my head simultaneously:
1) Can this really be happening? This is so stupid, and we already know what’s going to happen. These kids are only 18 years old, how is any of this possible.
2) ZOMG I WONDER WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT! THIS IS AMAZING. I LOVE THIS SHOW.
For every positive accolade I have to say regarding Gossip Girl, I have an equal and opposite negative downfall about Gossip Girl! The actors are great, but they’re really crappy; The writing is great, but we’ve seen all of these scenarios before; The characters are so well-developed, but super two-dimensional at times. What. The. Heck.
The only thing that comforts me is the fact that I’ve HATED Jenny Humphrey since the beginning of the show, and I also hated her in the book. I equally cannot stand Taylor Momsen, but this feeling in and of itself is a double-edged sword: The only reason we are seeing less of her on Gossip Girl, is because her band, The Pretty Reckless, is coming out, which means I will be seeing more of Taylor Momsen’s annoying face and her half-naked body all over and in every magazine. Less of Jenny, more of Tay-Tay. Great.
Am I the only one seriously trying to UNDERSTAND my obsession with Gossip Girl?
Faith
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Ricardo Carrion
Life in High Definition 