New York City: A place full of energy, bustling people, and buildings that tower up. Gossip Girl by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (2007-1012), on HBO Max, takes place in that exact city, but twists it by adding a dose of scandals and drama. From the family drama that takes place in the Van der Woodsen house to Chuck and Blair scheming to get revenge for the millionth time, Gossip Girl provides a sense of anticipation, excitement, and perspective in New York’s upper class society. Though the show is extremely over exaggerated with scandals, which most likely can but won’t happen, Gossip Girl is the perfect place to watch if you need some drama in your life.
The show is about a group of friends trying to find their way through New York’s society, high school drama, and a website called Gossip Girl, which is constantly outing upper eastsider. Focused it girl Serena, Queen B Blair, gorgeous Nate, the eccentric Chuck Bass, and outcast Dan, Gossip Girl reveals secrets, scandals, and stories that should never be told. We see this group of friends break up, creating enemies of each other, but also coming together when they really need it, even if they are warring. These friends have a bond which is unbreakable and helps them thrive through every scandal, secret, and lie that they’ve been put through, throughout the show. Additionally, the snazzy comments on the website called, Gossip Girl, makes the scandals and secrets she’s revealing all the more exciting and closes out with an ‘you know love me, xoxo, gossip girl.’.
We see best friend’s Serena Van der Woodsen (played by Blake Lively) and Blair Waldorf (played by Leighton Meester), find themselves fighting each other and continuously stabbing each other in the back, though in the end the two girls understand that friendship is the most important. Even though the toxic friendship between the two caused them to hurt each other immensely, Serena and Blair found each other over and over again. From fighting over boys to supporting each other over the secrets that have been revealed, Serena and Blair have shown that friendship beats everything. The sizzling heat that Ed Westwick’s Chuck Bass brings to the show makes it all the more interesting. By being the resident bad boy, he provides a sense of darkness, excitement, and wickedness to the show. Chuck Bass is by far one of the most powerful upper Eastsider, occasionally tearing people down with the power he possesses. The relationships he forms with his friends and family represents a much kinder and sweeter side of him. Chuck’s best friend, Nate Archibald (acted by Chace Crawford), provides viewers a crush while watching Gossip Girl. Nate is one of the sweetest, noble, good looking characters on the show. He’s the typical golden boy, yet he does have secrets and scandals that get him into trouble. Additionally, he’s an extremely gorgeous character, so if you want a new crush, you have it. Lastly, there’s outcast Dan Humphrey (played by Penn Badgley). Dan’s character brings a sense of down to earth, stereotypical New Yorker. The relationships Dan brings and the way he is able to fit in with his richer classmates is admirable. It’s so fun to see the enemies he makes, but also the allies he joins forces with. Though Dan is one of the least likable characters, he is a character that Gossip Girl would not be able to thrive without.
Though Gossip Girl is a cheesy 2000s show, it does a great job of sending messages of relationships between friends and family. You are able to see how important the bonds each character makes and how it’s more important to be there for the people you love, rather than creating enemies out of them. It also does a great job of how gossip affects people negatively. The show does a good job of showing how gossip ruins friendships, ruins trust in people, and creates unnecessary drama by pitting each character against each other. All in all, Gossip Girl is a great show to escape reality and get sucked into a world where you don’t have to worry about your own life.
