finally, challenge question #2--gossip girl

[beeb69]

While I enjoyed Rats Saw God, I think trying to “justify” or maybe analyze Gossip Girl is more interesting.

As a “black comedy” or satire of have-it-all, upper class teens, the book excels wonderfully.  When Janet Malcolm mentions Von Ziegesar’s “program of provocation” in writing about her subjects, she sums up my experience (and I’m sure many

Comments

[jill548spring09]

As I've said on other folks' blogs, I put Gossip Girl in our last week of reading fiction books because I think it's probably the book on our syllabus that the most can be said about. (what a sentence that is)

it seems almost every scene is staged to get a rise out of the reader

And is therefore a form of...luxe lit porn? ;) I think the word "staged" is probably the most important one here. I agree: the book is set up so we're supposed to read as voyeurs into another world, not so we can identify with the characters, be bibliotherapied, or other more traditional (?) ways of reading.

they never really crash and burn like they should

Just like many of us wanted to say "But the world isn't that awful!" when we read The Chocolate War, many Gossip Girl readers find ourselves saying, "But the world isn't really that nice!" Some readers want to read only books where good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds are punished. But, as we know (cough), that's not the way it really works. How mimetic do we want our literature to be?

Her

[jill548spring09]

I found Gossip Girl to be actually informative

I know what you mean! I learned a lot about fashion names from reading GG, too.

I wonder if the television version could actually afford to display the brand names so casually mentioned by the author.

I don't know. I really need to watch the show! This also brings up the question of product placement/brand names, which didn't come up much in our discussion (for the first time in three years, actually - it's usually quite a hot topic). Do fashion designers pay to have their brands mentioned (or shown, in the case of the TV show)? Is mentioning brands a form of free advertising? Or is it essential to have the brands there either because they're realistic details of the world being described, or because they're signposts to the satire?

[beeb69]

as far as product placement, i'm sure the show could get a little extra revenue by doing so. then again, even in this economy, i get the impression that those labels are of the "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" variety, and don't really need to pay for the additional exposure. heh, especially since AFAIK the show has mediocre to negative reviews!

it's funny, by the end of the first book, i almost put the second on hold. the way serena was branching out and hanging with a new, different crowd was tantalizing--i wanted to see where she went next! but sensibility took over, as i can't get sucked into a multi-book series (what are they up to, 6? 7? more?) at this point. maybe i'll just see if wikipedia has a good summation of the series instead ^_^