Gossip Girl: Harmless Entertainment or Morally Damaging?

Gossip Girl: Harmless Entertainment or Morally Damaging?

Ask just about anyone between the ages of 13 and 30 what their favorite television show is, and Gossip Girl is bound to come up. The CW’s hit drama detailing the lives of spoiled Manhattan teens has fast become a cultural phenomenon that has kept teens and adults alike glued to their TVs. Initially, the show’s success was under reported, as it was discovered that viewers weren’t tuning in via the typical modes of viewing such as satellite TV and cable. It was quickly discovered that a large portion of viewers were watching the show via iTunes downloads. Each week the show remains as a top iTunes download, and a staple in households across the US.

While the show’s popularity has made fast stars out of its young cast, spawned countless fashion trends and launched some of the music’s world’s biggest acts, parents have been left to wonder about the lasting effects of such a provocative show. While depicting high schoolers bed-hopping and binge drinking is certainly not new to popular television, the creators of Gossip Girl have taken it to an entirely new level.

Serena Van der Woodsen, the show’s supposed heroine, is consistently seen sleeping with older men, drinking at New York’s hippest spots and generally behaving in a way that would leave Middle America’s moms speechless. Even the handsome Nate Archibald, an ostensible boy-next-door who plays sports and excels in school, is seen smoking marijuana and having an affair with an Upper East Side cougar. To add to such questionable behavior, other characters have been shown dealing drugs, attending sex parties and openly referencing cocaine use.

Aside from such obvious issues of promiscuity and drug use, there is the additional issue of depicting a life of such opulence and wealth.  Most of the characters on the show sport expensive designer clothes, have personal chauffeurs, HD plasma TVs in their bedrooms and a seemingly endless spending limit. This is obviously not the reality for the majority of teen viewers, and while some may simply enjoy watching such a fantasy world, others may develop a skewed sense of reality.

With America’s teens being bombarded with such imagery week after week, the question remains: is this simply harmless entertainment or is the show sending a damaging message of how teens should behave? Many parents groups have slammed the show for its startling depictions of wealth and excess, while proponents insist that it’s simply entertainment. The question of popular culture’s influence over youth is not a new one, but Gossip Girl’s willingness to push the boundaries even further is perhaps what has made it such a target for controversy.

While it is fair to say that some particularly vulnerable teen viewers may be influenced by the show, in the end, it is the job of the parents to set boundaries and moral guidelines. Viewers will always enjoy watching television shows that depict lives far from their own realities, but this does not necessarily mean that they will strive to emulate such behavior. Ultimately, Gossip Girl is popular for the very reason that it is controversial, and as such, it is fair to predict that the show will only continue to push the limits. Parents can either lock up the computers and toss out the high definition TVs, or accept Gossip Girl’s existence and try to guide their teens accordingly.