15 Going On 50: How Gossip Girl is Killing Youth Culture

The writer of this article basically says the message of Gossip Girl is one of misery, a "truly insidious influence." This is not exactly my opinion, but it did force me to analyze the characters and plot in a different way. The show focuses on tech-savvy teenagers of today – constantly texting and updating blogs to spread, well, gossip. Despite their modern, inter-connected ways, these adolescents play adult roles. The writer describes one of the scenes perfectly:

At one point, Queen Bee Blair is lying in a dark bedroom with Nate, her boyfriend-since-kindergarten. Nate has cheated on Blair; she's just found out. The scene is one of dark marital alienation as she lies with her back to him. He wears a suit and a huge Rolex; she dons a dress of thick nunnish lace and a mask of make-up. He talks of working out their problems; she resigns herself to a pragmatic reconciliation.

Marital alienation. The Rolex. A mask of make-up. Pragmatic reconciliation. Now, this definitely does not sound like it takes place in a teen drama... Or does it? What happened to the “carefree golden years”? Is this generation of television killing youth culture? The writer argues (vehemently) that Gossip Girl tells us that teens can be adults before middle age, thus there is nothing more to look forward to. We are doomed, trapped with the adult role as soon as we hit puberty.