Isabelle Rohr Prompt #3

 The Modernization of Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is a television drama that follows the lives of privileged teenagers living on the Upper East Side of New York City. The main premise of the show is an anonymous blogger, who blogs under the alias of “Gossip Girl” and reveals secrets about the lives of teenagers. The original show aired from 2007 to 2012 and features the various romances, financial struggles, and scandalous secrets of a group of students throughout their high school and college years. I recently watched the 2020 reboot of Gossip Girl. It fascinated me how the characters’ personalities were similar to the original cast, but their appearances were wildly different. I could easily match the characters up by personality traits; Serena is Julien and Chuck is Max, but instead of all straight, white characters, the reboot is much more diverse. The premise of the reboot was very similar to the original but the use of technology and diversity gave the show an upgrade.
    In the first Gossip Girl characters had flip phones and they had to use desktop computers to access the “Gossip Girl” blog. In the reboot, all of the characters have new iPhones which makes cyberbullying and spreading rumors much more common. Walter Benjamin is a theorist who focused on how technology changed all forms of art (Benjamin, 1936). Technology is one of the main differences between the original and the reboot. Benjamin says, “technical reproduction can put the copy of the original into situations that would be out of reach for the original itself” (Benjamin, 1936, p. 50). Instead of a blog that could only be accessed by computer, “Gossip Girl” has become a form of mass media and is available on Instagram and Twitter. Also, the advancements of photography are another vast difference between the reboot and the original. In the reboot of Gossip Girl, the use of smartphones with cameras made cyberbullying a common occurrence. Any “tip” about gossip sent to “Gossip Girl” was accompanied by a incriminating picture or video. For example a video was sent of one character (Zoya) vandalizing school property and being expelled, this was something that no one at her new school knew about and made it humiliating when everyone saw the video. This was not seen in the original Gossip Girl, the reboots usage of photographs gave context and evidence to the written accounts and rumors. Benjamin’s theories on technology changing art forms analyze the changes in the two Gossip Girls because it shows how the use of smartphones and photography can drastically change a group of teenagers' lives. The original Gossip Girl was a blog that lacked evidence and was not easily accessible. The written rumors and drama affected the teenagers' lives, but the blog was not nearly as harmful as the version utilizing technological advancements as seen in the reboot.
Another theory that analyzes the difference between the original Gossip Girl and the reboot is Stuart Hall’s theories on stereotypes and dialogic differences. Dialogic difference explains how social norms develop over time (Hall, 1997). In the original Gossip Girl, all of the characters were straight and white, they were stereotypical privileged New York teenagers. Only one character (Dan) had financial struggles, otherwise, the characters were all very similar. Rarely did any of the drama on the original “Gossip Girl” blog involve race, sexuality, or social class. For example in the original of Gossip Girl, a character (Eric) is gay and that was used as a weapon. He was sent to a mental institution and was ostracized by other characters. This is something that would never happen in the reboot. Diaologic difference shows how being gay has a whole new meaning, instead of something that people are trying to “fix”, it is now something that is accepted and celebrated. Stereotypes are something or someone being reduced to a few essentials and simplified to a few characteristics (Hall, 1997). The reboot defies the original stereotypical mold and shows a diverse set of characters. For example in the reboot the main character (Julien) is Black and other main characters are Asian, Gay, Bisexual, and show different socioc-economic classes. The reboot also defies the stereotype of an elite Upper East Sider. In the original Gossip Girl the character and their parents flaunted their money, using it for their own personal gain. Chuck only rode around in limos, Serena and Blaire lived in Penthouses, and their parents traveled by private jets. In the reboot the characters are still wealthy but have less self-absorded mindsets. Characters Obie and Zoya buy supplies for local schools and often have deep talks about classism. When workers were stealing money from Obie’s father, he greets them with donuts and treats the workers as equals. Hall’s theories on stereotypes and the dialogic difference show how the look of the characters on the two shows has developed over time and has created new social norms.
The 2020 Gossip Girl reboot differs from the original because of the drastic changes in technology in this time and the diversity of the characters and topics. Walter Benjamin's theories on the advancement of technology show how modern technology can revolutionize a television show. Due to this use of technology the 2020 “Gossip Girl” blog was much more accessible to the school students and included pictures which led to bigger backlash and more drama than the original show. This use of new technology, as well as a more diverse cast, led to a wider variety of topics being discussed. Stuart Hall’s theory of stereotypes and dialogic difference elaborates on this change. The reboot of Gossip Girl portrays less stereotypical elite New York teenagers, instead, the cast is much more diverse. This new cast of characters made it possible for new topics to be discussed on the “Gossip Girl” blog, such as racial issues and sexual orientation. The reboot of Gossip Girl has modernized the original premise of the show and given it a new look with diverse characters and updated technology.