My friends and I have recently found a great TV show called
Gossip Girls on Netflix, which has rapidly become my favorite show. This show
is all about privilege children, in their high school and college years, who live
in New York City on the Upper East Side. In this show they display the difference between
the social classes in modern day life very clearly.
Nate, Chuck, Serena and Blair all come from very wealthy
families, living in the Upper East Side and believe themselves to be better
than everyone. On the other hand there is Jenny, Dan and Vanessa who live in
Brooklyn, and are not as privileged as the others so they actually work for
things. All these teenagers attend the same school and throughout the series or
just one episode you can see how strict they are about the social structure.
Upper East Siders (Chuck, Blair, Serena and Nate)
Jenny, Dan and Vanessa are looked down upon by all, trying
to go through all these obstacles to prove they are worthy of the Upper East Side.
But as soon as they start to get a glimpse of the privileged life they get
pushed right back down after being reminded they are from Brooklyn and that
they are nobodies compared to the Upper East Siders who are trying to keep the power
to themselves.
As I was saying I have
grown to love this drama filled show but would never had thought this show would
ever have anything to do with something I was actually learning in school, but
believe it or not it does. Just like the characters in Gossip Girl who stay
true to their social structure to keep power so do the Spanish Americans.
As the Spanish
settled in America they wanted to ensure that they remained to have power over
the Native Americans so they created a social structure that did so. In order
for the natives to make their way up the structure they had to marry a higher
class over three generations to further their families’ class. Once they made it
there they could finally have the privilege to have a decent job and living.
In this way Gossip Girl
is easily relatable with Jenny, Dan and Vanessa having jump through hoops just
like the natives with waiting at least three generations just to move up in the social
structure. Both the Upper East Siders and Spanish did this just to ensure that
they would always have power and be better then the others.
Either way I do not believe this is the correct way to do thing.
I believe that anyone has the right to do anything no matter where they came
from because their origin is not as important as the end product. You can come
from anywhere and still be the best or smartest.
Pictograph
Gossip Girl Logo.
Words. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip_Girl. Accessed January 5,
2014
Gossip Girl
Cover. Photograph. Supperwallpaper. http://www.superbwallpapers.com/movies/gossip-girl-7123/.
Accessed January 5, 2014
Gossip Girl Upper
East Sidders. Photograph. Fanpop. http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/gossip-girl/images/16115237/title/gossip-girl-wallpaper.
Accessed January 5, 2014
Spanish Flag. Symbol.
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Spain. Accessed January 5, 2014
Great post! Right off the bat I could relate to the post when you mentioned social structure in NY. It is very noticeable when one visits the city. Gossip girl related nicely to the Spanish American Social Structure. Your post was summed up nicely when you explained, "both the Upper East Siders and Spanish did this just to ensure that they would always have power and be better then the others." Good job!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! I have also seen every episode of GG and I can totally see what you mean. If I were to watch it all over again, I would have a different view on it and probably appreciate it more. This blogpost is very creative, I like how you took two totally opposite things and connected them perfectly!
ReplyDeleteI was instantly drawn to your blog because I am reading the Gossip Girl series and intend on watching the TV series, eventually. First off, I love your title; it’s very creative and grabs you immediately into your blog. I also really enjoyed the variety of pictures included in your post. I liked that you included a general overview of the series before jumping into the connection it has with the Spanish Americans social structure; what a great connection! The only other comments I have are that I wish you had maybe tried to make the post a bit shorter and maybe read it over again because there were a few wording mistakes. Other than that, fantastic job and have fun watching Gossip Girl!
ReplyDeleteI thought the connection between Gossip Girl and the Spanish social structure made for a fantastic blog post! Right away I was drawn to read your post because I love the show Gossip Girl. Knowing that Gossip Girl is a very popular show for kids our age, I think that it was a great choice to include it in your post. Also, by including Gossip Girl, something lots of us can relate to, it made it more interesting to read about the Spanish social structure because I could relate it to something relevant to my life. Great post!
ReplyDelete