Time to do some catching up...I'm taking an amazing course on "Materialism in Children's Literature." The books in this course are all very modern except for "A Little Princess." The book which I am most interested in at the moment is "Gossip Girl" by Cecily Von Ziegesar.The book is obviously directed at a young high school female readership. It is rather disturbing in the messages it sends upon close examination. The kids in the book are all 16 or 17 and act like they're 25 year olds. They drink, party, and sleep around. The first pages of the book explain that as long as the kids don't make a scene of themselves, the parents don't mind what they do.
The book actually does what seems a very good job of portraying the rich elite of New York. At least the book makes you want to be them. I was at once disgusted by the main characters, but also slightly envious. The book is filled with product placements and every material object is described vividly. The protagonists retrieve recognition and star treatment wherever they go. Their houses and hotel suites are spacious and incredibly decorated. One of the main aspects in both "Gossip Girl" and "The Insiders" is art. In class we discussed how a sensitivity to art is an inner sign of upper class. They describe the various ridiculously expensive pieces of artwork the families have. Of course, it is also the sort of thing only a wealthy person has time to pursue in the first place.
The book gives you a sense of being on the inside. As you read it, you gain further insight into how one ought to behave, or what is the 'in' thing to do or wear. Obviously the fashions must be out of date now, but the sense of it is still there. Sometimes characters are put down for wearing something 'tacky' and the reader almost instantly agrees. The use of a gossip girl website entry between some chapters further emphasizes the feeling of being 'in on it all.'
One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is the gender portrayals. While the girls do have male love interests, the major issues are between the girls themselves. They try to impress the other girls by the way they dress. They try to fit in with the other girls. The popularity game seems to be among the ladies. The guys on the other hand are interesting in that they propagate the notion that money can get you all the girls. One character in particular, Chuck, is far too aggressively sexual with most of the girls, but they accept him because his family is powerful and wealthy. In one scene he almost rapes a character who is eagerly trying to become a more popular girl.
That segues nicely into the theme that many things which normal people would consider outrageous are entirely accepted and ignored. Blair is bulimic, yet all the characters adopt an 'oh there she goes to puke again' attitude. The guys flirting all the time with other girls or being too aggressive is entirely overlooked. The use of drugs and excessive alcoholism is totally normal. The young girls down cocktails like it`s nothing. Going into drinking establishments under age is addressed slightly, but entirely normal for the 'in crowd.'
The most difficult thing with the book is that despite how much I disliked it all, I wanted to be that rich, powerful, and famous. The experience points to the difficulty in being moral and conscious of consumerism in modern society. The main character Serena seems to represent fictional ideal of a person who lives with so much excess, yet she is kind and rather unaware of her finances. This portrayal makes it much easier for us to view the materialism in a positive light.
Overall, reading the novel for the materialism really opens one's eyes to how such societal values are introduced and made to tantalize young readers. It's a rather scary read.
