ahhh thanks for all the love everyone!

The only series where fans excuse sexual assault but draws the line at posting anonymous tips on a gossip site.

The "judging an older movie by today's standards" comments always tickles me because people seem to think society didn't start caring about certain things until three years ago.

boy howdy do i enjoy consuming well-crafted videos about media i don’t care anything about

Unpopular opinion: Jenny is a victim that went from a naive child who wanted to be friends with the popular girls to being villainized for for just living her life and pursuing her goals. She didn’t do what the rich kids wanted her to do so she was a problem child.

Had to pause halfway to say your summary of Blair as the "loveable classist" is definitely the blueprint for like an entire generation of mean girls following in her footsteps. sad!

i think right now many of us are tired of seeing the rich life from rich perspectives that's why movies like parasite are so important because it show the real abuse of rich people towards the lower classes, if the reboot intends to be like the original but with poc as main characters I'm sorry but I think is gonna flop, we don't want to see rich people getting along with crimes we want to see a more realistic way of how nepotism and classism work

2 seasons of "YOU" make Dan being GOSSIP GIRL more believable. If anything his friends had it easy.

Chuck sexually assaulted two women in the first episode, was overall creepy throughout the series and treated Blair like crap most of the time. How does anyone like him???

I always say this and always will: Chuck is a horrible character. He is toxic, manipulative and never change. People needs to stop idealizing him. “NO MORE MAKING EXCUSES FOR RAPIST, SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY HAVE A HAMLET COMPLEX”

Love how chuck is a lowkey gay in the books and...this....on the show

"Escapism has become a weapon against criticism." You just perfectly summarized why that sentiment bothers me so much. Awesome video!

Chuck was the sleaziest, deplorable character. He was boring, had no morale and so whiny. Jenny Humphrey should've come out looking like a hero and a survivor turned cold, instead, a young girl turned villain at random as they made it seem in the show.

I will say in regards to Jenny/Taylor Momsen, those are problems to take up with the writers and producers, not actors. If Jenny started acting more like irl Taylor (which she 100% did) thats a writing issue, not an acting issue. I really wish more people read the books and especially the It Girl books, which surrounded Jenny Humphrey, and then they would know that it obviously wasn't just Taylor's decision, it was a writing choice

I definitely think GG should be seen as a relic. I mean I’ve seen the show about three times and have squeezed as much enjoyment from it as possible, but it is as problematic as it looks. I’ll probably check out the reboot, but mostly out of nostalgia. About the analysis you made on Dan being revealed as Gossip Girl, I genuinely think the creators didn’t care about whatever connotations it brought to the story. At least from my point of view the identity of GG was never really important, it was mostly a device the writers used to move the story forward.

The “irrationally layered clothing” killed me!!! I was born and raised in nyc so during the gossip girl era going to school felt like getting ready for battle

4:33 that's insane, like I understand his point, but getting into ivy league schools is a huge status marker for rich kids. Getting into college is getting more selective because everyone is expected to go and get a degree. Rich kids have rich parents who are usually legacies and who donate large amounts of money to get their kids into college. Lori Loughlin committed fraud to get her daughter into college, so the fact that they would drop that aspect of high school is ridiculous. Do all the characters have to go to college right after high school? No. But there should at least be some agonizing and acknowledgement of it.

There was never a moment I disliked Jenny, if anything her treatment made me dislike other characters more.

I thought I was the only one who felt bad for the way the show treated Jenny. Glad to know I wasn't crazy

I won't lie. I am still a fan of the OG GG series. Season 1 will forever be the most stark and edgy of the series run. I can attest to the series falling victim to fluff and circumstance after that. But I'll always remember a time when Gossip Girl was prime teen drama television. We'll just have to see what the new rendition brings about.

"Strap on your Louis Vuittons and grab your Chanel headband" Me watching this in sweatpants while eating fries

Honestly most of these issues with Gossip Girl ended up happening in Elite too. At first it started out as some sort of commentary on the upper class when the poorest students started to attend, but then by the most recent season it just became a hard on for rich people aesthetics.

Jenny was my fav character and I didn't understand why her mistakes were considered unforgivable transgressions while Chuck's actual crimes were brushed aside. I also thought that Dan and Blair from the beginning were the better couple because they challenged each other well. Dan could temper Blair's disdain and snobbery while Blair could challenge whether or not Dan was much more different than her. Edit: in summary i feel like to a lot of audiences being inconvenient is a far greater offence than being cruel. edit: why are ppl so upset in the replies damn its not that serious lol. "it's just a show BUT HOW DARE YOU CRITICISE MY FAVE!"

This video was spot on and FANTASTIC! They really said, “Dan is the ‘good guy’ (debatable), he became the bad guy and got everything he wanted in the end..... What a greeeeat message. Also I always LOVED Jenny’s character and even when I first watched the show, it really hurt to see what happens to her and how she truly is the most used character. I also really love that this video didn’t focus too much on Serena cause in all fairness, it’s the other characters who moved the plot along more than she did.

We haven't grown out of gossip girl: bridgerton is regency!gossip girl and blowing up netflix

One thing I’m worried about when it comes to this reboot is the fact that diverse casting doesn’t always equal adequate representation. And also fans tend to latch onto white characters regardless of how they’re portrayed on the show. So if they make the characters of color elitists, and the lone white character the moral compass, it’s going to make the characters of color look like villains and fan hatred justified. If the white characters are elitist and the characters of color are moral compasses, then the fandom might give them the Jenny Humphrey treatment. The only way this show will work is if they’re self aware enough to nip these things in the Bud at the very start. Hopefully time has given the creators a new perspective. I’ve seen that the ~new Blair~ might be a Black girl, and while I’m excited to see a black female lead, I worry about how she’ll be handled.

Jenny is arguably the most compelling character of the show, not to also mention, the most relatable. While most of the show's watchers would disagree, the vast majority of them wouldn't be Blair's, they would be Jenny's. And truthfully, I would rather be a flawed working-class fashion prodigy than a Marie Antoinette wannabe in the 21st century.

I've always wondered why Chuck forcing himself on Jenny and Serena jus get overlooked, a season later fans were rooting for "Chair" and Jack tried to rape Lily and Blair basically but in the last season he's one of the gang and helped Blair and Chuck get married

Jenny was my favorite character outside of her romance plot lines. Blair was also one of my favorite characters but I could never get over how Chuck being at least an attempted rapist that literally everyone knew you should try to avoid was just kinda brushed past. I always loved the relationship between Blair and Serena. I think I shipped them when I watched it as a teen but wouldn't let myself consider that because I wasn't ready to accept that I was gay.

Me to every CHAIR shipper: How come everyone forgot about Chuck almost raping Jenny and Serena, emotionally abusing Blair and also almost attacking her in his jealous drunk fit?? WTF.

Very preliminary thesis time!: The reason why so many (practically every) piece of media aimed at teens so quickly drops in quality, even when starting from a good footing, is because no one underestimates teenagers like the media (be it producers, execs, writers, publishers, etc.). In contrast, media aimed at children or pre-teens has been on a sustained upward trajectory in quality since the 90s because the target audience has not been underestimated (by the creative heads at least) and, I'd argue, in part because they need to comply with an educational role which, if cleverly approached, can be a great starting point to interrogate the content you're making. I don't want to say that only crap content is produced for teens, but it feels like the content aimed at them hasn't matured in the way content for children has.

you are such a g, i’m in awe💗💚

Honestly, I feel too "old" for the new gossip girl. I'll let the teens have it just like I skipped on Euphoria, because I had Skins already ten years prior. Also, for some reason I really don't care for a show about privileged rich people. I feel like 2020 has confronted us too much with reality, to look away again. At least for me. I don't want escapism, I want solutions. Anyway, maybe young people won't mind dreaming a little bit longer. I hope the new series is quality and not toxic. Ahh I forgot to mention, it was so great seeing you and your friend in the video, pls do this more often.

IVANKA TRUMP AND JARED KUSHNER WERE N O T IN GG WHY DONT I REMEMBER THIS

Like wtf, Jenny's change of style was the best thing on the whole VANILLA style media. Finally someone grungy not showcased as the sad (emo) outcast kid in school. More badass grungy girls in series please!

lmao I can't believe I overlooked all of these attempted rape scenes and the casual "romantic violence" with Chuck.... I don't even remember noticing that these were terrible scenes. But now I look at them and cringe.

I always liked Jenny and her racoon eyes

I think the writing on Jenny is attributed as well to Taylor Momsen herself wanting to leave the show. You can kinda tell that Taylor Momsen was over the whole acting thing and her character too. But rather than making her exit a nice sendoff, instead, she’s made as a tool for the characters to have a villain and for the main cast to look better.

I am honestly cautiously optimistic and intrigued by the reboot, wether it is a trashy escapist fantasy like the original or a critique and social commentary on what it was. I just think there is so much unrealized potential around the concept gossip girl, I lowkey want them to pull it off

Speaking of early 2000s shows about rich people, though handled in a very different way, I’d love to see you do a video on Gilmore Girls. I have...complex feelings on the show and what it has to say about class, and I haven’t really seen anyone truly go into depth about it.

The reboot culture part of this video is absolutely on point

Im always surprised to hear how much Jenny is hated since she’s my fav character from the Show 😂

" 'woke' " *shows winx trailer* i laughed

I've never hated jenny, the more the writers tried to make her look bad the more i loved her. They really missed the chance to make her the designer for Blair's brand in season 6 though that would have been so interesting

I totally agree with the chuck analysis. I recently sat down to watch GG again and my husband and I were shocked at all of the sexual assaults involved in just the first few episodes. It’s disgusting and the lack of punishment for his actions is wrong. Maybe the writers did this to show how affluence, white privilege, and lots of money gets you out of trouble but it was still hard to watch.

The accurate and on point costume design for the narrators has me wanting to layer various clothing for no reason again ♡

The only thing that was missing from this (which I don’t know WHY I had hoped for) was the extra mention of subliminal racism. Vanessa was not a character meant to be liked from the minute she was introduced, and all her following actions only fueled more hatred. She was the only “black” main/supporting character on the show AND SHE WAS EXTRA LIGHT SKINNED. ...but I suppose I’m not surprised that this wasn’t mentioned. We know what only matters.

look at the comments of chuck proposing to blair after he just slept with jenny... everyone is insulting her and saying she came inbetween them!!! its DISGUSTING

I always felt like blair had sooo much potential especially being with dan and their whole dynamic in general - but they kind of destroyed her arc in season 6

"It means no more making excuses for rapists, just because they have a Hamlet complex." THANK YOU.

Rewatching Gossip Girl with the ulterior knowledge that Dan is GG kinda ruined the show for me. Instances that showed how impossible it is for him to be her are GLARING and they made me mad all over again every time lmao

I know it’s a really unpopular opinion, but I never liked chuck 😬

I really loved your analysis. That said, I think the one thing we're missing here is the producing network. There's a reason why this reboot is being produced by HBO and not, say, Netflix or Freeform. I think each network has a certain... aesthetic that comes with its own expectations and qualities (for better and worse), so it would follow (in my mind, at least) that the new GG would be more in the vein of Euphoria than the SBTB reboot. Just my two cents.

i wish one tree hill got more credit for creating such well written and well rounded characters in a teen drama (weirdly rare) even the villains had so many layers to them - no character was black or white they were all so complex. characters were held accountable

I am so relieved to finally see critique of chuck's character. Ever since his rape attempts I have despised him. Even as I binge watched all the seasons, I couldn't stand him or forgive him. Blair is my favorite character (which I'm now questioning) and I hated their relationship. I didn't understand how my friends drooled over him

Also THANK YOU for pointing how the writers used Jenny to humanize Blair and, to an extension, Chuck. I loved Jenny throughout the series and she definitely doesn’t deserve the hate she gets

i choose to watch gossip girl as a comedy and for this reason i will always love it

Thank you for bringing up chuck’s ass*ults! I feel like it’s so easily forgotten even though it’s such a big part of his character!

You're so right about Blair being a loveable classist! I loved Blair in the first few seasons because I feel like the writers were interested in her flaws and invested in her arc. Like that Season 1 Leighton Meester performance is great because it was so grounded and relatable even though the world is fantastical and satirical. So many of today's TV mean girls try to accomplish what that season 1 arc accomplished. But then it got so lazy. And I always wondered why the fandom were so hard on Jenny!

It doesn’t make sense that Dan is Gossip Girl.

If the writers wanted me to hate Jenny they failed, i rooted for her more than anybody.

best analysis of GG i've seen so far! a great part of the girls from my middle school (in Germany!) romanticized the show and especially "chair". i'm not sure about the part that today's (youth) culture isn't so much about glorifying and flaunting wealth anymore though, i think, these phantasies are still very alive and thriving (look at the Kardashians or Ariana Grande's seven rings or basicially half of instagram's influencers)

you’re the first person I’ve seen to actually say that some of the most loved characters are actually the worst and you have all my respect for that

I just hate how much Jenny and Ivy’s characters were hated on. The writers ruined Jenny’s arc completely and why was Jenny blamed and abolished from New York for sleeping with Chuck when clearly it takes two to tango? And Ivy and Rufus? Really??? That move didn’t ruin one but MULTIPLE characters- Rufus, The Van der Woodsen family (for their treatment of an imposter girl who was just looking out for an old lady and then said lady left her fortune behind to the imposter girl even though she knew the truth about the imposter.) Apart from this, after ALL Lily and Rufus had been through, it came down to an annulment for Bart (and the money) and Ivy being blamed 🤦🏻‍♀️ Smh I have so many complaints from the season where Jenny was sent off, like you literally just cut off a MAJOR character of the show to humanise the others (I love Blair still, but Jenny’s treatment and character arc hurt different)

Jenny Humphrey was the real MVP. Our working class fashion prodigy. I love her so much.

say whatever y’all wanna say about blair she carried the show

i recently got mad all over again about how problematic this show was especially around Chuck and Chair. I read a interview of the creators talking about scene where Chuck forces himself on Blair and nearly punches her and they basically excuse his abuse behavior by selling a "their relationship is special" narrative. I remember waiting every Monday night religiously for new episodes of this show and how much it probably influenced how I saw romance in my young adulthood. I loved this in depth analysis!! You hit all the right points! Everyone who watches Gossip Girl needs to see it. I totally agree the original creators do not have the capacity to do a truly nuanced and woke reboot and they are using this to make more money. I don't think people should brush this show off as a silly teen drama cause it influenced society so much and young women especially.

Dan and Jenny were the best characters but no one is ready for that conversation. I always have and will despise chuck. I liked Blair when she was with Dan but hated her in the final season. it was obvious they made Dan act they way he did in season 6 and made him GG to make Chuck look like the better option for Blair which even if I somehow believed that Dan was GG which I don’t especially since the writers even admitted that they made Dan GG at the last minute which just goes to show how bad they were at their job they knew that Dan was the better man for Blair so they had to basically ruin his character to make chuck look good. Dan treated her like she always wanted like her own person with him she matured and evolved and as soon as she got back with chuck she reverted into that petty self centered girl worse than she was in season one I really couldn’t stand her in the final season. Chuck cheated on her in season two when Jack comes in and tricks Blair into making a party with the bass industry investors he takes chuck to party and hook up with girls to which chuck happily does even though he knew damm well he was with Blair. He was always looking for excuses to ruin their relationship when they were together and then when she was happy with someone else he would ruin it. Dan loved Blair since season four but yet he was still their for her as a friend in her relationship problems unlike chuck who would get possessive over her with other guys. Yes Dan made a mistake sleeping with Serena but let’s not forget Serena’s hand in making that happen she went to him when he was heartbroken over Blair not meeting him and seduced him.Chuck would always go sleep with other women the minute things went wrong with Blair so he was far from her ideal match. Although maybe they deserved each other given how horrible they were.

Honestly my favorite character is Jenny and when she left I stoped watching the show

you made me realize that I liked Blair only because of her behavior in the first season, where we would see her issues and weaknesses; then they turned her in more of a one-dimensional character ... amazing video !! one of my favorite youtube essays :)

I always interpreted gossip girl as a commentary on how things really were. As a teen I never saw it as glamourizing anything. I honestly thought it was meant to show how the rich and poor interacted each other. I never looked it and and was like "OMG YAS QUEEN!" LOL

Jenny has ALWAYS been my favorite character. I’ve always seen her as a victim of a privileged lifestyle that she isn’t destined to have. In a way it’s a blessing, the life of the privileged is pretentious, materialist, and classist. Jenny has so much more to offer and being a part of that world prevents her from a life she truly deserves.

This is an amazing analysis! Thank you for making it. I love your insights.

My best friend and I used to watch GG in high school. My best friend became way too obsessed and ended up cheating with my boyfriend at the time. When she told me and I was upset, she was like, "It's like Gossip Girl!! Blair and Serena do this all the time and they are amazing friends. I don't see what the big deal is!" Oof. Friendly reminder that our media has the ability to change our perceptions and morality, so consume wisely!

I’m so sick of these endless reboots. Give us something new or nothing at all

idk... unpopular option but... BLAIR WAS HORRIBLE. I just dont understand how she became so many peoples favorite character and how she was so idolized when she was so like... horrible and also I cant even talk about Chuck and I just like :/ Like Serena wasnt much better but at least she tried to do good things and had empathy for those others than herself.

So many shows ruined because fans guessed the ending, and the writers wanted to pretend they're more clever than they are. Looking at you too, Pretty Little Liars.

18:03 GRAB THE DRESSES JENNY! They’re right there!! GRAB THEM!!

i agree with all points made in this video and i think you really hit the nail on the head. i personally won't be tuning in to a reboot. however, i think with so many people facing economic insecurity in 2020 (similar to the 2008 recession), the desire for escapism into a wealthy fantasy might be stronger now than ever before. so, i feel like public reception could go either way. today's teens seem more tuned into the severity of wealth inequality than I was in the mid-2000s. but at the same time, the desire to escape from the current state of things might provide the reboot with a lot of viewers.

The tik tok at the end almost killed me with cringe

Thank you for that little tangent about Taylor Momsen

as someone who loves gossip girl and my favourite character is blair its important to remember that our responsibility as a consumer of media is to be able to criticize what we're watching

The problem with the show is that they started it off remaining generally faithful to the story which was why the first couple seasons were great then they saw how successful it was not just as a show but a pop culture phenomenon and started basing the characters off of the public’s perception of the actors

The Chuck/Blair romance definitely hasn’t aged well. Rewatching the show when you’re older you realise how toxic and unhealthy their relationship was.

Prediction: it's just going to be about MORE BLACK CEOs

Thy are already giving us a GG reboot in the form of Bridgerton we don't need a literal reboot

Now it's time to watch "Saved by The Bell". Didn't even know that reboot existed until now.

Oh I love the take on Jenny. I don't get why so many people hated her

Gossip Girl is a show that I can't really get myself to rewatch now that I"m older, but I still watch One Tree Hill.

One thing that always bothered me about the fandom is that they would defend Chuck Bass to the ends of the earth and make senseless excuses while antagonising Jane for less worse things

Chuck's character is all the creepier in light of the allegations that came out about Ed....

Gossip Girl lost its light heartedness after season 2. No more cute and loveable interactions between the charaters. Even blind people can see that the relationship between Blair and Chuck is super toxic.

Speaking on the reboot culture thing, I think people need to understand too that hollywood is not interested in necessarily taking risks with original stories that feature women at the front lines or poeple of color unless it is say a reboot of a financially successful film that had an all male cast. This is why I roll my eyes at movie bros complaining about their movies being "ruined" by feminism because Ghostbusters (2016) exists.

THANK YOU , i always loved Jenny and even more right now in my 20s (i watched GG as a teen) and i always felt she was hated for no good reason. Everytime the wealthier girls like Serena or Blair did something bad they were forgiven and literally untouched but Jenny was always framed, hated and paying for the consecuences! Which makes no sense to me, she was the only one with a real talent and goal for herself rather than just conforming with being someones wife or girlfriend plus idc about what people say i LOVE her more gothic/grunch style later on , it was soooo cool but classy at the same time , she look great!

I still can’t understand how people love chuck. yes I used to think he was dreamy when I first watched it, but the older I get the more I realize how bad of a person he is (literally tried to rape two girls in the first episode). I know some people say that he “grew up” but he really didn’t and he never had to answer for the things he did wrong.

broey serving up strong Kathryn from Cruel Intentions vibes in the intro

Let gossip girl RIP and give POC redeeming roles without trying to have them unnecessarily fill shoes of white predecessors.

I never understood the hate for Dan. He had some great lines. Good insight. Several of the characters (like Dan) were sarcastic, everyone on the show was a hypocrite. Everyone else was forgiven though, but not Dan. He was a teenager/early twenties so of course he has to learn... just like the others but for some reason people think it's unforgivable for Dan. Everyone had motives for things in the series but Dan did still try to help those in his life so it made no sense that he was villainized. I mean, look at what the others did... Dan wrote a (fictional) book loosely based on those around him - which Vanessa published (he didn't) and they hated him for it. Didn't like how he portrayed them in the (unedited) book. So it was really weird that people hated him for that. It was all backwards. Season 6 was messed up in many ways, going off character for a couple people. Then making Dan GG was just dumb, undoing all his character growth. It was supposed to be Eric and I thought that would have been a good move.

I binge watched the whole show in like 15 days last month and the weirdest thing for me was how they just dropped Blair's eating disorder and bulimia after s1 and it's only mentioned again in the fifth season when she's pregnant

I loved the jab at Bridgerton's show because while I love the books I find it irritating how the showrunners decided to be "woke" by simply ignoring the race and class issues of the regency era and create an alternate world where wE dOnT sEe ColOr EUGHHHHH ! Including black characters while erasing a history of oppression and slavery isn't the way to have a diverse show