Every chick flick movie is entitled to at least one montage
sequence that shows the protagonist going through a “makeover” that usually
consists of extensive shopping and beauty treatments. Everyone goes shopping,
whether male of female but it’s known universally that women shop for fun, and
sometimes, they consider shopping a stress reliever.
So what is it that makes women enjoy shopping? Is it the
pleasure of buying clothes that will change how we look? Or is it the pleasure
of just spending money? If you ask me, for a long time ago, shopping has turned
from a process of attaining essential needs to a process that reinforces what
Hilary Rander calls in her book, autonomous individualism. In her book Neo-Feminist Cinema, Rander attributes
the autonomous individual to the woman who apprehends her pleasure for herself
and whose health can be measured by the body’s capacity to experience itself as
pleasurable. So shopping is now a way of proving one’s independence.
So, Do the female representations in media effect our own perception
of power and being a feminist? Well, being surrounded, or suffocated, by the
media that advocates for consumerism played a role in turning most women into
neo-feminists. According to Rander, Neo-feminism means, “control over one’s
body/face/self, accomplished through the right acquisitions can maximize one’s
value at both work and home.” Although we might not be aware of it, we shop for
the pleasure of having the power to choose what we want and how we look.
Although being a shopaholic in some way contradicts with one
of many things that feminism stands for, that is liberating women from being sexualized
in media, it seems that Neo-feminism has changed this view. Neo-feminism encourages
consumerism and individualism, while on the other hand; feminism had always
advocated for female solidarity and independence. So it is still possible to be
a feminist and a shopaholic?
It’s scary realizing how much movies and shows affect one’s life. But, regardless of how much TV you watch, you are still socialized into a specific environment that lives specific scenes from movies and shows. Hilary Radner’s book Neo-Feminist Cinema, looks at “girly films, chick flicks and consumer culture.” She specifically talks about 10 pointers that are seen in all chick flicks and girly films.
After reading more about those 10 pointers, I started realizing that these trends don’t only occur in films, but in shows also. I’m going to talk about the how these 10 points can be applied to the TV show Gossip Girl. To begin with, Gossip Girl is definitely a more girly show that revolves around the lives of urban teenagers, and the drama around their personal lives.
1. The first trend the author points out is that a woman’s appearance is a crucial aspect to her identity. That is the first thing you notice in GG, even from season one. The prettiest girls are the ones playing the main roles throughout the show. They are the girls who started off gorgeous and throughout the show remain powerful, strong and still pretty, of course.
2. The female lead always succeeds in her goal of being with the man of her choice. Serena and Blair, the two protagonists in the show usually end up with the man of their choice. Even if they weren’t sure of whom they wanted, they still end up with whomever they end up choosing. This leads me to the next point the author makes.
3. There is ambivalence about the role of romance, marriage, and work in a woman’s life. Like I said in my previous point, the two main female characters are never sure of which man they really want to end up with. In the picture below I highlighted those four people, because Blair, the brunette, has actually been with all three main male characters. Every time Blair is with one or the other, she believes that he is the man for her and falls for him.
4. The protagonist is a single woman who works for a living, and whose work some way defines her. After both girls graduated from high school, we see their struggle to find themselves in terms of what jobs they want to pursue. Whenever either lady chooses her path, she would always be single and very sure of the path she takes, like it defines her true identity and life somehow.
5 + 6. The ability to shop is a tool that enables the female lead to resolve her conflict and achieve her goal and consumer culture serves as a magical place where everything goes right. We constantly see the girls wearing the best clothes that all the other girls on the show envy them for. Serena and Blair go shopping for any and every event, especially when they’re down. To help them get their mind off their problems, they believe a new dress could solve it all, like it’s therapy.
7. Films tend to take place in a large, well-known place. Gossip Girl is set in New York. Also, every time the girls travel anywhere, it’s always to big cities like Paris and Los Angeles.
8. There is a theme of personal transformation. Throughout the show we see how the two main female characters are always undergoing personal transformations, like changing their education and work paths. We also see a lot of makeovers throughout the shows, especially for those girls who were less popular and suddenly try to become on top, with the rest of the powerful girls.
9. The plot contains a do-over in which a past mistake is resolved. The girls constantly fight throughout the seasons and make-up by the end of the episode or season.
10. There is a sense of nostalgia or glorifying the past. The girls always get advice from their mothers and grandmothers about their past experiences when it comes to men, fashion and power.
Every girl reading this will probably agree to most of these points, one way or another. Even I, someone who isn’t the biggest shopping fan, still realize the importance of looks and the way I dressed. When it comes to men, of course I want the best man for me. And I constantly hear my friends saying things like, “why wouldn’t he want me?” “I can so get him,” and other lines suggesting that they are very familiar with those celebrities who “apparently” get everything they want. My girlfriends and I are very close and we always have “girl’s days out,” where we hang out and do all sorts of girly stuff like shop, do our nails, or give advice to each other about our futures and our paths in life, very much like the girls from GG.
