TV Drama target audience

“Gossip Girl” TV Drama                                     Bessie Carter 

The TV Drama that I have chosen is the American teen drama “Gossip Girl”. It was based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage then created the TV series, which first aired on “The CW” on September 19, 2007.

      I watch it on Wednesdays at 8 o’ clock. The series revolves around the lives of privileged teenagers/young adults on Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York City. The series represents the 18/19-year-old characters to be incredibly lucky with each episode filled with party scenes, nights at bars, conversations in large apartments; making the characters seem to have very desirable lives. The target audience are teenagers aged between 15 and 19 years.

       Young people in ‘Gossip Girl’ are presented in a certain way. They all seem extremely classy. The costume design is very clever as all of the clothes worn are highly fashionable and popular, making the characters look even higher is society and in the ‘cool’ chart. Each character looks flawless as the make up artists have flattered each actor with their correct type of make up to create, again, the need to look like them. I know for a fact that when I settle down to watch an episode of ‘Gossip Girl’ I allow myself to believe that live in their high fashion and stylish life.

         The characters are extremely stereotypical- rich, young people living the supposed ‘dream life’, which is why the producers gave the series a hidden message. They make each character have something wrong with their lives, therefore creating the motto ‘money can’t buy you happiness’. The series emphasises that yes, the character’s lives look enjoyable and easy but that they each have troubled lives and pasts that provide a hidden and vulnerable side. Furthermore, social issues are brought up to do with the target audience (in this case- teenagers aged between 15 – 19 years of age). For example: drug abuse, sexuality, relationships, pregnancy, miss use of alcohol and money. Jenny Humphrey (played by actress Taylor Momsen) is the younger sister of one of the main characters, and she shows the desperation for popularity through trying so many different things to be popular. This raises a good point of the things that young teenage girls go through, just to look good and to be liked. Maybe other girls who watch “Gossip Girl” find it comforting to watch other people doing the same as them, and somehow find a way to stop being so obsessed by popularity through the programme.

         The writers did this to make the programme have more purpose than just trying to advertise fashionable looks and ways to spend your money. They did this to show that even people who have the best lifestyles can have the worst situations. However, similarly to the TV drama “Skins” some suggest that they way that young people are presented is far too transgressive and ‘out of control’ to seem realistic. But the reason I enjoy watching it is because the storylines are sometimes so unrealistic and crazy that it is sometimes amusing. Also I find that it can be comforting slipping into the mind of someone else and facing their problems instead of your own for once. I think the director and the writers created this atmosphere well through the characters and the storylines.

        I enjoy “Gossip Girl” thoroughly, but The Hartford Courant chronicled a variety of negative responses to the programme including quotes like "Every parent's nightmare", "mind-blowingly inappropriate" and "A nasty piece of work in what appears to be an effort to continue the 'rebellious teen' style of the show”. And some might agree that parents might not want their children to watch this programme as it might make the children too desperate to be like the characters. Therefore I think only if you are clever enough to work out the undercurrents in the programme, are you old enough to watch it. It mustn’t be that bad a programme as it won 14 Teen Choice Awards in the past couple of years, showing its demand and how wanted it is by teenagers. 

Yours.
Bessssssie carter