When I watched the episodes for this week, I was particularly struck by the shows’ abilities to blur the lines between the adults and the teenagers. This was especially evident in Gossip Girl and NYC Prep. Throughout the scenes, I constantly found myself asking are these real teenagers? In Gossip Girl, the parents almost act more like teenagers than the actual teens. The young characters seem to be so independent and have so much power at their disposal that they could not possibly be teens.
The use of technology was also extremely evident in the different series. The web of characters in all the shows were woven by the thread of technology. As Louisa Stein writes in her article, “Millennial Noir,” “embodying this narrative of community-oriented technological prowess, the young adult characters in millennial noir series use technology not only to survive but also to successfully recreate social structures according to their own gradated moral code.” The technology is used as a tool to perpetuate the class distinctions in the series, most notably in Gossip Girl. The femme fatale, present in the typical noir style, in this case is Blair Waldorf, as she is conniving and uses technology as a form of power to navigate the corrupt world of the elite Upper East Side. One element I found interesting regarding technology was that for the teen female characters in Gossip Girl to gain and sustain power they needed both the element of status and wealth, but they also needed the help of technological mediums, such as the Gossip Girl website. Meanwhile, the male teenage characters could gain and sustain power simply by utilizing their wealth and status.
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