America's Next Top Lie

America's Next top model is the reason girls have eating disorders. The judges are so superficial and judgemental. This past week on the show, one of the best models were eliminated. London did consistently well every week, but this past week she became really insecure after gaining about 10 pounds throughout the course of the show so far. She had to wear really revealing clothes, which made her feel uncomfortable. This caused her to do poorly in her pictures. That was not an excuse though. Some of the other girls did worse then her, but she was the one the judges sent home. This is not a good example for young girls. A lot of times, they cheer on what they call plus size models and embrace them, but it turns out that they are just doing it for the uniqueness of it all. They really do not think an average size girl can model. It is not really fair to the rest of America when they set these standards of appearance for how girls should look. Most of the time it is unrealistic. They have helped America's young girls create a terrible mental image for themselves. Trya Banks advertises herself as someone who supports a thicker girl, but on her show she is such a hypocrite. Her false advertising is bad for though youth of America.

Whedon and his Women

Since Gossip Girl has failed me yet again, I have to resort to a new topic. So back to Firefly and Joss Whedon's amazing creative writing. In his series, he has the perfect balance of all a women's traits. He separates them into to groups, ultra feminine and very hard and masculine. The feminine group consists of Inara and Kaylee. Inara, being a companion is much more feminine than Kaylee, but both are concerned with men and tend to at least try to display their feelings. Both of them enjoy dressing nice, especially fancy dresses. In one episode, Kaylee gets a huge frilly pink dress and is super excited to go show it off at the ball. Inara always wears a lot of dresses and presents herself perfectly at all times, even more so with her clients. She is always wearing make up and being proper. Zoe and River comprise the contrasting group. They are not identical in their anti-female, but neither of them embrace femininity. They portray themselves as warriors. Zoe was a member of Captain males platoon in the war against the alliance. She is a fighter to the very core and a very rough person. She never wears make up or does her hair and her clothing often resembles what she wore in the war: heavy duty pants, collared shirts, and a leather vest. Even in her marriage, Whedon portrays her as the dominate one. River is tough in a manner that was not her own choice. She is like a child in most senses, but the alliance attempted to transform her into a war machine. This is best displayed in the movie Serenity, where she singlehadedly destroys an entire ship of reevers. Nothing can harm her. Also, her temper and impressive amounts of critical thinking is very masculine. The two sides occasionally blend, but mostly stay very contrasted. You rarely see Zoe or River upset over a relationship. Even when Wash dies in Serenity, Zoe accepts it as part of battle. Kaylee always becomes very upset at even the simplest things the doctor says and to easily takes them as rejections. Inara even left the ship because of her desire to have a relationship with Captain Mal. She just could not handle the emotions. This balance is what causes the relationships of all the females on board to blend so well with each other. Otherwise, they would stay in a constant cat fight. Therefore, Joss Whedon is brilliant.

Is fitting in worth it?

Girls care way to much about their images and what others think of them. They have to have the approval of other girls, especially the ones that are cooler or more popular. Serena exemplifies this perfectly. In the most recent episode, she runs into her old socialite friend, Papí. She asks what Serena has been up to and while she is telling her, Serena realizes she is stuck in the same high school rut. She has the same boys, problems, and friends. She is planning this party, Papí encourages her to go big with it, and increase her social standing. Jenny, the one she is throwing the party for, does not want this, but she is only out for what will best for her. In trying to improve her image, she tramples on the people who care for her for herself, not for her social standing. She tries so hard to invite her socialite friends and make it a high society event. It turns out miserable. It is a train wreck. This horribly embarrasses her and gives her a very "high school image." She is traumatized, but should not be by something this trivial. It is something all girls tend to do, though. In high school it was all about if a girl had the best party, the best clothes, or the most popular friends. Gossip Girl highlights this typical teenage issue perfectly and shows it to us in a way it makes it seem ridiculous. Teenage girls also tend to be the main audience of this show. Maybe it will help them realize they do not need to fit in.

NEW EPISODE!!!!! Best quote by the cute director, "Serena, I'm gay." But on a more serious note, this episode reflects my blog on last week. Girls truly are the most spiteful creatures on the planet. In this episode, rumors are being spread like wildfire during the play the school is hosting, Age of Innocence. Dan's relationship with the teacher, Rachel, gets out. The other teachers mock her and treat her job as a joke. This makes her very bitter and angry. She wants to hurt the source where it is the most traumatizing. She called the Dean of Yale and spilled everything about why Blair was in trouble. This cost her the early admission and admission at all. She was devastated and on a mission to find out exactly who did it. But this is very difficult to do because almost all the girls in the school dislike her and would do this. She realizes this and is very introspective about it. Serena is also hurt by Rachel's gossip. It seems everyone is. But she of all people should know better because she is the older one and supposed to be their teacher. When Blair finally figures out what happened, she starts over to her in a rage then Rachel realizes how horrible she is. Blair chooses to punish her in the worst possible way. She decides to just let Rachel live with the thought of all she destroyed and the person she became, like Blair is forced to do everyday. All this starts over spite, which only destroys everyone.

Boys and girls are both vindictive and ruthless when getting what they want, but they have slightly different methods in their scheming. Once again I was watching the rerun where they go to the snowflake ball. (Only one more Monday till the new episode.) Everyone knows that Chuck wants Blair, pretty bad too, but he won’t just say it. He just plays games with her. In this episode, he refuses to ask her to the Snowflake Ball, but he bets he knows her well enough to pick the perfect date for her. It ends up being his slightly less attractive unbiological twin. This is just evidence that guys can never be straightforward, they go around the issue so they can’t be embarrassed. The other event that describes the girls, showed just how mean little Jenny could be. Vanessa hid a not from Nate and made Nate come back to her because he thought Jenny just ignored his confession of love. Jenny chose a more straightforward method of getting what she wanted, and that was to embarrass Vanessa. She made her a peace offering of a see through dress, so she would be publicly embarrassed in front of Nate, and Nate would come back to Jenny. This was a bitter and mean plan, but it also failed. It made Jenny out to be someone Nate wanted nothing to do with. This episode highlights the different ways guys go for girls and girls go for guys. If a guy wants something, he takes forever in getting it, and goes about it in the way with the least consequences. But when a girl wants something, she does whatever it takes, without thinking of all the possible results of her actions.

The Same Girl, Two Different Worlds.

With the lack of new Gossip Girl episodes, I am running out of things to write. But I have been watching a little bit more of Firefly. There is a character from Firefly the reminds me greatly of Serena. Her name is Inara. She is a Companion to the Alliance. ( A companion is a highly respected geisha, that also has intimate relations with her customers. They are run by the government.) Both are very feminine and have many similar traits. Serena is the "queen bee" of her popular group. She is a social butterfly and attends all the parties, as is expected to as a female in high society. She always dresses really trendy and fashionable with a closet full of luscious clothes. She always makes sure her appearance and image is pristine. Boys are her specialty. They are everywhere, falling over her at every turn. She has a confident power over everyone and a very forward personality. She radiates what the idea high society female should be. Inara is very similar. Because of her job, she must present herself as perfectly womanly and respectable. She is from high society and an upscale social scene. She has all these fancy parties and government officials to entertain. Her wardrobe is vast for living on a space shuttle, and she is the envy of all the girls on the crew, and the desire of all the men. Everyone wants to meet here, but she is very selective. Inara is confident and feminine. She is deeper though, she does fine love in her deep desires. Both are very passionate in their relationships. When they find a guy they are in love with, they are stubborn and persistent, but unlike Serena, Inara is not as forward and does not jump at the boys. I believe both characters would get along well if they ever met, but would be competitive over their boys.

Look at the Pretties!!!!!

There is a certain standard for how girls should be, set by shows like Gossip Girl. The girls on the show are supposed to be pretty, feminine, and in dresses; they are expected to dance, have manners, and be socially proper. Not all girls are quite like that though. A perfect example is one of my favorite TV characters EVER! Kaliegh is from the show Firefly that previously aired on FOX for one series. She is comical, sweet, not quite innocent, a little bit of a tom boy, and kinda crude, but she is a lovable character. She does not fit the Gossip Girl standards of a female. She is a mechanic on the ship and one of only three girls on the whole ship. She talks machines, not seamstress's. There is a very painful scene where a very mean girl comes up to her and humiliates her on her fashion choices. She was very excited to wear a dress. The crew of the Firefly does not see her as a woman like their Companion, Anara. When Kaleigh first sees the dress with all the pretty ruffles, she is in love, the captain told her it would be pointless to walk around in a dress in the machine room. He said it would be "like a sheep standing on it's hind legs." Eventually, when he needs her to be a lady, he allows it, but when they go to the party, she just doesn't fit in quite right. She is awkwardly amazed by the buffet, the chandelier, the music, pretty people, and the dancing. Her best fit is in the engine room, but like every girl . . . .there is still a part of her that likes to wear pretty dresses and go to dances. All of us have a little Gossip Girl in us.

On Gossip Girl, they do a wonderful job in separating the sexes. They both have well defined images for each. The perfect example of their idea of a guy is Chuck Bass. Why? Because he is Chuck Bass. He has a persona larger than life. He is charismatic, suave, attractive, smooth, romantic, manly, mysterious, powerful, and intelligent. Blair and Serena describe both sides of girls. Blair is girly, proper, formal, sweet, jealous, vindictive, and bitter. Serena is a different kind of girl. She is free, fashionable, flirty, in control, and confident. They even separate the two groups for most things. The guys do "guy things." They go out drinking to clubs and bars with lots of women involved. He always has girls falling all over him, one on each arm. He throws around his money, waltzes in when people need help, and makes everyone fall all over their feet. The girls do things like shop, party, meet boys, gossip, fashion shows, and go to photo shoots. They epitomize an uptown New York girl. The show uses these two opposing forces and pits them against each other, making for even steamier hook ups. They monopolize on the ideas society has created for each of the genders and make them larger than life and almost unrealistic. No girl can be that perfect, nor can a single guy really have that much game.

There isn't another new one till march, but I think I can survive. I found the first season. I decided to begin with episode one this time. Now I understand where everything is coming from. Gossip girl sets the standards high for how a girl is supposed to act. They should be classy, smart, respectable, and yet it seems they give the idea the girls still must please the boys. Blair finds out Serena slept with her boyfriend, Nate and she is ANGRY! She calls Serena all kinds of names, but when she finds out Serena is coming back in town, she wants to have the upper hand with Nate and prove to him she will do anything to get it. This gives us viewers the impression it is acceptable to do that to get your way, but they challenge that idea just a few minutes later. They destroy Serena's reputation for being free with her love. They call her a slut and question her morality. No one ever says anything about all the escapades of Chuck though. It gives him a status no one can touch. It makes him like a king to the other boys. I think the first two episodes bring up the controversial issue that guys can be much freer with themselves than girls can. It is an unfair standard set between the sexes that is present in everything. Don't get me wrong though. I do not agree with the freedom neither one of them practice. I just believe the standards are biased. There is a double standard for girls, and Blair is caught right in between it. She wants to please Nate so he does not go back to Serena, but she still has to live up to her image of the squeaky clean good girl headed for Yale. This puts her in a very awkward spot, but one I think may girls find themselves in.

Monday came late this week, but thank goodness for TV on the Internet. It was worth the wait even though CW is slow putting shows up. This week they played up every girl's worst nightmare. Gossip. It is an activity related to being feminine and the ladies room. People assume all girl's gossip. Boys should not, it is not acceptable. And once again, Gossip Girl outlined that role perfectly. The episode was all about gossip and revenge on a teacher, which turned out to be a little too true. Blair always seems to fit the idea of the perfect girl. In this episode, she played "daddy's little innocent girl," but really she wasn't. This week's Gossip Girl chose to use Blair as the perfect example of all the bad traits a girl can exhibit. Vindictive revenge, gossiping, and a lack of care are just a few. She is the girl everyone hates, the one that gives us all such a bad name. When people think of girls, especially popular ones, they thing of the terrible things they do to others to get their way and the lack of consideration of the feelings involved. They show cattiness in the perfect manner to exploit all the issues with it. Guys will normally just brush things like community service off their shoulders. Girls, like Blair, hold onto it much better. She was forced to do community service and had her acceptance to Yale threatened. She was not about to stand for that one bit. I also think this is true for most girls. We are much better at holding grudges with everyone. They say we aren't competitive but it seems like we always need to get the upper hand when we were wronged. Normally, we go about that revenge in very typical ways, such as gossip. Gossip is one of the most vicious female habits and can be more damaging than a punch to the face. I think that is the reason girls are so much more vicious. This week's episode of Gossip Girl demonstrated why girls really know how to scar someone for life.

Where do I fit?

Another Monday night has gone by. Sadly it was just a repeat, but in turn I watched a few older episodes as well. I ended up watching the episode where Serena decides she is going to "casually" date this artist she met. Blair thinks it is a very bad idea. Once I started thinking on the issue I decided the two girl represent two very opposing views in my generation of dating. Blair is a very traditional girl over all, especially when it comes to dating. She is determined to be in a happy relationship with Chuck Bass one day. She has also had other serious relationships with other boys. She is not one to just casually date a guy. She resembles the type of woman present in the early 20th century. Serena is her counterpart in that matter. She tries very hard to be seen as a "free spirit." When she started dating the artist, Aaron, she decided she could handle the modern idea of the relationship. I think these two characters are a brilliant contrast bridging today's society with the Grease era of perfect relationships. That what makes this show so interesting and far fetched, yet it is still easy to relate to for most girls. So where are relationships going now. Will things revert back to the traditional, or become so casual, no one gets married anymore?

Old Tradtion or Modern Ideas.

The other night while watching Gossip Girl, I saw a scene that really made me consider the direction TV is going in the relationships between men and women. In the most recent episode, Chuck, a very typically male character has just inherited his father's empire at the age of only 18. He is trying to be the hard man that his father was. His father lived most of his life single. It was also when he did the best business. Chuck wants to live up to his father's legacy, but he also has a girl, Blair, that he cares about and has gone back and forth with for a long time. Blair helps him through gaining the company and a downward spiral after his father died. She tries to do what most females would do and just continue to be there for him and support him. He was caught in between the traditional role of a working man, and the free life of an entrepreneur. He chose the latter, but when he finally realized it was the wrong decision, it was too late. He told her to stop "playing the wife." He used it in a derogatory manner. When he came to beg her to come back, she told him she never wanted to be his wife because he made it sound like a horrible position. Today, I think the majority of my generation agrees with their stance on marriage. Television shows and movies are beginning to reflect it. We are slowly turning from a society that see our future as a happily married family. People are redefining what it is to grow up in that sense. I am for new ideas, but It is weird to me to think about getting married one day as a bad thing. I think Gossip Girl is the perfect example, though, of my generation attempting to conform to the traditional ideas of family, but being unable to fit the mold.