The article’s title might suggest you will be reading a dry and lackluster account about the fall of the Roman Empire, or something along those lines. However, that is not the case. The era I am talking about was one more recent. One that was built on luxury, secrets, fashion, and scheming. On Monday, Dec. 17, after six years, “Gossip Girl” ended forever *sniff.*
Some of you reading this might scoff, and question how I could be sad over such trivial matters as the end of a television series.
“Gossip Girl?” That dumb show about rich teenagers on the Upper East Side? And to you critics out there, I say you don’t know the half of it…or the Bass of it…
Eleven years old and living in Massachusetts, New York City was close to me geographically, but that life seemed so far away in reality. On Sept. 19, 2007, when the pilot of “Gossip Girl” first aired I saw my dreams acted out right in my living room.
Gossip Girl’s calm feminine voice welcomed me into the life of New York City’s privileged with her infamous words, “Hey, Upper East-Siders, Gossip Girl here, and I have the biggest news ever…” as Peter, Bjorn, and John’s song, “Young Folks,” played in the background. From that point on, every week, I sat and watched, imagining what it would be like to live the life of the elite.
I got to know every character. I grew with them. I know it sounds silly, But everything Serena van der Woodsen wore, I wanted. Blair Waldorf was my idol. Her headbands, her minions, Dorota. One year on my Christmas list I actually wrote down that I wanted a maid just like Blair.
Obviously, I grew up. I realized the more important things in life. A television show wasn’t my world. I had my family, my friends, and school… but Gossip Girl grew up with me.
I held onto my obsession with all things van der Woodsen and Waldorf, but as I got older I expanded it to include all things Bass.
No boy could come close to the incomparable Charles Bartholomew Bass. The way he dressed, the way he spoke, the way he did everything… well… because he was Chuck Bass.
So consider this my official proclamation: Chuck Bass is my spirit animal.
There were many sub characters, but the ones that remained constant were Serena, Blair, Chuck, Nate, and Dan, and the life of these characters was such a fantasy. The brunches at the van der Woodsen’s, the endless soirees, the lavish charity benefits… everything so carefully put together to craft an image.
“Gossip Girl” not only influenced the way I dressed, (Might I reiterate how spectacular the fashion on the show. Some days I even watched the show on mute while doing my homework (just to see the clothes), but I would say 80 percent of my first-generation iPod Nano was music I heard on the show. “Gossip Girl” was a vivid bridge between my world and the world I wished I could live in.
So in the words of a gossip girl doppelgänger:
Hey, Upper East-Siders, Gossip Girl here. When they said the world was going to end on Dec. 21, do you think this is what they meant?
Xoxo, Gossip Girl
