The Philippine Online Chronicles

In 2008, Gossip Girl was at the height of its popularity, and every stall in Greenhills sold ribbon headbands. Bookstores everywhere featured Cecily Von Ziegesar’s novels on which the show was based. Teenagers wore black opaque tights in the sweltering Manila heat. Two years later, despite last year’s ratings drop, Gossip Girl remains one of the most pervasive teen shows of our generation.

The year 2009 would see the creation of a local version of the hit show dubbed Lipgloss. Like many shows in the Philippines, Lipgloss drew upon the success of a foreign show – as well as the premise and story. Both shows documented the lives of rich teenagers in the world of exclusive schools, featured familiar character outlines, and were narrated by an unseen blogger. The difference? Gossip Girl worked. Lipgloss failed.

It would be easy to dismiss this failure by saying that copying shows never works. However, this situation is not as simple as it seems.

The Philippines has been very forgiving towards copycat shows. Numerous Koreanovelas have been remade for the Philippine market, as well as many remakes of old Filipino movies and shows. In fact, GMA7 has recently been producing a slew of old movie remakes for afternoon television, and its headlining primetime shows as of late have all been remakes or adaptations: Marimar, Rosalinda, Full House, Panday Kids. Its rival ABS-CBN, on the other hand, remade Betty La Fea, My Girl, and Only You. Many changes were made to the original mythologies, and although many agree that the original shows were superior in quality, Filipinos generally seemed to be fine with this copy-the-show phenomenon. So it was rather surprising to see the level of outrage that exploded onto the internet in reaction to the five-minute Lipgloss teaser -- even before the show itself came out.

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Lipgloss preview (mlozada123).

Jologs! That was the main accusation hurled against Lipgloss. The preview can still be seen on Youtube – as well as the many incendiary comments. Admittedly, they have a point. The acting is mostly laughable and relied on stunt casting, and the production quality left much to be desired. But when accused of stereotypical depictions of teenagers (“trying hard -- lmao” as one commenter put it), it could be argued that both the American original and the Filipino remake made use of cookie-cutter characters. Actually, most teen-oriented shows have similar characters. The playboy, the slut, the party girl, the nice girl, the underrated good-looking boy, the bisexual girl – these things are nothing new. The OC had them, One Tree Hill has them, Skins has them. Yet none of these shows rival the persistence of Gossip Girl’s popularity and influence. Why?

The answer is simple: Gossip Girl is posh. The characters in its world belong to the elite. The clothes are expensive, the cars are beautiful, and everyone has a trust fund. Compared to the state housing and community college background of Skins and even the modestly wealthy villas of The OC, the environment in which Gossip Girl’s world is set is decidedly exclusive.

In a world where the success of a product is hinged on its ability to create a world which its audience would aspire to be a part of, Gossip Girl feeds class aspirations by displaying a world inaccessible to most of its target audience. Most teenagers do not live in the Upper East Side, and even the lives of those who do often fall short of the show’s depiction of their community. If Gossip Girl is infectious (and it is), it is because we all want what we can’t have. That’s why Lipgloss never made it big in the Philippines, as well as Skins, even with its arguably more complex plot. We’re a third world country – not many people are interested in seeing poor Brits and Filipino rich kids. Both, in their own way, are too accessible.

While many people believe that the success of a teen program relies on its depiction of parties and sex, a closer examination of teen show trends will show that a show’s success is more closely linked to capitalism than it is to hedonism. Gossip Girl is racy, yes, but it is nowhere near as provocative as Skins and its nudity and depictions of drug use, alcoholism and sexuality. If hedonism is the only thing teenagers were after, then Gossip Girl would be quickly deposed. However, the characters in Skins are lower class Brits, and no matter how hot Michelle used to look in her exposed bra straps and skintight zebra minidress, few people would actually choose to dress like her in real life. Gossip Girl, on the other hand, was able to spawn a whole market of tights, plaid skirts, and party dresses inspired by the show. Why? Because nobody wants to be poor.

Certainly, identifying Gossip Girl as a capitalist success makes it no less controversial than boxing it into the hedonist stereotype. However, you cannot deny the level of engagement which takes place between the show and its fans. The conflicts within Gossip Girl may be stereotypical teenage content, but what matters are the reactions and the fact that they are taking place. You see, the interesting thing about controversy is that visibility attracts analysis. Fan forums discuss episodes in great detail as soon as the hours after airing. There is fan fiction supporting the “ships” of the show. The second half of the third season will come out on March 17, and already fans have threads discussing their predictions for the new season. The mere fact that I’m writing this article about a show I’m not even a fan of proves that reactions are often greater than the catalysts that produce them. I have no doubt that our generation – even those who do not watch the show – will remember Gossip Girl as part of our collective memory of this decade and the collective identity of our generation, and that when we have 2000s-themed reunion parties, more than a few of us will show up in headbands, plaid, and argyle vests.

Gossip Girl is far from being a perfect show. But while it may not be important in the award-bait sense, it is definitely an important show. It is important because it engaged us and we engaged it. For now, for better or for worse, Gossip Girl is here to stay.

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The third* season of Gossip Girl returns on March 17, 2010.

(Edit 03/06/2010: Thanks to S for clarifying the mix-up about the seasons.)

Photos: “GOSSIP GIRL” by , c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved. / “Skins billboard” by Shawndra and Simon, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved.