Pretty Little Gossip Girl

A Gossip Girl Veronica Mars remix. What is it about the dead girl constantly influencing the story line? Though I guess the only difference here is the lack of “noir”. Similar to VMars, PLL doesn’t use flashbacks to advance plot moments, but uses what Gossip Girl thrives on: a faceless presence via technology.  As Stein states, “ we have Alison, similarly a sexually direct teenage girl, and a social power player when she was alive. Now dead, her digital extension “A” seemingly rules the characters from beyond the grave, through the millennial tools of social networking and mobile technology” Through text message, email and even age old note passing this “A” controls the social lives of these Pretty Little Liars, and nearly forces them to reconnect, which we see at the beginning of the episode, would not be the case without this mysterious “A”.  We have another “sheriff” like figure trying to dig into the lives of these young women, illustrating the male power versus female vulnerability aspect. But what I find most striking is Alison’s presence even in death; Stein states that her “digital manifestation is reinforced by her fluid and inexplicable power-through-knowledge; she seems to somehow see everything, know all” a fact that is astoundingly apparent at the end when all of their cell phones ring and we are surprised to find that it is Alison. But are we surprised? We’ve seen it before, and we know about social power, especially in this day and age. Facebook has us updated, and mini-fed at all times. Secrets are harder to keep, which we see is true in PLL.

As for Skins, we have a similar social routine via a cell phone early on. The whole ride to school this guy is on his cell phone running show. And the cheerleader is seemingly always connected at her cheer practice. They’re typical, right? Wrong. The cheerleader is not your typical cheerleader, infact she seems to hang with this  ” out cast-ish” group.  I guess I’m trying to understand this show in a revolutionary way, but I’m having a little bit of trouble: the show is jarring. Watching it was slightly overwhelming…and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. What are people looking for when they watch it? Representations of themselves? Or representations of what older generations perceive of millennials? For me it feels like the latter, and it makes me worry what older generations think of us. But perhaps that’s just the surface. Because the show actually addresses a lot of real issues, in the words of “Noggin”, it “ goes there”.  We see a more diverse cast, and it seems to include these diverse characters not just for their “aesthetic” appeal. We have the upper class social experience we see in Glee with the prep school, and then we have the public school experience where it seems the social hierarchies relay middle class experience. When they invade the party, the two societal spheres seem to collide, and it doesn’t end well. As if the divide created by generations before us still pervades, and while we attempt to intermingle, the hesitations still exist. Yet, the millennial teamwork still emerges in the end as this group of kids seem to work together, and rely on each other regardless of their issues.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *