Are shows such as Gossip Girl and Sex and the City promoting acceptable role models to young people today?

Anna Pintus examines the impact of the examples set by television characters

By Anna Pintus

Sex, drugs and rock’n roll are common themes in today’s popular serial dramas. From blond bombshells, to multi million pound heiresses, to women who literally have everything, these dramas promote a life which to many is completely inaccessible. Take Gossip Girl for example, currently in its third series on ITV2; it would be deemed difficult to describe any of the characters as unattractive. In New York City, it just happens that this group of young adults are all at the same school, are all friends, are all attractive and are all ridiculously rich. Believable? I would argue not. Through a series of twists and turns the series follows these characters as they experience life as privileged teenagers in a city in which the predominant focus appears to be on the ‘Upper East Side’. With this you get your full range of personalities; Serena Van der Woodsen, the ‘It girl’ with the scandalous past (all at only 16 in the first series), Blair Waldorf, the ‘Queen Bee’ of the social scene, Chuck Bass, the show’s anti-hero and budding entrepreneur, Nate Archibald, the ‘pretty boy’ and Dan Humphrey, the outsider who gradually moves his way into the Manhattan scene. However, do not despair, these characters also have troubled sides to balance out their apparently perfect lives. Problems with relationships, drugs, death and family secrets dominate the show and to young people watching the programme we have to ask whether the portrayal of these topics and characters is acceptable with the impressionable nature of the viewers? 

 

Rated as suitable for 15 years and over, Gossip Girl was described at ‘too explicit’ for earlier viewing in countries such as New Zealand and this is a show which can be watched on ITV2 at 9 o’clock with no parental restrictions. This leads me on to talk about Sex and the City as another show in which inappropriate content is in abundance and is again watched by girls as young as 14 and 15. Set again in New York City, the programme follows the lives of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha, all thirty or forty-something year old women

, through their loves, losses and overt discussions about sex. Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, leads the narrative as she writes her fictitious column on Sex and the City for the New York Star. Unlike Gossip Girl these women are presented as having real jobs; Samantha in public relations, Charlotte an art curator and Miranda a lawyer, but again does this programme idealise the idea of a powerful working woman, portraying their lives as the model for young people to aim towards? Are these professions portrayed as easy to achieve and does this send the wrong message out to young women of today?

When looking at how the programme addresses the topic of sex it becomes clear that the writers are not going to hold back. From frank discussions surrounding the character’s sexual desires to explicit scenes of when they act these out in real life, the programme appears to have no qualms about a topic which greatly affects young and easily influenced women. Yes, it could be argued that the programme is educational in a strange way but could the girls watching it be too young to be educated in these topics?

Finally, similarly to Gossip Girl there is a focus on how these women appear to have everything especially in the case of clothes and fashion. Carrie Bradshaw is seen by many as the ultimate ‘fastionista’ and has a wardrobe the size of many people’s houses. Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration but still to have this as your role model from a young age could lead to disappointment. Therefore I think it is the responsibility of these shows to consider what message they are sending out to the younger generations. I believe it can be damaging for impressionable young people to idealise about a life that is, after all, just fiction.