Gossip Girl

Lori Bindig is assistant professor of communication, director of the media literacy and digital culture graduate program, and director of the performing arts minor at Sacred Heart University.

Bindig insightfully shows how media conglomerates’ and advertisers’ concerted efforts to narrowly define demographics is primarily based on a recognition of the increase in both the American youth population’s spending power...coupled with their influence on household purchases.... Strongest of all, her exploration of howGossip Girldissolves the difference between the constructs of race and class...rightfully takes the show to task and seriously challenges the myth and legacy of the so-called ‘American Dream’.

• Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: From Page to Screen: The Political Economy of Gossip GirlChapter 3: “Without You, I’m Nothing”: Representations of Gender on Gossip GirlChapter 4: “We Are What You Aspire To”: Race and Class on Gossip GirlChapter 5: She Gets Dumped and He Gets Girls: Sexuality on Gossip GirlChapter 6: “Whoever said money doesn’t buy happiness didn’t know where to shop”: Gossip Girl and ConsumerismChapter 7: I Seriously Started Crying: Audience Analysis and Gossip GirlAppendix A: Brief Synopses of the Six Seasons of Gossip GirlAppendix B: Methodology