xoxo Gossip Girl

Dan & Serena


For some reason I haven't been able to get them out of my head. Maybe they ignited my romantic bone or something from my Summer 2011 Gossip Girl marathon (guilty) is drawing me back. I had never watched the show before that and then one day I just found myself intrigued about what all the hoopla was about.

Although now a year later, I am more interested in seeing how the books are laid out but am sure that the TV series is probably not so in sync. Would I be disappointed? I don't think so, which is another reason I may possibly indulge in purchasing (cause I do not borrow from libraries- a fear) a Gossip Girl book.

Back to the lovely couple.

I'm not sure how many of my fans actually watch Gossip Girl but there are some similarities to my Trilogy and the TV series. Teenagers parading around as if they were adults, crazy scandals, drugs, drinking and ... excuse me but where are their parents? Always a joy to write about. But Dan and Serena for some reason catch my eye the most. Maybe cause at their adolescent stage in season 1, it kind of reminds me of me falling in love and then him realizing this "wasn't going to work" (hate that line).  But the two are far more mature than I was when finally hammering in the last nail to their relationship. Well... until it got very immature when they went back to school but I'd blame that all on Chuck Bass. Either way, the couple hits a soft spot in my heart. Daniel Humphrey, the talented writer who has many opinions and always has to be right. It's actually quite annoying sometimes. Then Serena Van der Woodsen (powerful name) the Marsha Brady of our day, no one can resist her beauty or magnetic personality. Dan lives in Brooklyn (not the ghetto mind you) and Serena lives on the Upper East Side. But both attend a prestigious High School, not public school. Their worlds are different, but in many ways the same one. Hence, they go to the same High School. I many times feel like Daniel fools himself to think they have different worlds. When in High School, your world IS High School. But I do understand his resentment toward the bonds Serena has to the crazy scenarios she ends up in. She often pretends like these things JUST happen to her, when in fact she is a bad decision maker.

BUT in the end, I feel they need to be together. Call me immature, but the love they express in the episodes between mid season 1 to episode 1 and 2 in season 2, is genuine love. I will admit, a lot of it is lust. But there is a certain underline of understanding I feel the two characters have of each other that may be missed by the ordinary viewer. I believe Serena needed an outsider to help her be fully rounded, and Dan needed a Upper East Side princess to show him there is more to life.

These opposites aren't completely opposites though. Maybe in intellect and bank statements. But  they both experienced parents divorcing and cheating on each other. They are both oldest siblings. Both have semi overbearing friends. Granted these may not seem like legitimate similarities, but they're core similarities. Not just exterior ones.

So why am I going on and on about a fictional couple? Not sure, but I think as a writer, dissecting things like this helps my be critical of the characters I develop. Daniel and Serena make me examine Samantha and Marlin in my books. Most people would think I'd say Ryan and Samantha, but I think the main pairing in my books is Samantha and Marlin. And their relationship is complex to the max. They're best friends, siblings, and lovers at the same time. Kind of like Dan and Serena I think. Interesting.

xoxo



Additional Notes: Maybe I like Dan Humphrey cause of the way Penn Badgley looks at Blake Lively (Serena). He looks at her with such love. 

And one of my other favorite relationships on Gossip Girl is Chuck Bass and Lily Humphrey...Bass... Van der Woodsen... Rhodes... 

The way they love each other tugs at my little heart. There isn't a more precious fiction mother-son pairing on television right now. Well at least that I can think of.