Gossip Girl

Even though I hate to admit it, Gossip Girl is one of my favorite TV shows yet. The show follows the lives of a group of extremely wealthy teenagers. For some reason, some sort of crazy drama follows all of the teens. All of the teens start partying (getting extremely drunk and taking massive amounts of drugs) at very young ages. The teens all seem to have little to no parental supervision while they prance around New York like they own the place (they practically do).

This is pretty much every teen's dream-no parental supervision in the big city. In this way, I think that the media is fed by teen's desires to be independent. In other ways, I think the producers feed the viewers some ideas about what they should be doing. I don't necessarily think that many teens walk around New York like adults, go to Paris for the weekend to go shopping, or have their own personal maids. These ideas created by the media give teens unrealistic expectations and make themselves feel uncomfortable in their own economic situations because they can't be the heir to half of New York's hotels. 

The producers of the show assume that teens only care about sex, drugs, alcohol, partying, and money. Some of these things are true but they do not actually consume young peoples' lives like how they do in the show. 

I think the thing that is so appealing about Gossip Girl is how unrealistic and crazy the show is. I kind of feel like I am living my life through Serena and Blair when I am watching the show. 

In fifteen or so years, I don't really think the media will be that different. The plots may change, but the messages won't.