A Peek into the Unachievable Gossip Girl is a popular and widely watched show by a younger teen audience that craves to get a look into the lives of the rich and elite of New York private school girls. The main female characters in the show are given many characteristics that set the basis of how girls need to act and dress in order to be successful in getting the man they desire. The main goal of the show is to sometimes subtly and sometimes pretty obviously show that women should base their lives around those of the men that they are with or want to be with. The ideology seen in Gossip Girl is that women are not as dominant and successful as men and they need to constantly strive to be thin, flawless, long legged, rich, big chested and know how to use their sex appeal to get what they want in life. That is the definition of what beauty is in the show.
And if you don’t have all of these or most of these you are generally considered an outcast. Society often looks down on people of a low social status, these people of the low social status usually do things out of the ordinary to try and belong with society even if they cannot afford to do so. These ideas of belonging are represented in the movie through a couple of important scenes one of these scenes is Cady Herring had made two new friends: Damian and Janis, Damian and Janis aren’t ranked very high on the school popularity social status. As Cady goes to sit the table with Damian and Janis the popular girls known as the ‘plastics’, sitting on a table away from Damian and Janis, speak to her. The tables being separated demonstrate the difference between the social ranks.
The ban comes as increasing numbers of young girls copy the 'sexy schoolgirl' look popularised by celebrities such as Rihanna and Brittany Speers. The headmaster of the Worcestershire school said the ban would eliminate 'unladylike' short skirts. 'Young women are far more impressionable than young men. They want to be the pop stars have their lifestyle, their clothes, their men, their habits” (Jones, date unknown) This shows
Afroeisha’s greediness and selfishness did not stand in the way of her marriage due to fact she had one of the most delicate and largest afros from all the other women in the village. Afroeisha’s life was so easy for her due to the fact she could basically have whatever she wanted. Her wealthy husband did whatever he could to keep her satisfied. Afroeisha basically used him for his wealth, and social status. She was skilled at outsmarting her husband.
Being social and popular was extremely important to a young lady during this time. Fitzgerald even stated, “No matter how beautiful or brilliant a girl may be, the reputation of not being frequently cut in on makes her position at a dance unfortunate.” These times were every girl for herself. Bernice is from a wealthy family in Eau Claire and she is going to visit her cousin Marjorie Harvey for the summer. Fitzgerald illustrates Bernice, the main character, as being an attractive young lady; however, not so much as Marjorie. Bernice was described as being pretty and having dark hair but a lame-duck.
Her honesty, virtue, and lively wit enable her to rise above the nonsense and bad behavior that pervade her class-bound and often spiteful society. Nevertheless, she has a sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty judgments on first impressions. She is perhaps a little selective of the evidence on which she bases her judgments. In the beginning of the book, her closest relationships are with her father; her sister, Jane; her aunt, Mrs. Gardiner; and her best friend, Charlotte Lucas. As the story progresses, so does her relationship with Fitzwilliam Darcy, who belongs to a higher social class than Elizabeth.
Do women prove stereotypes as incorrect? Although one might argue that women have made many advances in society, today in the media, women still often play lesser roles than those of men. They are usually represented as sexual objects or secondary characters that the male lead must either save or win over in the movie. In contrast, in the television series Alias, the female lead Sydney Bristow was depicted as being strong both physically and emotionally. She had to deal with the considerable emotional trauma she had experienced over the years and the changes involved in being a spy on a daily basis.
Zelda and Nicole Diver in Tender is the Night are rich socialites seduced by living in the exuberant lifestyles they were accustomed to enjoying. Zelda Fitzgerald and Nicole Diver also are very dependent on their husbands for support of their lavish ways and their mental stability. In the end, both women are plagued with mental illness that is crippling, and forces both husbands to be their support system. Fitzgerald utilized the heroine Nicole Diver to symbolize his relationship with his erratic wife Zelda in Tender is the Night. In the beginning of both the Fitzgerald’s and the Diver’s relationships Zelda and Nicole are rich socialites.
In The Catcher in the Rye however, despite the fact women are also presented as materialistic at times, through Holden Caulfield J.D Salinger explores women as largely innocent and independent, rather than shallow beings who’s existence solely relies on the men in their lives. Ultimately, as both novels are seen through the eyes of men they share a patriarchal view on women in society, but they also explore the representation of women in quite different ways, reflecting their standing in society at the time. The first time women are mentioned six pages into the book is through Daisy. However, interestingly she comes second best to her spouse, and Nick references their family as the “Tom Buchanans”, rather than 'The Buchanans' or 'Tom and Daisy Buchanan'. Daisy is Nick's family, whereas Tom, as well as being her husband, is just someone Nick knew from college.
Mr and Mrs Bennet are the parents of Elizabeth, Jane, Lydia, Kitty and Mary and have a significant role in raising their five daughters to supposedly be well mannered and to eventually marry a wealthy man who will look after them. Their financial position is not extravagant but they lead comfortable lives. Both of whom are from the upper middle class but admire superior rank to themselves, especially Mrs Bennet, who hopes that one day her daughters will all marry rich bachelors. Their characters are completely different and Austen makes this clear in the novel. Mrs Bennet is a ‘woman of mean understanding, little information and uncertain temper’ compared to her husband who is ‘a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve and caprice’, which could be argued that they are not a good match for each other.