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Entertainment August 22, 2017
Believe it or not, sweatpants do in fact exist on the Upper East Side.
I’ve grown up my entire life on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Yes, I am from the Upper East Side. No, my life is not like “Gossip Girl.”
“Gossip Girl” has always been my all-time favorite TV show. I love it mostly because of how ridiculous and over-the-top the storyline is. But it wasn’t until I left Manhattan that I realized the many misconceptions “Gossip Girl” has created about the Upper East Side.
Whenever I tell people that I am from New York City, they almost always ask me if my life is equivalent to the lives of Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf. I quickly reassure them that, no, my life is basically nothing like “Gossip Girl.”
Each time I go back and watch old episodes on Netflix — which is more often than I like to admit — I feel this certain odd sense of embarrassment that anyone would think I live like the characters on “Gossip Girl.”
So I would like to clear up these now-common misconceptions that “Gossip Girl” teaches about the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
In fact, the Humphrey loft is located in Williamsburg. Which is just as nice (if not nicer) than many parts of Manhattan. So why is Dan constantly criticized for being a lesser outsider?
It really just doesn’t make any sense. No wonder Dan was so resentful towards his Upper East Side friends. They were wrong about him all along.
Also, being from Brooklyn does not mean you have to be on an all-waffle diet. I have never understood Rufus’ obsession with waffles, but at least he found what makes him happy in life.
Or maybe people do and I was just never invited. But at least in my experience, I have never encountered a sleepover worthy of Blair’s title of “soiree.” Also, what is up with the entire cast constantly drinking martinis?
Even in Manhattan teenagers prefer cocktails that at least taste somewhat good. Georgina knew what was up when she ordered a Cosmopolitan and not a gin Martini.
Do they even have fake IDs? Or do all the bartenders just know them personally? Fourteen-year-old Jenny was talking about sipping mojitos at Socialista for her 15th birthday party. Super normal.
The characters were always randomly dropping by the Humphrey loft or the van der Woodsen apartment, often multiple times a day. This seriously does not make sense, because going to Brooklyn from Manhattan usually takes at least an hour.
You would never “head on over” to Brooklyn to see someone unless you had actually made plans with them beforehand. Unless you literally have all the time in the world, inter-borough travel is a full day’s trip.
The only solution is that the “Gossip Girl” characters must possess some sort of time travel magical powers.
But I guess things are slightly different if you’re Chuck Bass. Still, how would he even be allowed in? This goes along with the question of how none of the characters ever had any issues with drinking.
You’d think that a restaurant would card them at least once during the entire series. In the episode “Dare Devil” even Jenny gets into the club. Take note that at this point she was only fourteen.
Fourteen! And did Jenny not have any friends in her own grade? Even though she was made out to be the Brooklyn outsider, couldn’t she at least have had maybe one friend?
People in New York City definitely do care about fashion and often dress up. But it is totally unrealistic that all the characters are always perfectly put-together and presentable. Like really, what is Serena’s outfit here? She somehow still looks good, but the hat? It’s a little over-the-top and like nothing you’d see on a normal basis if you took a stroll around Manhattan. Believe it or not, sweatpants do in fact exist on the Upper East Side.
I am always surprised when people assume my life is like “Gossip Girl.” Especially if you have seen each episode multiple times, like I have.
The show is totally, insanely unrealistic, especially when you need to remind yourself that the characters are 17 and not 30. It’s also quite odd that none of the characters have any friends except their high school crowd.
The characters really took the saying “high school forever” all too seriously. Life lesson not taught in the show: it’s okay to make new friends.
