Tuesday, October 20, 2009
My Two Favorite Shows – Or My Favorite Show Recycled into Two Different Versions?
As a 21-year-old college female with dreams of being rich and fabulous someday . . . what kind of shows do I love?? Easy. I love shows that feature characters my age who are rich, fabulous and living the lives of the elite upper class. In particular, I would have to say one of my all time favorite shows is Gossip Girl on the CW. When I researched the creator of the show, Josh Schwartz, I realized that he had created a few other shows that I had heard of but never before watched. One of those shows was the ever-popular show The O.C. that was shown on Fox a few years ago. Out of curiosity, I began watching the show and have to say it has been added to my list of favorites. I wondered if it was simply a coincidence that these two shows were so similar or if there was a more direct connection. I began to investigate . . .
Born in 1976, Josh Schwartz was raised by two Hasbro toy inventors who went on to create their own toy company ("Josh Schwartz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."). He was the oldest of three children and spent his childhood growing up on the east side of Providence, Rhode Island (“Josh Schwartz – Biography.”). Even as a young child, Josh knew he wanted to be a writer and even won a writing contest at the age of seven for a piece that reviewed the then recently released movie, Gremlins, by Steven Spielberg. Coming from well-to-do parents and living on the east side, it is no surprise that Josh attended private school. Upon graduation, Josh enrolled in film school at the University of Southern California and became a member of a fraternity there (Schwartz). It is said that within the fraternity, his peers allowed him a sense of what it is like to live in gated communities and “McMansions” (Schwartz). Josh dabbled in screenplay writing while at USC and even came close to winning awards for his work. Not long after, he dropped out of college to being working full time as a screenplay writer. At the age of 26, Josh created The O.C. and became the youngest person in network history to create a network series (Schwartz). From there he continued to be the head writer of The O.C. and even went on to create and write for the show Gossip Girls ("Josh Schwartz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.").
If you are a fan of Gossip Girl or The O.C., or have even seen just one episode, much of that biography should ring true about what you see portrayed in those shows. The similarities between the shows reflect much of Josh’s life. Overall, the main similarities between Gossip Girls and The O.C. are the comical portrayal of the upper class, similar plot lines, and similar characters and character relations.
First, and most importantly, both the show The O.C. and Gossip Girls are centered on the lives of the upper class. The parents in the shows are all well to do (despite one parent in both shows that stubble into financial ruin – both of them were guilty of extortion!) Each of the most well to do families in each show (the Cohens in The O.C. and the Waldorfs in Gossip Girls) have a maid that plays a minor role but still establishes the fact that they are wealthy and are the kinds of people that would have maids. Also, both shows open with establishing shots that let the viewer know that these characters live in the hottest parts of the neighborhood. Reestablishing shots portray the same ideals. In The O.C., in the story always opens with a shot of the beach and then the camera cuts away to show the “McMansions” near the beach.
On Gossip Girls, the same idea is portrayed when establishing shots of New York City cut away to show high-rise apartments on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Considering that the whole concept of both of these shows is the same (portrayals of the upper class) it is no surprise that the plot lines are the same. Both shows were controversial when they first aired. Both have story lines that revolve around underage drinking, premarital sex, drug use, run-ins with the law, love triangles and even the occasional fistfight. Overall, both The O.C. and Gossip Girl are shows that primarily focus on teens getting into trouble and how their parents react to said trouble. However, these teens getting into trouble are only living the same party/wild life their parents lived in years past. In one of the very first episodes of The O.C., Marissa’s dad and Seth’s mom wonder when their children will be home. Marissa’s father tells Seth’s mom not to worry for their children are no less rebellious then they were at the time and they turned out fine. A similar conversation is had between Dan’s father and Serena’s mother on Gossip Girls.
Speaking of characters, it would be hard to have the same concept for a show and the same story lines without having similar characters and character relations. The O.C. and Gossip Girls don’t disagree! The characters roles are similar and the manner in which they interact with the others around them are almost identical. For example, each show has a nerdy outcast that is socially awkward and don’t quite fit in with his debonair classmates (Seth Cohen/Dan Humphrey). There is also the loveable girl in both shows that everyone wants to be with and be around (Marissa Cooper/Serena Van Der Woodsen). Contrasted to the loveable girl, each show has a girl in a main role playing a snobbish, elitist, too-good for anyone type of girl (Summer Roberts/Blair Waldorf). In both shows, the loveable girl is best friends with the snobbish girl and play off of one another. As both shows continue on, the relationships become stronger and the viewer begins to understand that all the characters are deeply intertwined with one another. Also, did I mention the characters look alike?!?! (Someone apparently had the same idea as I did and compiled pictures of the actors/actresses from The O.C. next to those from Gossip Girls, check this website to see what I mean . . .)
However, the person who did this failed to notice that the creator of both of these shows, Josh Schwartz, looks a lot like the Seth Cohen/Dan Humphrey characters, click here to see what I am talking about this time!)
While it is hard to credit all of the similarities between two shows to one person, Josh Schwartz definitely has trademark moves when it comes to television shows. These ideas of his and his signature moves appear in both Gossip Girl and The O.C. While other writers, directors and even cast members all affect the way the storylines play out, the main themes of these two shows are the same. The satirical portrayal of the upper class with similar issues and problems acted out by similar characters and cast members is definitely something that should be associated with the name “Josh Schwartz”. After reading through his biography, it becomes even more aware that the storylines, plots and character roles seemed to be picked straight out of the creator’s life, hence the similarities between his life and the two shows he created.
References:
"Josh Schwartz - Biography. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). 20 Oct. 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Blog Begins. . Now What?
Score! Check it out mom – I am totally blogging! For all you others, hello and welcome to my very first blog AND my very first blog post. Oh, and hi. My name is Cara.
But enough with introductions, let’s get down to business. This first post is written with the intention that you will not only come to know who I am as a person but who I am/who I plan to be as a critic. After learning about my relationship with television, the goals I have for this blog and what I would like our relationship to be like, you will be able to better decide if this is a blog you would like to actively follow and engage in (please, oh please say yes!).
You may ask why I would start a blog after twenty-one whole years of being just an ordinary television viewer. Currently, I am what the experts in the field would call a mindless television watcher and I am defiantly someone who enjoys the casual experience it provides. My view of television reflects this experience. As discussed in the article “Television’s Ebb and Flow in the Postnetwork Era”, I find television to be “the principal medium through which most people obtain visual entertainment and information and through which advertisers reach the largest audience” (Butler, 3). I am one of those people.
But… I have learned that that pure entertainment is not always a good thing. The authors of the article “Communication Criticism Today” write that public communication (television being a type of this) is a central part of our personal and social lives (Sillars and Gronbeck, 4). I think we would all agree with that statement; television today is a large part of our culture. However, they go on by saying that analyzing the communication messages we encounter, even the messages we get from our television, prevents us from becoming victimized by misunderstanding (Sillars and Gronbeck, 4). Since I do not (nor do I believe many viewers out there) actively engage with the information I am presented, I am ultimately being victimized and taken advantage of by producers, advertisers, and the like. This point is further developed in the article “Introduction: Research and Criticism” when it is said that whenever we watch television, we some how and in some way modify “our knowledge and experience, however minor and temporary” (Corner, 6).
After realizing that I believe these claims, I got a little nervous. I am not someone who wants to be victimized or affected without even knowing it! Therefore, I want to change. I want to be less of a casual viewer and more of a critic, hence the creation of this blog. By taking on more of an active role, I hope to learn what it is like to be on the other side of the TV watching spectrum. I want to learn if television different for people who are actively engaged in the program. Does actively questioning the program and criticizing it’s content completely change television for the viewer? O’Donnell, in the article “The Work of The Critic” seems to think so. She says that when a television as causal enjoyment is coupled with critical insight a fuller, richer understanding of the material emerges. She also says that this deeper understanding of television material can enhance the critic’s understanding of culture, human nature and interpretation (O’Donnell, 3). I am curious to see whether or not these ideas hold true and therefore am making it one of my goals for doing television criticism. Specifically, I hope that by actively engaging in and criticizing television I will gain a better understanding of both the material presented and our culture as well as avoid victimization and determine whether or not television is better as a casual viewer or as an involved critic.
However, to accomplish these goals, I need your help. In the beginning of this post, I called this place my blog but really, I want this to be your blog too. I want us to be in this together or involved in a transparent relationship as far as television criticism goes. By this I mean that I want you and I to be on the same side, no different from one another (Brundson, 311).
As I learn about the world of criticism, I will need your help to get the most out of the experience. Criticism, as defined in the article “The Work of the Critic”, is the understanding, analyzing, interpreting, judging and communicating of a material or a text (O’Donnell, 15). I can criticize and criticize until I am blue in the face but if I have no one to communicate with, it seems like a waste. But I hope that by engaging with me and with what I have to say, I hope that you too will gain a more comprehensive understanding of television and our culture. We will indeed learn together and undeniably learn from each other.
As you ponder these ideas and reflect on my relationship with television, what I want to gain from being a television critic, and what I would like your role to be in this blog, I will leave you with one last thought/cheap ploy to get you to continue to hear what I have to say. One of my first experiences with television was with Mr. Rogers. It seems fitting to include him on the next step of my television life. He too wants you to come back and visit me again. Just listen. . .
(It is a little more fitting if you replace the word
“neighborhood” with “blog”
and “neighbor” with “supporter”/”audience”/”reader”.)
References:
Brundsdon, Charlotte. "Identity in feminist television criticism.." Media, Culture, and Society 15 (1993): 309-320
Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Critical Methods and Applications (2nd Ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2002.
Corner, John. Critical Ideas in Television Studies (Oxford Television Studies). New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1999.
Gronbeck, Bruce E., and Malcolm O. Sillars. Communication Criticism: Rhetoric, Social Codes, Cultural Studies. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 2001.
O'Donnell, Victoria. Television Criticism. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc, 2007.
