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
Cara -
ReplyDeleteYour blog is great! I had no idea these two shows were created by the same person but by reading your post it is clear to me that the shows are really one in the same. And, I looked at that website and the characters do look alsmost identical! However I think that is because they are using people who look like what magazines and television portray (ie. no characters of color, light hair =good, dark hair = bad). Am I on some sort of track there? After reading what you had to say about Schwartz it is clear to me that his real life has a role on the TV shows he has worked on. I've seen every episode of the OC and only a few of Gossip Girl but can already see the similarities to each other and to Schwartz. I think you did a great job. On everyone else's blog I wrote have a good rest of the semester but we're real life friends...so love you!
Brodi