Comments on: Gossip Girl, you’ll be a Gossip Woman soon. http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/09/15/gossip-girl-youll-be-a-gossip-woman-soon/ Overthinking It subjects the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:53:58 +0000 hourly 1 By: Gab http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/09/15/gossip-girl-youll-be-a-gossip-woman-soon/#comment-1554 Gab Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:52:01 +0000 http://www.overthinkingit.com/?p=1529#comment-1554 Maybe it's just because of the way my parents brought me up, but even when I was little and watching Nick Toons, I would often think, "Where are their parents?" Again, most of the trash on Disney nowadays has little to no real guidance from parental units- and if it does seem to be attempted by said parents, the kids find ways to circumvent it somehow. But of course there is a reason parents are shown as incompetent or incapable of controlling their kids in any show that does so. The show is meant for people roughly the same age as the youths, so the purpose is to empower that age group. What better way to prove just how smart the main character is than by making their parents look like bumbling idiots and portraying the kid as always capable of outsmarting them? And showing adults do illicit things de-legitimizes parental authority, making the rule-breaking on the part of the kids easier to defend. Maybe it’s just because of the way my parents brought me up, but even when I was little and watching Nick Toons, I would often think, “Where are their parents?” Again, most of the trash on Disney nowadays has little to no real guidance from parental units- and if it does seem to be attempted by said parents, the kids find ways to circumvent it somehow.

But of course there is a reason parents are shown as incompetent or incapable of controlling their kids in any show that does so. The show is meant for people roughly the same age as the youths, so the purpose is to empower that age group. What better way to prove just how smart the main character is than by making their parents look like bumbling idiots and portraying the kid as always capable of outsmarting them? And showing adults do illicit things de-legitimizes parental authority, making the rule-breaking on the part of the kids easier to defend.

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