Gossip Girl is a popular television show that targets teenagers and young adults. This drama series focuses on a group of friends who attend a private high school in New York. Naturally, all the friends are very rich to be able to attend this school. The group of friends deals with many typical high school issues and more throughout the series. The main characters in this series include the more popular and prettier, Serena, her best friend Blair, a less wealthy and unpopular boy, Dan, and a sometimes rude but attractive teenager, Chuck. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In the addictive series, the four friends have to face and deal with a lot of drama together due to their similar lifestyles. Chuck, Blair and Serena are all very rich and have indulgent parents. Dan, on the other hand, is not very rich and does not always understand the carefree lifestyle of his rich friends. Dan is usually the one who stays away from parties and focuses on his homework. The reason the show is called Gossip Girl is because of an unknown blogger who constantly spies on the friends' lives. Gossip Girl targets these friends and anonymously posts mean and secret things about them online for the rest of the school to read. Most of the drama on the show comes from something Gossip Girl published. Different communication concepts are involved in this show, such as identity management, self-concepts and stereotypes. Identity management is a popular concept among most people, but especially among young adults and teenagers trying to find their place in this world. Identity management refers to “the communication strategies that people use to influence how others perceive them” (Adler, 2005, p. 62). Similar to the stereotype of rich, uptight teenagers, the three friends, Serena, Blair and Chuck, truly care about what others think of them. These three characters always make sure they wear the nicest clothes when they leave their house, get in a limo if they need to drive anywhere, and their less popular peers always look up to them or do what they say. People change their personalities deliberately or unconsciously depending on the situation to maintain relationships, explore new selves, and to be able to be loved. Blair and Dan are the two characters who deal with their identities the most. They really focus on their self-perception. Blair always wants to be the best and most liked, that's why she constantly changes for people. This doesn't work in her favor because sometimes she turns into someone she's not and ends up being hated instead of loved. For example, in one episode, Blair becomes romantically interested in a boy who isn't too interested in her. Blair changes her usually snotty attitude to try out the very sweet person she is deep down. Even though she is really nice, the change does not work in her favor and the boy ends up falling in love with his best friend, Serena. Unfortunately, Dan is automatically different from his peers because he is not as wealthy as them, which means he has different abilities. different clothes, different privileges and lives in a different region. To maintain his relationships with his friends, he must always be the best possible to feel on their level. This doesn't mean he's pretending to be something he shouldn't fit in, he's just making sure he acts a certain way in front of his peers. The way helets himself be carried away by his rich friends and acts with a lot of manners is not the same as he acts in front of his father and sister. For the most part, his identity management is good for him because he ends up fitting in with the popular kids by being different from him. Serena and Chuck do not have very similar personalities but are similar in the fact that they do not change their identities. often for others. Both characters are very confident and feel that no one should have to change their personalities. However, when appropriate, Serena and Chuck behave differently around their parents at a fancy party than they do around their friends at a high school party. Their wealth requires them to attend many formal parties and to be mature enough to spend time with other wealthy adults. It's easy for them to change their personalities when they change their surroundings. Self-concepts are another important part of the series. Self-concepts are simply how people perceive themselves. “Physical appearance, health, friendships, accomplishments, or skills” (Adler, 2005, p. 41) are all examples of things that play a role in a person's self-image. The characters on Gossip Girl have a variety of conceptions of themselves due to the many different personalities surrounding the show. For Serena, she is well aware that she is popular and attractive and that almost everyone likes and admires her. Strangely, this doesn't make Serena arrogant. On the contrary, Serena thinks that she is less cool and less serene than everyone thinks. Unlike Serena, Blair's conception of herself is that she thinks she is amazing and beautiful. This self-image makes Blair more arrogant than she should be around others. She struggles to understand why no one loves her as much as Serena and why she isn't as popular as her best friend. Blair's jealousy of Serena is a constant problem in every episode of the series. As for the boys, Chuck and Dan are extremely different characters. Chuck is a lot like Blair because they are both arrogant. Chuck considers himself one of the best people in the world, even though his personality isn't that great. He is not well liked by his peers or many adults. Most of the time he feels superior because he has a lot of money and nice things. Dan is the complete opposite of Chuck and is quite intimidated because he knows he might not fit in among the rich, preppy kids. Dan knows he is an intelligent, caring and good-hearted person. However, he is also aware that his peers make fun of him because he is much less wealthy than them and will always be different from them. In one of the first episodes, Dan is excited and ready to go to his new school because he is confident that people will like him for his charming personality and intelligence. However, when he arrives at school, his classmates automatically notice his messy hair, different clothes, and undesigned backpack. Dan's self-confidence is diminished because the way he sees himself changes when he sees how others perceive him. Stereotypes are another main concept of communication that takes place all over the world and at all ages. Stereotypes are “exaggerated generalizations associated with a system of categorization” (Adler, 2005, p.86) and many are highlighted in this series. For example, a common stereotype is that rich kids are not nice, usually arrogant, and spoiled by their parents. For Serena, Blair, Chuck, and most of the other kids they go to school with, this stereotype is true. The only person who doesn't fit the stereotype is the one who doesn't follow the same.