The Princess and the Pauper

"You have to decide whats most important to you. Keeping your pride and getting nothing or taking a risk and maybe, maybe having everything..." - Dan Humphrey

tobieornottobie:

Thoughts On: Jane Austen and Gossip Girl

I absolutely love that this Pride and Prejudice parallel was brought up (regardless of whether or not I agree with the statement that was made). I’ve been reading William Deresiewicz’s “A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Matter Most” (It’s a great read and I highly recommend it). I’m currently on the chapter about what it means to fall in love and Jane Austen’s views on love. The whole time I’ve been reading it, I couldn’t help but think of the Gossip Girl ship wars.

Not only does love not strike you in an instant, it turned out, it doesn’t even “strike” you at all. You never know the moment that you fall in love, in Austen’s vision; you only discover you already have. “Will you tell me how long you have loved him?” Elizabeth was asked near the end of Pride and Prejudice. “It has been coming on so gradually,” she replied, “that I hardly know when it began.

Despite what people say, Dan and Blair has been developing for several seasons. Joshua Safran himself has confirmed that Dan and Blair has always been in the minds of the writers. They’re evolution from hate to tolerance to respect to non-friendship to friendship to non-lovers to lovers is probably one of the most beautiful developments I’ve witnessed on television in a long time. I don’t think either of them were really conscious of the fact that they were beginning to fall for each other. “I never thought the person I’d want would be Blair Waldorf.” 

So what about Chuck and Blair? An epic love story. Soul mates. “When two people are meant for each other eventually they’ll find they’re way back,” right? Not according to Austen.

So, I asked myself, what if Elinor and Edward [from Sense and Sensibility] had never met? What if she had “seen a great deal” of someone else? What if she had discovered that his mind was well informed, his observation just and correct, his taste delicate and pure? Would she have fallen in love with him, instead? Austen’s reply was brutally clear: of course she would have. There is no “one person” out there, Elinor’s creator was trying to tell us. Austen had no use, I saw, for things like fate or soul mates, second selves or other halves, guiding stars or Greek myths, or any other of the mystical ideas with which we try to turn love into something cosmic, something sacred, something more than what it is: a relationship dependent, at least in its inception, not on destiny but on its very opposite—chance.

Chuck and Blair had their time. While that doesn’t mean there isn’t a possibility of them getting back together in the future, it would have absolutely nothing to do with fate or the will of the universe. So is it possible for Blair to go from such a passionate love with Chuck to giving her heart to someone like Dan? Absolutely. According to Austen, there is no “one person” out there. 

So for now we wait patiently to see if the GG Writer’s have the same views on love as Austen.

Wasn’t all that long ago that she and I were working side by side at W and I totally fell for her.

THIS. The one thing I’m struggling with the most right now when it comes to Dair. Don’t get me wrong, I will be the first to throw the f-word around in regards to this couple…(flawless).  However…I can’t help but feel like the one flaw to this whole perfect endgame of a ship is Queen B herself. I’ve tried for a while now to dissect just what exactly it is that I love most about Dair. The stimulating intellectual conversation, the witty banter, the basis of friendship, the adorable moments, the eye-sexing…? But at the end of the day, I think the same thing that happened to me during DCreek is happening to me now on GG. I fell in love with Pacey Witter and I’ve fallen in love with Dan Humphrey. In my opinion, Joey never quite deserved Pacey…and I’m finding it more and more difficult each week to think of any solid reason why Blair deserves a guy like Dan. Granted, I think Blair deserves to be happy and to find that “pure and simple love” that Dorota and Vanya have but I have no idea why Dan has stuck around this long. Part of me loves him even more for it, but part of me wishes he’d let Blair do the pining and chasing after. As much as I want Dan and Blair together, I hope he goes to Rome by himself and Blair is the one left heartbroken. I’ve seen enough of sad Dan this season. 

THIS.

The one thing I’m struggling with the most right now when it comes to Dair. Don’t get me wrong, I will be the first to throw the f-word around in regards to this couple…(flawless). 

However…I can’t help but feel like the one flaw to this whole perfect endgame of a ship is Queen B herself. I’ve tried for a while now to dissect just what exactly it is that I love most about Dair. The stimulating intellectual conversation, the witty banter, the basis of friendship, the adorable moments, the eye-sexing…? But at the end of the day, I think the same thing that happened to me during DCreek is happening to me now on GG. I fell in love with Pacey Witter and I’ve fallen in love with Dan Humphrey. In my opinion, Joey never quite deserved Pacey…and I’m finding it more and more difficult each week to think of any solid reason why Blair deserves a guy like Dan. Granted, I think Blair deserves to be happy and to find that “pure and simple love” that Dorota and Vanya have but I have no idea why Dan has stuck around this long. Part of me loves him even more for it, but part of me wishes he’d let Blair do the pining and chasing after. As much as I want Dan and Blair together, I hope he goes to Rome by himself and Blair is the one left heartbroken. I’ve seen enough of sad Dan this season.