Blair Waldorf vs. Serena Van Der Woodsen

I know it's a bit ridiculous to blog about Gossip Girl literally right after writing a thesis on the structural problems with the US economy, but I'll try to make this as less vapid as possible. After watching the new episode of Gossip Girl and thinking on my treacherous bike ride dodging cars and construction trucks on Wilshire, I gained some insight into the behaviors and attitudes of Gossip Girls' two main protagonist, Blair and Serena.

These two girls are completely different, yet they are best friends. The most obvious difference is their fashion choice. Serena wear a lot of Haute Hippie and Vince, while Blair wears more Dior and Moschino (props to you if you understood the connotations of that loaded sentence). Anyway, there are tons of material in which i can use in the shows 5 seasons to compare and contrast them, but let's take for an example their relationships.

Serena in Season 4 was dating Nate. Then, she revived her relationship with Dan. Then she goes back to Nate because she thinks that she likes him more. oooh I think I love Dan. ooooh I think I love Nate. No I actually love Dan. blah blah. At the end, she "chooses herself," whatever that means. To me, she is just the most shallow, unassuming, and for a lack of better word, stupid... character on the show. She has no depth, and she never had to work a day of her life (for her social status or whatever it is, let alone money) and everything falls in place for her.

On the other hand, there is Blair Waldorf. The most powerful woman I know. (I know she is fictional, but there is no other women else I can look up to in the real world. Sad, but true. Let me save that discussion for another day.) In Season 5, Episode 3, she gets a paternity test on who the father of her baby is. The audience never knows who the father is, but she goes ahead and tells Chuck that the baby is Louis' (Prince of Monaco, and also her fiance) and remains her composure with Louis telling that he is the father. She is such a control freak in that her curiosity wouldn't even allow her to open the envelope to reveal who the father is. Her thinking is that.... it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if she deep down inside loves Chuck. She always wanted to marry a royal and she is so fitting for a princess. She knows exactly what she wants and will "even bend DNA" to get it.

What I admire about her is that she knows what she wants. After knowing that, she goes for it and doesn't stray from anything, not even true love. That is really her method to everything she does. Her college choice, her career, her social status, and even Chuck.

A good friend (also very wise) told me, "the hardest thing is knowing what you want. Once you know what you want, you can just go for it." Amen to that sister. Even if what you want is the moon, at least if you know that, you will strive in the right direction. I think I am quite capable of whatever I want to achieve. My problem is that I really don't know what I want.

Maybe I'll figure it out but before then, it makes me really uncomfortable that I'm not working towards it and not even knowing how to work towards it.