xoxo, Gossip Girl: We Love You Blair! Chapter 1

Blair Waldorf is the queen bee of the upper East Side of Manhattan and she is devious and beautiful and spiteful and yet she is my favorite character in Gossip Girl and makes the show watchable. This post is dedicated to why we (and I mean we) love Blair specifically, with honorable mentions towards the infamous Chuck Bass, but primarily focusing on our girl. 

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There are many characters at play and I will list them. This will provide context and my overall mood of the main characters in this twisted tale:  

Blair Waldorf - Serena's brunette best friend (more on her later)

Serena Van Der Woodsen - Blair's blonde best friend and well known "It Girl" of the late 00's, goes with the flow to the point in which she has no identity, constantly in the midst of scandal but will never and I mean Never take accountability for one goddamn thing in her life, has really pretty hair

Chuck Bass - Serena's adopted brother, boy billionaire, talks in whispers constantly, troubled past (SA) (to others, not the receiver), Blair's one true love

Dan Humphrey - Chip on his shoulder outsider who is resented by everyone at some point but still put himself right in the middle of this group, dated Serena, is allegedly Serena's one true love (yeah yeah yeah suuuurreeee), dates everyone, has a threesome with Hilary Duff

Nate Archibald - Chuck, Blair, and Serena's childhood best friend, lowkey betrothed to Blair in the beginning of the series, dates literally everyone, hot as shit, barely any characterization thanks to the writers and of no fault to actor Chace Crawford 

Georgina Sparks - Reoccurring trouble maker who wiggles her way into schemes and makes everyone's life miserable when she is around, beautiful beautiful woman, the anti-Blair even though they have so much in common 

Vanessa Abrams - Dan's childhood best friend, outsider, another anti-Blair but not rich or elite at all, everyone hates her and I understand why

Jenny Humphrey - Dan's little sister, troubled teen wild child that should have been in therapy after her first day of High School 

Rufus Humphrey - Dan and Jenny's musician father that lives in Brooklynn

Lily Rhodes-Van Der Woodsen-Bass-Huphrey - Serena and Eric's mother, adopted Chuck Bass, married Rufus Humphrey thus cementing Serena and Dan as step siblings, been married 5 times

Eric Van Der Woodsen - Serena's gay younger brother who is criminally under appreciated and underwrote. 

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 Now that I have outlined all the major players in this series it's time to discuss my girl Blair. 

The show begins with us with POV Dan and his obsession with Serena as she returns to New York after escaping a scandal that involved both accidentally causing a boy to OD on coke, slept with Nate (Blair's boyfriend at the time) and the bitch is back! The early episodes carve out an idea that Blair is a scorned bitch best friend who hates that Serena left but hates even more that she returned. It's also clear that Nate, Mr Longterm Boyfriend-Will-be-married-one day, is in love with Serena for whatever ungodly reason and it is definitely making Blair spiral, and she would do anything to deny that.

It's revealed throughout the series that Blair is extremely insecure in all of her relationships, especially her years of growing up with Serena. It's clear that Serena has always had it easy in every way. She's beautiful, kind, fun, and has a stress-free existence as everyone caters to her without her doing so much as lifting a finger. Blair has struggled with comparing herself to Serena, so much so that she struggled with an eating disorder that got out of hand before the series began. She has always felt rejected and judged by her mother, and right around the time Serena fled the scene her father left her family for another man. She is extremely dependent on her housemaid/nanny/personal assistant Dorota, who allows her to take out her control and abandonment issues on her. More on Dorota and Blair's relationship later, as this is something the writers carved out very well.  

Blair is first and foremost a control freak. She needs to have the upper hand in all situations in order to feel safe, which is one of her most notorious traits. She is manipulative and devious and can't help but meddle and scheme. As the series progresses, this becomes a fun good-natured plot point that we love to watch go down. There's nothing like a Blair Waldorf take down! It's obvious, maybe not to casual viewers, that her need for schemes and manipulation stems from a childhood of not being in control of moving pieces that result in her dissatisfaction. Blair having an eating disorder makes sense for her characterization. When her life was spinning out of control, she needed to reclaim power by taking control of something she felt that she could. She is one of the only characters in the series that admits and discusses that she sought treatment for a problem she was facing. Take a hint, Serena, that's how it's done. 

Though I've made it clear in my basic character synopsis that a bunch of characters have not been carved out well enough for the writers, I can only assume it's because they spent so much time on Blair. She is literally such a great character that she carries the show on her beautiful shoulders, and makes the show watchable. I watch Gossip Girl for a myriad of reasons. The biggest is to hate Serena (with a passion) and to watch Blair grow into the powerful, loving woman that she becomes. We can credit Chuck with some, but it's the progression of her trials and tribulations that brings the rest of the character's in and they love her just as we viewers do. By the third season of the show, she has her mom, dad, stepdads, Dorota, Chuck, Nate, Serena, Dan, nearly everyone rooting for her and wishing her the best. All of the male leads fall in love with her because how could you not. 

She's tough and wears a shield of protective armor to mask her soft, sensitive, and loving interior. It's really beautiful to see her progression as she gradually lowers her guard and let's love in. Her struggle in initially confessing love for Chuck makes sense. She has grown up in a world that may look safe and secure to outsiders, but it's clear from the glimpse we get of Upper East Side life that it's anything but. Chuck is initially one of the least safe people to ever bare your heart to. He is literally known for his sexcapades, hitting on everyone and their mother, and banging and bailing. It's equally as beautiful seeing him lower his guard and truly falling in love with her. They do make each other better as people and it's rewarding to see. The two compliment each other in all their twisted ways and I couldn't imagine a better person for the other. 

I'd like to take this time to say that Serena has little to no insecurities, except when Blair is happy and in a (somewhat) healthy, loving relationship. I have no qualms in saying the writers failed at trying to push Dan and Serena together and make viewers want to ship them. Compared to Chuck and Blair, their connection is so weak and incomputable. I truly, whole heartedly do not believe that Serena and Dan should have ended up together. I also whole heartedly believe they should have never forced Dan and Blair into a relationship but I will let bygones be bygones. My reasoning is simple: 

Dan and Blair made a better couple than Serena and Dan. 

That's saying something as Blair shouldn't have been with anyone except Chuck and Serena was supposedly madly in love with Dan over the course of her many, many relationships. Absolute ridiculousness. Dan and Blair's relationship across the series is joyful to watch as they initially loathe each other and eventually become the best of friends. Perfect. Keep it as such. Who's harebrained idea was it to pair these two in a romantic relationship? I have words for them. 

Blair's a dreamer, and over the course of the series we get several dream sequences of her reenacting various classic Hollywood movies that she obviously grew up with and loves. It's clear that she dreams to be a princess and lives in a castle with her prince charming living happily ever after forever and always. I enjoy that Chuck is essentially the prince of Manhattan, which places her right where she wants to be. I enjoy that Chuck enjoys this concept, and would do anything to make her dreams come true. I love that he understands her dreams, knows how she dreams, and without even saying it knows what she's thinking by what actress she plays in her dreams. This is what makes it for me, these little details. Dan and Serena have to verbally communicate, literally spelling it out for viewers, "you always did get me" or, "I know you better than anyone." If Blair said this to Chuck and vice versa, absolutely yes, and we see that. On screen, Dan and Serena do not have any of these little moments that give us insight into their dynamic. It just doesn't work. 

Blair loves to play games, and I'm not talking about scrabble. Chuck also likes to play games, and his favorite games involve Blair. They match so perfectly. They can play with each other, and play against each other, which ultimately draws them closer together. Need I say more. 

I know I've gotten off track, this is a love letter to Blair, not Blair and Chuck. You simply cannot mention one without the other in terms of this series as their love story spans every season, and their crucial character development occurs during times that they are either with or without each other. Chuck goes through a lot of character development, yes, but there is just something about Blair's journey that makes me walk away from the screen still thinking about it. 

To preface, I am a woman, I grew up comparing myself to my best friends. I've had toxic relationships with friends that ended badly. I've had a long term best girl friend throughout my life that, and I'm proud to admit, is nothing like Serena Van Der Woodsen. I am a competitive person, I love my friends and family fiercely, and I see a lot of myself in Blair. I am not of the highest social class, I did not grow up planning who would escort me to cotillion, but I understand her need of working hard for the things that she wants and the constant need to want to prove herself in a world that feels like they are always looking at someone else. I root for her in the way I would my own friends, and she is the only character that the every-girl can relate to. Blair is inherently not relatable. Her family for generations has come from money, and she has never had to worry about how much groceries cost. Come to think of it, I never saw a single scene from this show in which the characters go to the grocery store. And yet! Her girl-isms are so relatable. Her jealousy is reasonable. Her insecurities are relatable. Her need to work even harder to prove herself a worthy competitor in the eternal race to the top is relatable. It makes sense that she would be jealous of Serena. Who wouldn't in her position? It's not in anyone's best interest to have someone like that as your closest, longest friendship. It's these relatable, everyday emotions that the typical teenage girl faces that put's us in her shoes and makes us want to root for her, and more interestingly, against Serena.

This blog post will not cover the complications and implications of Blair and Serena's relationship, there's just way too much to say, but I will leave it at this: 

Blair deserves better. 

Thus, I will end what will inevitably be Chapter 1 of my We Love You Blair series. I don't know if I can reiterate enough, I love this character and any time I see Blair Waldorf grace my screen, I know I'm in for a treat. 

xoxo

Gossip Girl