There are two things I have accepted about Gossip Girl. One: the overall writing on this show has gradually gotten from bad to worse over time. However, this show's rampant shout outs to its actors (e.g. references to Ed Westwick's neck and, um, focus,Romances on the Set, etc.), fashionistas like Carla Bruni, and labels such as Bottega Veneta go over the heads of at least the fans I see on Tumblr trying to make "picspams" of scenes from the show. So while the scripts themselves are truly ridiculous, some of the individual lines from the show are actually quite clever. Two: as I have noticed in this article from Jezebel (as well as other places on the internet), people try to give feminist criticism about the show... but then again, this show (let alone the book series it was based off of) was not created for a feminist audience in the first place.—heartnibbler
I found Vanessa to be one of the most sympathetic and relatable characters on Gossip Girl by far, specifically because she is so different from the petty, vain, shallow, materialistic, manipulative, Alpha Bitchvillainous protagonist Blair Waldorf. I was surprised to learn that the bulk of the audience considers Vanessa to be The Scrappy... until I realized that the target audience for the show is girls who want to be like Blair. -ShaenTheBrain
For me, the Fridge Brilliance occurred when I realised that the reason why the vast majority of viewers loathe Vanessa is that she's very much like Blair in many ways. She's very shallow (has almost no money and spends it on designer clothes), a chronic backstabber, manipulates people all the time, extremely prejudiced (she hates the UES kids simply for having money and never bothered to get to know them before she passes judgment), and generally just screws people over every chance she gets. Unlike Blair, she doesn't have nearly enough heart or charm to make up for it. What she does do, however, is constantly get up on her high horse and preach how Blair and the rest are morally corrupted for doing the exact same things Vanessa herself does on a regular basis. - Pingvin.
Possibly unintentional, but Blair's favourite movie is Breakfast at Tiffany's and she wants to be like Holly Golightly. In the beginning, Blair is desperate to get the all-important Vanderbilt ring from her boyfriend as a sign of commitment, since he's a Vanderbilt himself. One of the women Truman Capote based Holly Golightly on is socialite Gloria Vanderbilt - one of Nate's ancestors, perhaps?
What is also probably unintentional is in the book of Breakfast At Tiffany's, the male protagonist is gay, but in the film, he's straight and in a relationship with the main female character. In the books of Gossip Girl, Chuck Bass is bi, but in the TV series, he's straight and in a relationship with the main female character.
Gossip Girl isn't the kind of show you'd think would have many of these, but you'd be surprised. Most of them have to do with actions that occurred before we find out about Blair's bulimia. First, in the fourth episode, her mother pretty much orders her not to eat a roll like Serena is and suggests a fat free yoghurt instead, leading to Blair looking crushed and mentioning that she has lost weight. Secondly, in the episode we find out about her eating disorder, we realize what is going on because her mother essentially orders Blair to take a dessert and go sit by herself. Ordered. A former bulimic. To eat a whole dessert by herself.
It gets brought up later in season 5, when Blair actually is pregnant. Dan overhears her throwing up, is concerned that her bulimia's back, and tries to convince her to go get help for it. She eventually tells him that she's pregnant and that's why she's throwing up.
Jenny’s entire character arc becomes this after the finale. Dan reveals his identity as Gossip Girl. This also reveals that Dan had received “tips” that his little sister could potentially be raped, and then posted about it on Gossip Girl making light of it (“I told you I love parties,” in the Pilot, for example), twice, and more times if you include statutory rape with Damien and then Chuck. Dan also claims to Rufus that Jenny knew he was Gossip Girl and had “final say” on anything posted about her, which means that Jenny had seen her own brother be incredibly cavalier about her being sexually assaulted numerous times— and that Dan either convinced her to ‘okay’ him posting it, or that he lied to his father about having her consent, which seems more likely given the times Gossip Girl’s posts actively sabotaged Jenny. Jenny’s obsessive behavior and attempting to steal Nate from Serena is arguably less about suddenly falling in love with Nate after he saves her, and more about trying to cling to the only other person who had saved her from rape— note that the first indication that Jenny is jealous of Serenate happens when she looks at a post of them on Gossip Girl, where her own brother, as Gossip Girl had just posted an extremely insensitive blast about Agnes drugging Jenny and attempting to get her raped (“someone better call the fashion police”).
(as well as other places on the internet), people try to give feminist criticism about the show... but then again, this show (let alone the book series it was based off of) was not created for a feminist audience in the first place.—heartnibbler