Gossip Girl Meme Theater: Dear Sister

So originally I had all this written stuff on how the scene in “Treasure of the Serena Madre” corresponded to the Dear Sister meme, but I bet you knew that already because you’ve seen The O.C. and Gossip Girl, unlike me, who had to enjoy the thrill of Rapist Chuck Bass well after he’d been on TV for three years.

You tell yourself that when I make first season Chuck exist in real life and he “tenderly loves” you all.

Instead, here’s a timeline of Dear Sister.  People living outside North America, be advised you will be spoiled if you haven’t seen the Gossip Girl episode mentioned earlier.

May 19, 2005: Imogen Heap, “Hide and Seek”

Summary: That woman who formed that group that sang that song my fellow theater geeks at UNC loved in Garden State releases a single for her second solo album, Speak for Yourself. (On a side note, I can’t believe I’m using Vevo now.)

May 19, 2005: The final scene of The O.C.’s “The Dearly Beloved”

Summary: Marissa Cooper (our good friend Mischa Barton) shoots Trey Atwood in the back.  Part of “Hide and Seek” plays.  Season two of The O.C. ends.

April 14, 2007: “The Shooting,” an SNL Digital Short

Summary: Saturday Night Live, always tardy for the party, does a parody of the final scene of “The Dearly Beloved.”  A meme is created.

After “The Shooting:” Dear Sister/MMM WHATCHA SAY meme

Summary: People make parodies of a parody of an overdramatic scene.  Some of these parodies have had their sound yanked from their soundtracks, like this House parody because of “copyright claims.”

but some parodies still have their sound attached to them, like this Family Guy (which is still not funny) parody.

May 5/August 3, 2009: Jason Derülo, “Whatcha Say”

Summary: J.R. Rotem (and Fuego) sample the now-infamous portion of “Hide and Seek” and make it the chorus of a synth and bass-heavy song about cheating.  Unlike “Hide and Seek,” which peaked at #91 on the Pop 100 charts, “Whatcha Say” goes to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and Pop charts.  (Sidenote: Dude lived in Miramar, FL and I don’t remember him?  Mad.)

November 30, 2009: The climax of Gossip Girl’s “Treasure of the Serena Madre” (full clip here, below is a promo of the fuckery)

Summary: The Gossip Girl cast, now related to each other through sex or marriage (or both),* have Thanksgiving dinner together.  Averting the events that happened in “The Dearly Beloved” (read: no guns, no deaths, no Marissa), storyline after storyline is revealed in an overdramatic manor as “Whatcha Say” plays throughout the dinner disaster.  (It should be also noted the guy who created The O.C. also created Gossip Girl the television series but you knew that already.)  The following week, Serena gets into a car crash involving “Suicide” by the Ravonettes and three wolves in the night, proving how well Gossip Girl knows its memes.

*not including hookups between cast members in real life, obviously