Essay by Sean Monahan By the time the teen drama Gossip Girl first aired on September 19, 2007, the subprime mortgage crisis that triggered the Great Recession of the early 21st century was well underway. One year later, as the Bush administration announced a bailout plan, four million Americans tuned in to watch the aspirational lifestyles of the show’s wealthy characters. This was the same year that then-candidate Barack Obama campaigned on a promise of hope. Obama Baroque explores the decadence that thrived in entertainment media during this period of economic upheaval. Commissioned by SSENSE
