Secret. Plainly defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a secret is keeping information hidden from others. Simple enough, right? A piece of information or knowledge that you are not disclosing to those outside of your own head. Except, consider how likely this actually is. Recall a “secret” that someone shared with you recently: your friend slept with their boss; your cousin is truly afraid of the dark at age 31; your best friend can only eat foods that begin with letters in the first half of the alphabet. Whatever the secret may be, by sharing the information with you, is the secret still a secret? By definition, isn’t a secret withholding that very information?
WHAT IS A SECRET?
Where do we see secrets in our every day lives? They are everywhere we look. Historically, secrets have divided nations and changed the outcome of major decisions. The consequences of these secrets being found out can be monumental. In addition to that, take a look at popular culture: movies, television shows, books. Entire series have revolved around this one phenomenon. In fact, they're so engrained into society that you may not even notice just how prevalent they truly are.
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL - Scandals
Historically, politics and world affairs have proven again and again that nothing is ever as it seems. Secrets are extremely pertinent in these situations, as the secrets of public figures are often considered scandals as they begin breaking barriers into view of the general population. A scandal is defined as an action or event that is considered morally or legally wrong, causing the public to react in an overwhelmingly negative way. Consider political scandals of the past: the Monica Lewinsky affair, Iran-Contra Affair, the William Jefferson Affair. All of these have one major thing in common, which is that they all stemmed from secrets and deceit. The key here is that all of the secrets were discovered and publicized. Imagine the number of secrets that never turn into scandals because they’re never uncovered.
Perhaps most famously, the Watergate scandal rocked the boat of American presidential images. After a burglary was disrupted in the Watergate building in Washington D.C., the burglars were discovered to have been linked to then-president Nixon’s reelection campaign. While Nixon denied that he knew of the burglary, he actively continued to attempt to cover-up the incident. Eventually, he was forced to surrender tapes of phone calls that revealed his involvement, and resigned as president, leaving Gerald R. Ford to step in in his place.
Any way the story is spun, Nixon lied. He and his administration kept secrets from the American public for the good of their campaign, and only when these secrets were uncovered was it considered a scandal. What’s most interesting here, however, is not the what but rather the why. It’s easy to point to Nixon’s character flaws as the reasoning behind this scandal, but impossible to know the real motive. Why did this happen? What was the motive? Why did our president at the time feel the need to act untruthfully if he knew he’d have to lie to the public that he was elected to serve, and why does this happen so often throughout history?
Most recently, the scandals involving Hillary Clinton and her private emails have created quite a buzz on the political foreground. As the public watches it unfold, it'll be intriguing to see how this affects her presidential candidacy. Despite so many different previous examples of witholding information within the government, this kind of situation can beg the question: hasn't she learned from the mistakes of her predecessors? Secrets and lies can only lead to scandal.
Within popular culture, secrets have begun to run rampant. Television shows like Secrets and Lies, Scandal, or even the ever-popular Law and Order episodes rely heavily on both keeping the audience guessing and letting the audience in on the mystery. Their titles alone emphasize the importance of these themes. A show like Gossip Girl for example, revolves in its entirety around a certain figure who posts all of the main characters’ personal information. This person, Gossip Girl herself, reveals everyone’s secrets but never has their identity uncovered.
Each episode ends with the phrase, “And who am I? That’s one secret I’ll never tell. You know you love me. Xoxo, Gossip Girl” which mentions the word “secret” inherently within the line. Ultimately, Gossip Girl’s true identity is unveiled, but throughout the series the audience is kept guessing while simultaneous storylines involving secrets wind through, continuously throwing in hints about who Gossip Girl is.
Yet again, we wonder why. Why is Gossip Girl telling everyone’s secrets? Why do we not know who Gossip Girl is? Why are we so enthralled with these characters and their most confidential and personal material. When we do finally find out that “Gossip Girl” is (SPOILER ALERT) Dan Humphrey, we’re also gifted with a miraculous explanation. This Brooklyn boy wanted power over the upper-east side Manhattan snobs, and utilized his writing and the backlash of sharing their most personal information with the world on the “Gossip Girl” platform to maintain that control. The audience got the reasoning behind it, and were satisfied with the termination of the series.
“Got a secret, can you keep it? Swear this one you’ll save.” The opening lines in the theme song for Pretty Little Liars, an ABC Family original television series. This show has a similar plot line to that of Gossip Girl as it maintains a sense of questioning in one particular character’s identity. “A” is this series’ version of Gossip Girl. Pretty Little Liars relies on the theme of four girls being severely harassed by an anonymous figure set to ruin their lives following the death of their friend Alison. This person, “A,” threatens to reveal their secrets, their family’s secrets, and the secrets of their various significant others, as well as threatening their lives as the show continues. Every step of the way, new secrets about the girls is being covered up or revealed by “A” and the girls are fighting to resolve the most pertinent of the secrets, which is the identity of “A.”
Ultimately, just as this happened in Gossip Girl, the identity of “A” is revealed as Alison’s psychotic older sister Charlotte whom we had already met on the show as “CeCe.” The audience learns why Charlotte did what she did, as she herself was struggling with transitioning from a male to a female (born Charles) and felt jealous of the girls and their simple lives. Prior to the reveal, however, the audience enjoyed the twisted satisfaction of attempting to solve the mysteries alongside the girls over six seasons. Unlike Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars has continued to produce new episodes past this reveal, and the show has since seen a decline in audience numbers. The season finale in which Charlotte was unveiled as “A” had over 3 million viewers, whereas the most recent season finale reached just over 1 million ("Pretty Little Liars"). Now that the audience sees who this person is and why they’ve done what they did, there has been a serious drop in interest for the series.
This presents yet another question: what happens when we have the answers to all of the questions? Why don’t so many audience members care about Pretty Little Liars anymore? What would need to happen in order to keep enthusiasm for the show alive? What happens after we know the secret and why the secret was kept for so long? Where do we go from there? Do we ever continue to care about the subject matter, or are we done with it after we’ve gotten what we came for?
Secrets Deceit Lies
Secrets can be found around every corner, at every turn. What does this say about our current culture, so obsessed with the information we're so desperate to keep private? In the coming sections, we'll examine how this plays out in our every day lives, beginning with exactly who we're telling our secrets to and keeping our secrets from.
