Gilmore Girls A Year in the Life

[Anonymous]

Are we supposed to particularly supposed to "like" or be sympathetic to Rory? She is such a spoiled brat and totally oblivious to her privilege (she's supposedly "homeless" and "struggling" but goes to London multiple times, has three cellphones, has a car, that looks pretty new, wears expensive designer clothes, is looking into surrogacy etc.)

She isn't unemployed because she has to be, but the jobs she can pretty much have (teaching at Chilton, editor at some publication) are beneath her.

I prefer the "honest" decadent rich like Emily Gilmore and Logan Huntzberger who don't pretend to be anything otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we supposed to particularly supposed to "like" or be sympathetic to Rory? She is such a spoiled brat and totally oblivious to her privilege (she's supposedly "homeless" and "struggling" but goes to London multiple times, has three cellphones, has a car, that looks pretty new, wears expensive designer clothes, is looking into surrogacy etc.)

She isn't unemployed because she has to be, but the jobs she can pretty much have (teaching at Chilton, editor at some publication) are beneath her.

I prefer the "honest" decadent rich like Emily Gilmore and Logan Huntzberger who don't pretend to be anything otherwise.

I figured all the way through that she must be living off a trust fund from her dad but then he offers her money at the end that she turns down. So, yeah, apparently she travels for free! I thought her behavior was in some place about presenting her as a really flawed person (extended affair with Logan while he's engaged to someone else) and in others just bad writing -- if she's seriously been a working writer for 10 years she should know how to pitch her ideas. No writer with any kind of career goes into a meeting without being able to rattle off a few ideas and in both cases where we see her in a meeting she seems completely flummoxed by this. That annoyed me more than anything because it's just lazy on the part of the show's writers.

Oh, and she isn't "looking into surrogacy" to have a baby -- her comment on that was about working for Paris as a surrogate.

Overall, I liked the Emily arc and Lorelai finding her path -- committing to marriage, figuring out a new challenge for her business. And, I thought the "Fall" episode was by far the best. Hated the musical stuff in the middle.

[Anonymous]

I actually find Rory's evolution throughout the series very interesting even though I dislike her as a character. When we are first introduced to the Gilmore Girls, we see Lorelei as the rebellious single mom who escaped from the clutches of her parent's, in her opinion, restrictive and suffocating world. She was an angry, super privileged, hormonal teenager with a wild streak and their conservative social norms did not sit well with her. So, she in all her privilege is naive enough to think the world is better out there than the comfortable confined of her parents home and she literally runs away with a newborn. By some random stroke of luck, she is very very fortunate to happen upon a kindly lady who takes pity on the foolish headstrong teenager and takes her in.

Lorelai now, kind of realizes that the real world, without access and privilege is actually kind of hard and tough. She works her butt off as a maid while raising her baby as she lives in a shed. Somewhere along the way she realizes that actually she was probably stupid to walk away from many opportunities that her parents afforded her that weren't so bad. She is too stubborn and foolish to go back but she decides to help Rpry get back everything that she gave up. Rory will not be a wild kid, Rory will be good at academics, Rory will hang out with wholesome, well mannered kids, Rory will go to an elite private school. Rory will get to see Europe and travel the world.

So basically, when we meet Lorelei and Rory, we see them in a phase of their life where Lorelei is trying to give Rory everything she missed out on by running away. She still dislikes the snobbery that is prevalent in her parents world but she is old enough to realize their emphasis on education, manners and cultivation of character isn't stupid and tries to expose Rory to that.She actively works to surround Rory with rich snobby people by putting her at Chilton and she appears, at various points in the series, wistful of the opportunities she missed out on. I'm not also entirely convinced she "hates" her parents and their world. She was just never someone who fit in so as a self defense mechanism she rails against it all to make herself feel better. They say she isn't good enough and she tells herself she is actually awesome but they're the stuck up evil rich people!

I think we, as viewers expected Rory to be a carbon copy of Lorelei because they are both pretty young women with some superficial similar habits. Meanwhile, the evidence is always there that even though Rory has heard her mom go on rants about how evil or awful her parents and rich people are, Rory never actually thinks its that bad. Lorelei is afraid of and intimidated by her father, Rory takes a liking to him instantly. Rory finds her Mom prudish and outdated, Rory finds Emily charming and maternal. Lorelei thinks cotillion is stupid Rory wants to be a deb. They BOTH find rich, snobby, well connected men attractive, see Christopher and Lorelei.

Despite the fact that both these men treated them poorly, the Gilmore Girls couldn't help but keep.going.back to them.

Meanwhile, by the time Rory enters Yale...her experiences at Chilton, being a debutante, her grandparents influence makes it so...she has more in common with super privileged Yalies than with anyone in Stars Hallow!

Rory knows this too, hence why she tries very hard to fit in and be accepted into Logan's world. The only person in denial about Rory's privilege is her mom who perhaps resents her daughter in some ways for so seamlessly fitting into the world that spat her out.

Rory acts like an annoying spoiled brat because she IS one! Don't be fooled by the cheap Luke's coffee she buys because as she tells the Huntzbergers, she's a Gilmore!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually find Rory's evolution throughout the series very interesting even though I dislike her as a character. When we are first introduced to the Gilmore Girls, we see Lorelei as the rebellious single mom who escaped from the clutches of her parent's, in her opinion, restrictive and suffocating world. She was an angry, super privileged, hormonal teenager with a wild streak and their conservative social norms did not sit well with her. So, she in all her privilege is naive enough to think the world is better out there than the comfortable confined of her parents home and she literally runs away with a newborn. By some random stroke of luck, she is very very fortunate to happen upon a kindly lady who takes pity on the foolish headstrong teenager and takes her in.

Lorelai now, kind of realizes that the real world, without access and privilege is actually kind of hard and tough. She works her butt off as a maid while raising her baby as she lives in a shed. Somewhere along the way she realizes that actually she was probably stupid to walk away from many opportunities that her parents afforded her that weren't so bad. She is too stubborn and foolish to go back but she decides to help Rpry get back everything that she gave up. Rory will not be a wild kid, Rory will be good at academics, Rory will hang out with wholesome, well mannered kids, Rory will go to an elite private school. Rory will get to see Europe and travel the world.

So basically, when we meet Lorelei and Rory, we see them in a phase of their life where Lorelei is trying to give Rory everything she missed out on by running away. She still dislikes the snobbery that is prevalent in her parents world but she is old enough to realize their emphasis on education, manners and cultivation of character isn't stupid and tries to expose Rory to that.She actively works to surround Rory with rich snobby people by putting her at Chilton and she appears, at various points in the series, wistful of the opportunities she missed out on. I'm not also entirely convinced she "hates" her parents and their world. She was just never someone who fit in so as a self defense mechanism she rails against it all to make herself feel better. They say she isn't good enough and she tells herself she is actually awesome but they're the stuck up evil rich people!

I think we, as viewers expected Rory to be a carbon copy of Lorelei because they are both pretty young women with some superficial similar habits. Meanwhile, the evidence is always there that even though Rory has heard her mom go on rants about how evil or awful her parents and rich people are, Rory never actually thinks its that bad. Lorelei is afraid of and intimidated by her father, Rory takes a liking to him instantly. Rory finds her Mom prudish and outdated, Rory finds Emily charming and maternal. Lorelei thinks cotillion is stupid Rory wants to be a deb. They BOTH find rich, snobby, well connected men attractive, see Christopher and Lorelei.

Despite the fact that both these men treated them poorly, the Gilmore Girls couldn't help but keep.going.back to them.

Meanwhile, by the time Rory enters Yale...her experiences at Chilton, being a debutante, her grandparents influence makes it so...she has more in common with super privileged Yalies than with anyone in Stars Hallow!

Rory knows this too, hence why she tries very hard to fit in and be accepted into Logan's world. The only person in denial about Rory's privilege is her mom who perhaps resents her daughter in some ways for so seamlessly fitting into the world that spat her out.

Rory acts like an annoying spoiled brat because she IS one! Don't be fooled by the cheap Luke's coffee she buys because as she tells the Huntzbergers, she's a Gilmore!

Also, people seem annoyed at Rory because they, despite her access to privilege her whole life, expect her to someone act like Lorelai. Lorelai left her parents and had to work a blue collar job during her young adulthood and lives a middle class life now at 50+. Rory in contrast now at 32 acts like the lady of leisure that she is. She dabbles in writing every now and then, jet sets to go see her wealthy boyfriend, sits in her grandparents lavish mansion to work on her novel.

She couldn't have ended up more different than Lorelei and her townie friends.

[Anonymous]

The show could really have used some vulgar nouveau riche type who leave the respectable, old money Huntzbergers and Gilmores in the dust. That would have been a good plot twist.

[Anonymous]

This is a girl who stole a yacht and dropped out of college because a newspaper baron and her boyfriend's father, who is a newspaper baron, told her she's a bad journalist because instead of doing an internship she jetted off to Europe for the summer. I'm sure we can all relate!

[Anonymous]

I guess I really disagree with long pp above. Lorelei wanted the private school for Rory, not to give Rory a ritzy lifestyle but because Rory was super smart (and plans/dreams of Harvard) . At least that's how I saw it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The show could really have used some vulgar nouveau riche type who leave the respectable, old money Huntzbergers and Gilmores in the dust. That would have been a good plot twist.

That would never happen because the old moneys don't like nouveau riches and wouldnt deign to be around them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we supposed to particularly supposed to "like" or be sympathetic to Rory? She is such a spoiled brat and totally oblivious to her privilege (she's supposedly "homeless" and "struggling" but goes to London multiple times, has three cellphones, has a car, that looks pretty new, wears expensive designer clothes, is looking into surrogacy etc.)

She isn't unemployed because she has to be, but the jobs she can pretty much have (teaching at Chilton, editor at some publication) are beneath her.

I prefer the "honest" decadent rich like Emily Gilmore and Logan Huntzberger who don't pretend to be anything otherwise.

You hit the nail on the head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I really disagree with long pp above. Lorelei wanted the private school for Rory, not to give Rory a ritzy lifestyle but because Rory was super smart (and plans/dreams of Harvard) . At least that's how I saw it.

Yup, she wanted "the best" for her child, a totally understandable instinct. But it was difficult to separate the bad from the good and ultimately Rory socialized very well into the world of the upper class. Whether that was the intention of the show from the beginning I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The show could really have used some vulgar nouveau riche type who leave the respectable, old money Huntzbergers and Gilmores in the dust. That would have been a good plot twist.

That would never happen because the old moneys don't like nouveau riches and wouldnt deign to be around them.

They may not like them, but they are compelled to interact with them sometimes and sometimes they're overpowered by them financially. Should have had the Huntzberger media empire fail and have to sell to a Silvio Berlusconi type or a Russian oligarch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not ashamed of being a WASP. if someone can find The Wire or whatever else relatable, why can't young, private school educated, white girls relate to Gilmore Girls? Get off your high horse.

Did you act like an entitled dilettante, steal a yacht and drop out of Yale?

[Anonymous]

I really wish there was a more definitive ending that addressed who Rory ends up with. Howver, my take is that Rory will be repeating Lorelai's life. Logan is her Christopher and Jess is her Luke.

[Anonymous]

Y'all, in TV Land Rory Gilmore grows up to marry Mad Men's Pete Campbell. Makes perfect sense.

[Anonymous]

Overall, I liked it. But had a few issues...

--I didn't like that Rory was the mistress. I think they both have love/affection for each other. But I can't figure out why they can't be with each other.

--I can't understand why Logan has become his father's puppet. He's living the life his dad wants him to have. But he always fought against that. What changed? Why does he feel like he has to marry the Princess when it is obvious he still loves Rory.

--And Christopher is also living the life his family wanted for him. Why? He fought against it too. How did he end up in the place he never wanted to be?

--Is Michel staying?

--Loved seeing Jess, but not enough of him.

--Why would Loreli look for a surrogate? Why couldn't she use a Donor Egg and carry the baby herself?

--Paris, you mean to tell me she went to Medical school only to end up being a Surrogate (really Gestational Carrier) broker? It's not like she is running an IVF clinic. You don't need a medical degree to broker GC.