I recently read an article about watching Sex and The City for the first time, it made me think about all the teenage girl cult classic TV shows I never watched and I began to wonder if they’d still appeal to me, now that I’m supposedly older and wiser.
Gilmore Girls came to the top of the list, calling out to me at the top of the Netflix screen every time I logged in. Therefore, I set about watching and reviewing it with fresh eyes. I wanted to be completely unbiased in my judgments, so I avoided asking my friends or looking at Wikipedia spoilers; all I knew was that they liked coffee and that was good enough for me. And so, with a lot of left over Christmas chocolate and cold January mornings to contend with, I began my journey to Stars Hollow. Please bear in mind I am still on season 4, so I beg of you, no spoilers.
From the offset, I loved Lorelai and Rory, their quirky remarks, and the distinct personalities of the other members of Stars Hollow. I greatly admired the show’s focus on various mother and daughter relationships and exploring the trials and tribulations that come with raising teenage girls (we can be quite a handful). In the case of Rory and Lorelai, I found that Lorelai sometimes acted more like a friend than a mother to Rory. However, they do portray a fairly relatable relationship, one in which, while there may be arguments, their love and bond is unbreakable. The one qualm I had about their closeness, however, is Rory’s constant visits home during her time at Yale. I just wanted her to go out and experience the world, without coming to visit her mum every weekend to do her washing.
The show is very relaxing and fun to watch, but it does mainly only focus on the experiences of white middle-class characters, the exception to this being the character of Lane. While I love her and think that her comedic elements add to the show, I found the initial portrayal of her character to be stereotypically Asian. She’s constantly under the rule of her very strict Asian mother, however, this mother-daughter relationship is expanded throughout the show and has moments when it slightly subverts the stereotypes. For example, the stereotype is challenged slightly through her mother’s acceptance of her relationship with Dave. Lane also tries at one point to rebel by dying her hair, however, she immediately dyes it back out of respect or possibly fear.
While the show can be said to focus too much white middle-class experiences, it’s a much more relatable show for girls Rory and Lane’s age than the characters of Serena and Blair in Gossip Girl, or Naomi and Annie in 90210. The problems of Rory, Lane and Paris are problems I recognise from when I was growing up; not knowing which University to apply to, dealing with bullying, experiencing your first relationship, and negotiating bickering family members. These issues are occasionally addressed in other classic teenage shows of our youth, but with so much glitz and glamour that it is hard to relate to them. Gilmore Girls navigates the messiness of being a teenager with honesty and humour.
Equally, Gilmore girls is much more realistic when it comes to portraying teenage girls truthfully. When I was growing up, my friends and I looked a lot more like Rory and Lane than we did Serena or Naomi. Watching Gilmore Girls now, I wish I had discovered it sooner, to have a role model who is a well-rounded character my age who I can relate to, who was just as into her studies as her social life. I related a lot more to Rory breaking down over studying for tests than I did watching Serena and Blair jet off to Paris.
One particular highlight of Gilmore Girls for me was the character of Sookie. Now usually, I can’t stand Melissa McCarthy and I inwardly groaned when I first saw her in the kitchen of the inn, but within a few minutes I was hooked on her character. It was refreshing for me to watch her in a comedic role that wasn’t one-dimensional; she had quirks, strengths, and flaws, and was funny without being ridiculous. I loved that you got to see the developing relationship with her and Jackson and I wish there was a spin-off show just about the two of them, everything happened so quickly and I want to know more!
While Gilmore Girls could be criticised for portraying an unrelatable white picket fence life, I think that’s part of its charm. The quirkiness and eccentricities of the town characters, combined with the very normal family and teenage girl problems, makes Gilmore Girls a thoroughly enjoyable easy watch that I would recommend to anyone. My final thought is that I cannot wait to find out if Lorelai and Luke end up together, the suspense is killing me!