My mom was the one who got me into “Gilmore Girls” and I can’t thank her enough.
I journeyed to Stars Hollow during the summer before my senior year of high school and fell in love with the show at first sight. Not only are the characters charming and amazing, but the humor and quick talk spoke to me with each episode I watched. As much as I love the many witty comebacks of Emily Gilmore, however, the show has given me something no other TV show has: a mother-daughter relationship similar to the one my mom and I have.
I’m a bit of a homebody and have always had a fairly good relationship with both of my parents, especially my mom. I enjoyed my family movie nights and dinner and didn’t see any harm in it. The shows I grew up watching during my pre-teen and teen years, however, showed a much different mother-daughter relationship than what I was used to.
I grew up watching shows where the mother-daughter dynamic was often filled with fights about boys, chores, curfews, clothes — basically anything and everything you could fight about. The daughter would always get frustrated or embarrassed with whatever the mom did, they would fight, the dad would play peacemaker and they would make up within the 30 minute episode. The shows themselves were fine, but it was this mother-daughter dynamic that ended up making me feel uncomfortable and uncertain about my own relationship with my parents, specifically my mother.
Was it wrong that I enjoyed movie nights with my mom? Was it wrong that I didn’t feel the need to rebel and go against everything she stood for? Was it wrong that I didn’t feel embarrassed to hang out with her? Was I more immature for not rebelling? These questions loomed over me for a lot of my teenage years, especially when I heard my friend’s stories about their mothers, with one friend telling me how much she couldn’t wait to get away from her mom.
Then I started watching “Gilmore Girls” and suddenly saw my mom and myself through the characters of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. They were best friends first and mother and daughter second, and while my mom and I aren’t exactly like them (she’s my mom first, then my best friend), the show helped elevate some insecurities about having a close relationship with my mom. I got to see them do the things we do, and not only was there never any shame or embarrassment, but the show embraced it and it became one of the things it was best known for!
“Gilmore Girls” is not perfect, but the impact it has had on me is immense and I can’t thank it enough for that. As the revival draws closer and closer, I look forward to watching the close relationship between mother and daughter with my own mom, one of my best friends.