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Gilmore Girls walking through Fall Festival
Gilmore Girls walking through Fall Festival
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Culture > Entertainment

Rory Gilmore vs Paris Geller; Who is the Ultimate Smart Girl Inspo?

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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bowling Green chapter.

Can you feel that chill in the air? Had your first pumpkin coffee in a while? Had the urge to throw on some Uggs and a sweater? You know what that means, it’s fall. For many people (me included) with Fall comes the rewatching of the iconic Gilmore Girls.

Throughout the 7 seasons of the cult-classic Gilmore Girls Rory and Paris have proven their intelligence time and time again. Although many fans believe they are equals, one question lingers in the minds of many others. Who was better than the other?

When tackling this debate there is one thing we must keep in mind, this is not a question of who was smarter or more successful in the long run as both of those are too subjective. This is just a matter of who was the better character. Now with that out of the way let’s get into it!

Now the best way, in my opinion, to settle this debate is to analyze each character fairly and consider the different arcs and growth of the two characters respectfully. Also, this is all my opinion and you’re allowed to disagree etc, etc. Ok, let’s dive into each character!

Oh and of course spoilers ahead, if you haven’t watched all 7 seasons and the spin-off show I urge you to find another Her Campus article in the meantime. Or binge the show lol.

Rory Gilmore:

“Who cares if I’m pretty if I fail my finals?”

Now out of these two Rory is the one we know the most of. I mean She is THE Gilmore Girl, she is our main girly and fashion icon of the show. A good majority of fans agree that her character took a turn for the worse after she attended Yale but I disagree. Yes, I think her character does some regression in the “Dark Period” of the show (aka Rory’s gap year) and A Year in The Life but I honestly think she just grew up more realistically. All of the expectations her family and Stars Hollow that were put on her also leaked into our (the viewers) expectations for her as well. I have to admit that Yale Rory was a shock to me after some of the things she did *cough* sleeping with a married Dean *cough* but other than those exaggerated arcs I think Rory was just growing up and didn’t know how to become an adult and also meet all the expectations everyone had for her. I’m only a sophomore but looking back to Freshman year, I feel like a whole new person after starting school and being on my own for the first team, albeit I don’t have the added pressure of being a prodigy or going to an Ivy League school but I digress. It felt real, if she went on to also be perfect at Yale she would be too boring. She’s the main character, she needs a little drama now and then to keep things interesting.

However, I do think her growth as a character is very stagnant at times. I feel as if she has learned the same lessons over and over and she still didn’t get it. Like, no Rory you can’t kiss another boy when you’re upset with your current boyfriend, and no Rory, you can’t expect everything to be handed to you like it was when you were in school. She’s aggravating at times but you can’t deny she’s no Mary Sue (a character that is seemingly perfect and has no flaws).

To put it simply, for me Rory Gilmore is the epitome of the Tweet “‘We need more complex female characters’ y’all could barely handle her.”

Paris Geller:


I can scare the stupid out of you, but the lazy runs deep.”

Now Paris is a complex character to me. I’m being completely honest I thought she was such a mean girl towards Rory and I hated whenever she was in a scene in season 1. She knows just how to get under people’s skin and abuses that power whenever she can, but as time goes on she turns from a villain to a girl who’s just misunderstood. In later seasons we learn that her parents are “distant” to say it nicely and are even antagonistic to each other having Paris be raised by her nanny. Side note I loved the little interaction we see with Paris, Nanny, and Nanny’s kids at their high school graduation, it’s such a heartwarming but also sad scene for Paris as her parents couldn’t even bother to go to their own daughter’s high school graduation. Anyways, Paris is known for her cold and hot-headed at times demeanor and that hot-headedness of hers is why she was rejected from her dream school Harvard, and attended Yale instead. While some fans believe this was the most “unrealistic” part of the show I love it, not the whole weird purity culture thing the show tries to pull off for some reason but what comes after. I love that Paris attends Yale over Harvard because if she did go to Harvard she would’ve been stuck in the shadows of her family name, but at Yale, she got to carve her path. I think that’s a very poetic parallel in the show, while Rory is continuing the legacy of her Grandparents by going to Yale and would’ve been on her path at Harvard, Paris is on her path at Yale and would’ve been continuing her family’s legacy at Harvard.

She’s driven, and she’s not afraid to speak her mind, and I love that for her.

Conclusion:

As you can see, I love these two characters dearly flaws and all. But I must admit I have more of a soft spot for one than the other. So, who is the better smart girly inspo? In my opinion
 it has to be
 Paris Geller.

I can hear the gasps from here! But I honestly believe Paris had more overall growth as a character and is just more interesting to me, to be honest. Like yes, I love Rory but she’s so “oh woe is me” and makes her mom’s experiences and struggles her own when she’s never really had to struggle and be on her own like her mom. As for Paris, she comes from a broken family and yes she came from a rich family too but she does truly work hard for what she wants while Rory just sits and waits because she thinks things will just be handed to her like everyone in her life told her it would and even when things have gone wrong for her when thinking this way she doesn’t understand she’s the problem.

Paris still has her flaws, but she’s shown growth, I cannot say the same for Rory.

Makenna Halm

Bowling Green '27

Makenna (or Kenna as most people call her) is a second-year student studying Journalism at Bowling Green State University. She loves Gilmore Girls and rooting for all Cincinnati sports teams. When she’s not doing that, she’s either enjoying a good book or grabbing a coffee at Einstein’s Bros. Bagels with her friends.