In recent years, the term “former gifted kid” has gained popularity in both the media and in how young students find themselves situated in academia.
But what does it really mean when we say “former gifted kid”?
In short, ‘former gifted kids’ are essentially representative of children who received academic praise which separated them from other students at a young age. In turn, when these children grow up, they look around and realize everyone else around them grew too. This high praise they once sought is unattainable and they are no longer the smartest or the most high-achieving student in the classroom, rendering them useless when tackling difficult subjects and challenges in life. As I stated above, this idea has been used by many artists in the media, but the most overwhelming example of this phenomenon in action is the character Rory Gilmore of The Gilmore Girls.
To Gilmore Girl fans, Rory Gilmore is the character we swiftly grow to love…and then hate? Well, not exactly hate.
The viewer quickly learns in the first season that Rory Gilmore is the golden child of the fictional town, Stars Hollow, Connecticut. She’s the smartest in her class, Ivy League-bound, cute as a button, and practically perfect in every way. She gets straight A’s, the boyfriends she wants, and is inundated with constant praise, and does it all with a thick and obscure novel in her hand. But like most things in life, all that glitters is not gold, and we quickly see her character’s fall from grace at the end of the fourth season of the show.
Dean, Rory’s high school ex-boyfriend, is now married and living in Stars Hollow while Rory is studying at Yale. When Dean finds himself in stressful marital problems, he and Rory engage in a clandestine affair. Then, when Lorelei, Rory’s mother, sees Dean leave Rory’s bedroom, she is not the spitting image of pleased. In fact, she is so mad and disappointed that her daughter would be actively pursuing and cheating with a married man. Rory’s response to the accusations?
“But he was my boyfriend first!”
This plot point surprised everyone.
It had the viewers scratching their heads along with Lorelei wondering: what happened to the Rory Gilmore we know and love?
And with that, The Rory Gilmore Effect was born.
It is clear that Rory is stuck in the past, in the way her life used to be. She chased her dreams and overachieved and now she is attending one of the most prestigious universities in the country, but why isn’t it enough for her?
This is what characterizes Rory as a classic “former gifted kid.” She was used to the grades coming easy, the boys wrapped around her finger, and her mother’s constant praise for everything she does. But when the pressure is applied, Rory cracks and loses sight of it all.
Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of a full-on identity crisis that follows. Just a few short seasons later, Rory receives criticism from a man working in journalism. He simply states that he doesn’t think Rory has the ‘it’ factor to be successful in journalism. Although hurtful, it sends Rory into a tailspin ultimately ending with her dropping out of Yale to try and figure herself out. I’m all for following your gut, but Rory dropping out of Yale at the first sign of criticism shows how the belief that she was gifted as a child put her at a mental disadvantage as a young adult; something that I think a lot of students at the collegiate level struggle with constantly. Once that perpetual praise ceases, she finds herself immediately searching for that gratification elsewhere, instead of trying to tackle the challenge placed in front of her.
As a fan of the show, there is a reason why lots of viewers cringe at the events in the later season or hate on the writers for ‘ruining’ Rory’s character. In my opinion, Rory Gilmore’s characterization is realistic to the pitfalls of everyday life as a young student and growing adult and is fully representative of a young woman struggling with “former gifted kid syndrome.”
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