I hope to hear that many of you have been doing well; I’ve been Netflix-and-chilling hard. This quarantine has given me tons of free time, yet this much-appreciated space for leisure has been filled to the brim with online classes, homework, and other extracurricular projects.
When I choose to procrastinate and delay or flat-out ignore all the previously mentioned responsibilities, I go to my sacred space: Netflix. While browsing through their TV Shows selection, I came across Gilmore Girls, one of those shows I’ve always heard of, but never actually gotten the chance to watch. Many of my friends had recommended it to me, but I just couldn’t find the right time to start viewing it, until now.
For some inexplicable reason, I suddenly wanted to watch it in its entirety as my official quarantine distraction. So, I did, and let me tell you: I definitely understand the hype. I enjoyed it very much! However, I also unfortunately discovered that the show is far from perfect and that time has not been its friend.
The show revolves around the mother-daughter duo of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore and their lives as residents of the fictitious small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. We follow Lorelai and Rory through their relationships, heartbreaks, high school adventures, college, and careers. All the while, they reconnect with Lorelai’s strict and wealthy parents, Richard and Emily Gilmore. Sounds simple enough, right? Well yes, it’s a straightforward premise, but the show manages to convey plenty more throughout its seven-season run. Their lives are so normal —almost all of which you get to witness—that it’s nearly impossible not to relate to one of them at some point.
The relationship between Lorelai and Rory is the biggest selling point of the show. They describe themselves as best friends first, leaving their mother-daughter relationship second, and it truly is just that. They talk about everything with each other and continuously support one another through the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Lorelai had Rory when she was 16 years old, so their dynamic consists mostly of Lorelai’s need to live all the experiences she vicariously missed due to Rory’s birth and childhood. Their relationship made me reflect on my relationship with my mother and how lucky I feel that we get to have such a close relationship as well. Not as close as Lorelai and Rory’s, but knowing that I can talk to her without receiving judgment or prejudice on her end is something that I realized I had taken for granted, especially when you compare it to Lorelai’s relationship with her mother. Lorelai’s childhood, surrounded by debutante balls, private schools, and high society parties, led her to rebel against her parents from an early age. They had always been in a strained relationship, especially between Lorelai and Emily. They constantly bicker and cannot be in the same room with each other for more than five minutes. Even so, they still manage to be there for each other and support one another, despite not necessarily seeing eye to eye. Their relationship is amusing and, sometimes, even heartwarming.
The show also has incredible portrayals of strong, determined, and career-driven women. They all work hard for their dreams and push others to do the same, an incredible message that I believe all little girls should be exposed to.
However, I can’t just praise the show without acknowledging its faults. I began to notice some problematic and straight-up homophobic comments that the main characters repeat throughout the seasons. They weren’t in every episode and were always meant to be seemingly unimportant, witty “jokes” told by the main characters, but I would still notice them, feeling both uncomfortable and disappointed.
The show is clearly not perfect, and its faults can’t be solely attributed to just being an “outdated” show. Using racism, homophobia, and fat-shaming as comedy has never been “funny” or okay, regardless of it being socially acceptable at the time. The show ran from 2000–2007 and made its comeback in 2016. Almost ten years passed since the original finale and the reboot, and they still chose to use blatant disrespect as a source for “comedy.” I think that’s more than enough proof to state that they chose those “jokes” because they believed what they were scripting and saying, regardless of what was socially acceptable. Ten years should’ve been enough time to reconsider, deconstruct, and unlearn the harmful tropes and stereotypes they portrayed, but that was not the case.
I enjoyed the warmth of the show for what it tried to portray in the relationships between the main characters, but I cannot and will not pretend that it makes up for a lot of its shortcomings. Whether you decide to watch it or not, it’s good to be informed and prepared firsthand, so I hope this helps!