With the “Gilmore Girls” revival here after the season finale nine years ago, many people unfamiliar with the Gilmore Girls franchise have been asking, “why now?”. What makes this series so great that nine years later we’re telling the story of Stars Hollow again? The answer lies in the characters, and how these eccentric, bookish, rebellious, or highly caffeinated characters reflect something in all of us. Especially college students.
Kirk
Kirk is a lovable goofball that makes you question his intelligence and social skills more than once, but he’s also a guy that’s trying to find his place in the world. Or perhaps his place in the world is a little more out there than the rest of us.
We see him struggle on the show with finding the one, aka Lulu, and with moving out of his mom’s house for the first time (although we don’t know if he actually moved out or not). While also being an expert at annoying Luke, he has had more than fifty different jobs on the show, including the iconic shirt business.
This makes Kirk the epitome of a struggling college student trying to make money at a job that he loves and hopefully can live off, while trying to figure out how to successfully adult. We feel your pain, Kirk.
Lane
Lane is rebellious and, at the same time, a good girl who tries to find a way to mesh her love of rock n’ roll music with her mom’s conservative ways. She is also the master of hiding things under floorboards.
Lane deals with topics like boys, as well as the struggle of starting a band. And things get messy, especially when boys and the band start meshing together when she falls in love with David and then Zack.
She’s the dreamer that we all are somewhere inside of us as well as the physical representation of teenage rebellion. She’s passionate, and she’s witty. Lane’s also there when Rory needs her and has been since kindergarten.
Who wouldn’t want Lane as their best friend?
Rory
Rory Gilmore is who we all should aspire to be. She’s organized, intelligent, witty, a foodie, as well as an ambitious woman who wants to take journalism by storm. There’s no reason why we left her following Obama’s campaign other than that she’s ready to leave her impact on the world.
Rory’s relatable though, and she stresses out just like the rest of us about school. After all, finals are rough for all of us.
Despite our stresses though, we will walk at graduation and we may even strike a pose for our fans like Rory did for Lorelai.
Lorelai
This could apply to Rory or Lorelai, but seeing how someone had to pass on this trait to Rory, we’re going to attribute the dynamic duo’s love of food and iron stomachs to Lorelai.
Lorelai eats a typical college student’s diet of food. She eats: pizza, Pop-Tarts, Chinese food, tacos, ice cream, chocolate, and she never cooks. This writer isn’t even positive that Lorelai knows how to cook. Regardless, Lorelai is the girlfriend we all want by our sides as we watch cheesy movies and eat greasy food on a Friday night.
Lorelai is us. Food is life, and who doesn’t ask the question:
Luke
Luke is sarcastic, hardworking, no nonsense, and loyal. Not only does he treat Rory like a daughter, but he has the best comebacks ever. And they’re usually addressed at Taylor who needs someone to balance him out.
Luke is rough on the outside, but he’s a sweetie on the inside. The Santa burger is proof of this.
Luke shares our obsession with flannel, and he’s a great person like we all are at the end of the day. Despite all the shots we fire or the sarcasm that drips from our words sometimes in a Luke Danes style of sarcasm, we’ll always be there for our loved ones just like Luke has been there for Lorelai, Rory, April, Liz, Jess, and each and every one of his other loved ones.
So, to all those that say Gilmore Girls is just a show, it’s not. It’s much more than that.