A Love Letter to Rory Gilmore… (Kind Of)

Stars Hollow, a sleepy autumnal town located in Connecticut is home to the Gilmore Girls. A so-called mother-daughter duo of the century, the two never fail to bring drama and heartfelt moments to the screen. With every season of the show, Lorelei Gilmore and Rory Gilmore navigate life’s trials and tribulations together. Having had Rory at merely sixteen years old, watchers quickly come to learn that Lorelei has had to build herself from the ground up after removing herself from her seemingly elitist parents. It isn’t until Rory, a hard worker in school, applies and gets into Chilton- a private school which offers the utmost education- that they are forced to reconnect. After all, they’re incredibly wealthy. Henceforth a majority of the drama that’s laced into the show.

Her Likeability & Social Media

Nowadays, pop culture is nearly entirely influenced by the media. More specifically through popular platforms like TikTok. With that, the reemergence of past fashion staples and other icons of their time, like a television show, has become a norm in modern society. When the phrase “Rory Gilmore” is typed into TikTok’s search engine, thousands of videos pop up in a user’s results feed. The power of the internet. Gilmore Girls first came to younger audiences attention because it is painted as the perfect comfort show, with its picturesque settings and relatable dialogue. Furthermore, aside from the main two, every consistently shown character stands out. For example, Kirk Gleason. Kirk is an awkward individual who serves as comedic relief and a friendly face before, during or after a tense moment. He’s also notably always getting a new job, which just adds to his entertainment factor. Fifteen thousand jobs to be exact, making him exactly two hundred and forty seven thousand eight hundred and sixty eight dollar- nearly a quarter of a million. (Gilmore Girls. Season six, episode eighteen.) Overall, Gilmore Girls is a well rounded show so it’s no surprise that it has withstood nearly three decades of the ever evolving entertainment industry. 

With her piercing blue eyes and silky, long brunette hair, Rory Gilmore is introduced to viewers as an “academic weapon”. Coined by Gen Z, to be an “academic weapon” means withstanding rigor and working yourself to the bone- an extraordinary student. A model for others. As a result, throughout the series she possesses an inspiring tenacity. An attitude that current scholars came to fall in love with and desire. Her newfound likeability roughly occurred in 2023. Rory came to many user’s “for you” pages in the same way. People using her as a motivation in their own lives. For example, videos of students studying and claiming that they were in their ‘Rory Gilmore era’. 

Alongside being an exceptional student, Rory is also gorgeous, making her a person of beauty and brains. Due to her looks and the coming of age theme, her plotline naturally aligned with most teenage girl’s in other shows and movies. Her love life eventually came to be emphasized. From there, it all spiraled. It is of the fandom’s common agreement that Rory Gilmore’s downfall occurred after season one, making the first season of seven her best one. 

Okay, so what happened after season one? Season two was hugely about her relationship with her first boyfriend Dean, and by extension, her simultaneously taking a liking to Jess, the nephew of Luke Dane, Stars Hallow’s iconic (and grumpy) diner owner. She had suddenly gone from the sweet and innocent girl next door to a secret keeper, someone you shouldn’t aspire to be like. A character that viewers grew to not like, were unwilling to defend, or were just no longer able to find themselves being able to defend. The drama tied up in her dynamic with both of the boys only grows from there, resulting in emotional cheating and actual infidelity. Another head in hands moment happened when Rory ditched her mother’s graduation, instead opting to go to New York City with Jess Mariano. Oh, boy. 

After season two naturally comes season three, which dealt with her senior year. Should Rory go to Harvard, her longtime dream school, or Yale, a university that her grandfather’s an alumni of? All appears to be fine and dandy once the stress of making a decision ceases because she ultimately commits to Yale University as a journalism major-a career that she has felt certain about for years. Now she can focus on setting herself up for success professionally, allowing her to become a fine reporter. Well, season four wrecks that. For once, Rory Gilmore is not thriving in the academic scene. In fact, she’s majorly spiraling. It turns out that college is incredibly different from her past years of education. As a result, she takes a self proclaimed gap year, bringing the classic line said by ex boyfriend Jess “No Yale-Why did you drop out of Yale?” scene to screen. Proceeding that debacle, Rory Gilmore eventually gets back into the swing of things and even finds herself writing for Yale’s newspaper, the Yale Daily News. Presumably, all is well.

She Said What?

Spoiler alert, all is not well. Somehow Rory Gilmore’s character arc is worsening her rather than bettering her. She’s already got multiple offenses hanging over her head and she’s about to gain some more, like her being unethical and plainly put, horrible. Given that the show aired in the early two thousands, it is no secret that shows got away with dialogue that would be considered problematic or wrong now. Nonetheless, those moments are always shocking for current viewers. In episode eight of season four titled “Die, Jerk”, Rory Gilmore throws ethics and morals out the window. She and her mother, Lorelei, go to watch a ballet show together. In her review, she picks at a specific ballerina, making horrible statements about her. According to Rory, she “had the grace of a drunken dock worker”. However, that wasn’t the worst of it. She also compared the dancer to a hippo, and defended herself by saying that a comparison isn’t the same as point blank calling the ballerina a hippo. For a lack of a better word, that sure is interesting.

Should journalism majors claim Rory Gilmore? As a performer, it’s natural to be judged and criticized, but on the other hand as an individual who hopes to be a respectable working professional, Rory didn’t do her due diligence. When it comes to ethics, Rory Gilmore did not minimize harm. Although a review is an opinion piece, so she was well within her rights to dislike the performance, that doesn’t justify her obliteration of compassion. Her words cannot be scrubbed from the earth, meaning that her public bullying and scrutiny of the ballerina was harsh. This event only sets her up for failure in the future because she begins to clearly be unaccepting of critique, setting her on a path to be mediocre. It’s interesting to see the realistic theme of a person who’s meant to do well in life, but ends up plummeting, come to life in our very own living rooms. 

Rory’s Relatability

Rory Gilmore’s actions at times throughout the series may have been frustrating or difficult to watch, but that’s also what makes her and the show so compelling. We crave perfection, and so when a beloved character feels too relatable we either tend to detest them thanks to the social construct and conformity, or we hardcore resonate with them. Either way, our eyes stayed glued to the screen. Rory’s realism to do with difficulties in the love department and the hardships of adulthood are just the beginning. She’s also technically a first-gen student, which interestingly enough isn’t oftentimes brought up. With that, it’s no wonder that college didn’t come easily to her. Speaking from experience, the transition from high school to college is no small feat, especially when there’s no one incredibly close to you to fall back on in terms of being shown the ropes.

There’s also various quotes of hers in which she displays her relatability. One fan favorite being the following, “A little nervous breakdown can really work wonders for a girl.” (Gilmore Girls. Season four, episode fifteen.)  If that’s not a prime example of a quote that hasn’t aged well, then who honestly knows what would be? Whoever came up with that line did their big one with it, that’s for sure. 

Moreover, that relatability factor only deepens with college students during her time at Yale University. Here’s an example, “All I could think of the minute you left was ‘I want my mommy.’ I haven’t thought that since I was two.” (Gilmore Girls. Season four, episode two.) There’s also her lifelong love of coffee that’s only amplified during her time working towards a bachelor’s degree, “Oh, my god. I’m gonna have to quit drinking coffee, and I love coffee!” (Gilmore Girls. Season six, episode eleven.) There’s also the classic, “I’m supposed to eat ramen noodles and mac and cheese for months.” (Gilmore Girls. Season six, episode eleven.) Let’s be honest, a vast majority of us have a few cups of instant noodles sitting in our rolling carts right now. As for mac and cheese, HofUSA’s mac and cheese bites are pretty popular!

Final Thoughts

All in all, with October now in full swing it’s worth giving Gilmore Girls a shot. There’s nothing like cozying up on the couch while wrapped in a fluffy blanket like a burrito and binging a TV show. Bonus points if you’ve got a hot drink, like hot chocolate, warming up your hands! Besides, as much as we may debate what we’ve watched as viewers, we really want to see our commitment through to the end. 

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• college
• entertainment
• gilmore girls
• gilmore girls rory