“Gilmore Girls” is a classic early 2000’s sitcom that has recently been regaining popularity with the arrival of the remade Netflix original series called “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.” With everyone talking about the show again, people can’t help but point out that, while the show as a whole is loveable and fun to watch, Rory Gilmore, the main character is NOT. While it is not typical for people to watch a show with a main character they despise, Rory seems to be an exception probably due to the fact that most of the other characters are amazing. Putting this aside, here are the reasons that we can’t stand the main character of our favorite show.
1. Rory is spoiled.
Growing up in the tiny town of Stars Hollow with just her mother and living off of modest means, one would think that Rory Gilmore is incapable of being considered spoiled. However, up in Hartford lives Rory’s super rich grandparents who pay for her to go to an elite private school, an elite ivy league school, and for many other things throughout her life. Rory goes through life getting things and expecting to get things handed to her.
2. She is hypocritical AF.
As if being spoiled wasn’t enough, Rory is a hypocrite when it comes to being spoiled. Not only does Rory get everything handed to her, she complains about other people getting everything handed to them. She laments that she “can’t relate” to the spoiled rich kids who go to private school with her even though her sweet sixteen is held in a mansion and catered by expensive caterers. She is always whining about the elitist upper class while reaping the benefits of said upper class.
3. All she does is whine.
And while we are on the subject, we can’t forget to point out just how whiny Rory Gilmore is. From the very first episode Rory complains about EVERYTHING. First she complains about public school and how public school kids just don’t care about their education (not true), but when she gets into Chilton she complains about leaving Stars Hollow High because she just met a boy (lame) and the complaining and whining does not ever stop even in the revival where she is 32 years old.
4. She has little to no morals.
Not once does Rory exhibit any goodwill. The only time she volunteers is when she finds out that Paris has been volunteering since she was ten. The only time she visits her grandparents is when she is forced to. When she is in college, she writes a terrible piece about a ballet where she insults the dancer more on her appearance than her actual performance. She cheats on her boyfriend, then years later when her boyfriend gets married she helps him cheat on his wife. She then helps Logan cheat on his wife too. She steals a boat. She’s horrible to her mother who is way too nice to her. She makes fun of everyone that does not fit into her perfect mold of a person.
5. She is a bad friend.
Lane Kim is arguably the best character in “Gilmore Girls” (do not actually argue this with me, I am right) and Rory is supposed to be her best friend but treats her like garbage. As soon as Rory gets into a fancy prep school and gets a boyfriend she never sees Lane and when she does it is only to talk about her problems. The same thing happens again in college and then again in the revival. When will Rory Gilmore learn that the whole world does not revolve around her?
6. She is a bad journalist.
As a journalism student, this one bothers me a lot. Rory Gilmore came into Chilton not knowing what the school paper was. If she was so destined to be a journalist, don’t you think she would have found out about her prospective school’s student paper? And don’t you think she would have written for it right away instead of waiting a whole year? She is also terrible at networking, she goes to meet Christiane Amanpour IN HER PAJAMAS and does not bring a resume, business card, nothing and does not ask her about a job? Then we see her blow multiple interviews in A Year in the Life because she thinks she is too good for the job.
7. She gets away with EVERYTHING.
One of the main premises of this series is that Rory and Lorelai are the best of friends, which does not leave much room for Lorelai to be a good parent which is definitely evident with all of the times that Rory goes to parties, or cheats on boys, or drops out of school, Lorelai kind of shrugs it off as her daughter runs loose and kind of almost destroys her life.
Just remember Collegiettes, that although Rory is the worst, at least we have Paris.