Sunday, October 25, 2015

My cheers to Gilmore Girls revival and things I wouldn’t like about Gilmore Girls if I took it more seriously


As every Gilmore Girls fan, this week I received great news. Gilmore Girls is coming back to Netflix for a short but a more proper ending. Yeah, let’s admit, we were all bitter-sweet about season 7. Amy Sherman (show’s creator) left the show before season 7 due to disagreements with the network and things were different; characters weren’t talking as fast, there was too much of Christopher, there weren’t as many pop culture references … Now she can finish the series the way she wanted to and we can enjoy more episodes of Gilmore Girls.
Gilmore Girls was one of the rare female dominated shows on TV when it was first aired. Despite being female dominated, it didn’t undermine its male characters (the male characters weren’t just there to support the females) and the females looked more real (the female characters didn’t all have “perfect” body shape and they neither wear expensive fancy clothes all the time nor they changed clothes too often during the day).
I watched Gilmore Girls more times than I watched my any other favorite series. Every time I re-visited it I related to different events, caught new references, and laughed at different times. It reduced my feeling of loneliness whenever I moved to a new place. I remember it in the mornings when I inhale my coffee deeply before taking my first sip, at movie nights when I consume too much junk food, every bedtime chat with girlfriends, whenever I am indecisive about which book to read, every time I eat at a diner,  …  
However, despite my love of Gilmore Girls, it had some elements that would annoy me if I took it too seriously. I know as a cheer to its revival news, it doesn’t make sense to remember things I actually feel uneasy about in Gilmore Girls, but this is why this blog is titled Distorted Pollyanna.

(1) Lorelai’s pregnancy with Rory at the age of 16
I know that Lorelai had more conservative parents and this wasn’t an easy option for her and there wouldn’t have been any Gilmore Girls if she had had an abortion, but I kept wondering what would Lorelai do if Rory got pregnant when she was 16?

(2) Stars Hollow
I come from a small town in Turkey; not as small as Stars Hollow probably, but still small. I liked my small hometown, but I also knew that I wanted to leave it eventually. I prefer living in places where not so many people know me when I walk on the streets rather than places where people know you more than you want them to know you and you have to listen to gossip about other people too often. So while I respect Lorelai’s attachment to Stars Hollow and not wanting to move anywhere else, my feelings toward a town like Stars Hollow would be more like Rachel’s or Jess’. Rachel was always ready to pack and leave the town, and Jess’ first scene outside in Stars Hollow is when he stands in front of Luke’s diner looking around the town while Elvis Costello’s This is Hell is playing in the background.

(3) Lorelai’s first marriage attempt
I hated everything about this Lorelai’s potential marriage to Max except for its bachelorette party. I was really happy when Lorelai broke off the engagement (which happens in the same episode as the bachelorette party :)).
First of all. 1000 daisies… Come on!! If someone bought me 1000 daisies, I would make him or her eat them. I know this was Lorelai’s fault. She mentioned 1000 daisies and proposal in the same sentence and Max got her 1000 daisies. Then, there was all this talk about this event possibly being the most important thing that would happen to Lorelai. Yuck! It was very anti-Lorelai that wedding.

(4) Only rich kids go to college vibe
I always loved the emphasis the series put into pursuing a good education and enjoying your time at school. Up until December 2014, I had been in schools since I was three months old. Depending on your instructors, schools can either be full of dogmas or wonders. I was lucky to experience the latter mostly. I firmly believe that being in school around students of various backgrounds keeps you young, dynamic, and open-minded.
However, Rory’s high-school and college experience throughout Gilmore Girls was that of a rich kid’s experience since Rory’s grandparents and the parents of Rory’s classmates seemed to have unlimited amount of money. While Rory had one of the best possible education in the world, her friends from Starts Hollow high school barely went to college. I admit that having some economic privilege helps you to get better education opportunities and this fact is more severe in USA than in other countries. However, I sometimes had really hard time relating to Rory’s education experience because of this elitist attitude. That’s why, I was grateful that the series’ focus was more on Lorelai (who didn’t get a penny from her parents to pursue her own education after she left home when she was 16) and not on Rory.

(5) Town Traditions
I have allergies to traditions that I did not contribute in creating. Don’t get me wrong, I respect people enjoying old traditions. This is just one of the many anomalies that I have. My reaction to Stars Hollow traditional activities would be more like Luke’s sarcastic attitude rather than the cheerfulness of the rest of the town people.

(6) Constantly eating junk food
I love eating pizza, burgers, French fries, etc. However, if I eat this kind of food for a couple of days in a week, then I want my salad or soup or vegetables for the other days. I did not feel good about all the condescending remarks of Gilmore girls on various salad ingredients or vegetables. :P

(7) Lorelai being a big fan of Bono
My favorite episode of South Park is the one where they claim Bono has always been a #2. My least favorite part of Lorelai was the fact that she loved Bono very much. I don't want to write more about Bono and waste space.

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