Gilmore Girls
As we lugged huge yellow bins into room 7110 of Cumberland Hall on freshman year move-in day, one of us would periodically yell, “Copper boom!” before running down to the parking lot to grab the next load. Our parents were understandably confused, but we just shrugged: It’s a Gilmore Girls thing.
And although we didn’t move a mattress into and out of the dorm — and then back into the dorm again, as it happened on the show — the 7110 plaque above the door became our white, slightly rusted mailbox with the word “Gilmore” etched into its side. We were — and still are — “Team 7110,” just as Lorelai and Rory will always be the “Gilmore Girls.”
Trying to find a roommate on Facebook to avoid the daunting mystery of random selection is a bit like platonic online dating. But when our mutual love of Gilmore Girls came up in a slightly awkward first Facebook chat, we both swiped right. Loving Gilmore Girls means more than having similar tastes in television — it’s not a show, it’s a lifestyle.
With the series coming to Netflix on Oct.1, even more people will be able to experience the supreme joy we (and other millennials) have felt growing up with these characters from 2000 to 2007. And even more people will start talking at the mile-a-minute rate that’s an unavoidable side effect of a Gilmore Girls obsession.
It means we were OK spending some Saturday nights watching movies together instead of facing the sweaty masses in a frat house basement. Rory showed us there’s no right way to do college or have fun — she was the one who watched Joseph Campbell’s Power of Myth while on spring break in Florida, right?
It means we weren’t surprised when we discovered we both owned the complete collection of Jane Austen’s work and were more content to spend the day in the magical world of books than almost anywhere else. Rory’s extensive reading list became ours, too.
It means we were fine with our fridge remaining nearly empty most weeks. Sure, it sometimes houses the occasional Chinese to-go box, but the only permanent resident is our coffee creamer. Lorelai showed us that’s all you really need for a balanced diet.
And although we have yet to turn a mundane article about the repaving of a new parking lot into a “bittersweet piece on how everybody and everything eventually becomes obsolete,” we try to channel Rory’s desire to tell stories that matter as two aspiring journalists. Going out for The Diamondback together was an inevitable choice for two girls who grew up watching Rory find her voice at the Yale Daily News. When Rory first explained why she wanted to study journalism in the second episode of the series, our 13-year-old selves heard our jumbled dreams translated into a profession.
“Travel, see the world up close,” Rory told her headmaster when he asked what her aspirations were. “Report on what’s really going on, be a part of something big.”
On top of leading us to our career path and teaching us that the plural of cul-de-sac is culs-de-sac, the show also displayed girl power. Lorelai exemplifies it as a witty and resilient woman raising her daughter alone after getting pregnant at 16. She started out as a maid and ended up opening her own inn. She saw men naming sons after themselves, so she did the same with her daughter. She found a man she loved, so she proposed.
She was independent and hardworking, and she made all her dreams a reality while rocking heels. With Lorelai as her example, of course Rory was confident enough to choose to follow Barack Obama on the campaign trail over a marriage proposal.
Seven seasons later, we unknowingly had became feminists.
And while this show taught us many lessons, the main one is about friendship. Yes, Lorelai is Rory’s mother, but the relationship transcends the normal mother/daughter bond. They are best friends. Through example, they show viewers how to be there for another person — just listen to the theme song: “I will follow where you lead.”
As we continue our pace of re-watching one season per semester, we can’t wait for more people to gain access to the whimsical world of Stars Hollow and fall in love with the characters we now call family. Each time the chords of the theme song fill our tiny dorm room, we’re reminded of how lucky we are to have the Gilmore Girls as our role models.
