Gilmore Girls was a pretty special show when it began to air almost two decades ago. Very popular in the early 2000s, it found renewed interest when a new generation began to find it on Netflix. The new miniseries also added to the popularity of the show. Starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, the show ran for a total of 7 seasons.
Much loved by critics for its witty banter and wide appeal, the show has become a sort of a cult classic now. But much like many shows from the 90s and early 2000s, there are a few things from the show that are not still relevant, and some that really are.
10 RELEVANT: A Show Exclusively About Mother-Daughter Relationships
Gilmore Girls was unique because of its exclusive focus on the mother-daughter relationship between Lorelai and Rory, played expertly by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. Their relationship is filled with fun, banter, and quirky traditions. It was and continues to be wonderful to see this simple yet complicated relationship on the screen. In stark contrast to this relationship, is the mother-daughter relationship between Lorelai and Emily, played by Kelly Bishop. It is still quite fun and wholesome to watch these mother-daughter relationships today.
9 NOT: Some Jokes Have Aged Poorly
Gilmore Girls was pretty modern for its day. The show had quite open-minded and progressive characters in Lorelai and Rory. Even so, by today's standards, viewers will still find some jokes to be extremely distasteful. Some jokes, some comments, some statements will seem very insensitive for a viewer now. Hence, it hasn't completely been able to translate that well for a more modern audience. Fans who hoped for the same from the new miniseries on Netflix were also disappointed. This doesn't help the show either.
8 RELEVANT: Showed A Successful Single Mother
Gilmore Girls was able to show Lorelai single-handedly raising her daughter from a very young age, whilst also becoming a successful working woman. Lorelai is mostly everyone's favorite character on the show. Lauren Graham plays Lorelai charmingly and it's hard to not like this funny, fast-talking character.
Lorelai is independent and steadfast in her work, and she goes on to own and run a business of her own. She is also a mother who is really engaged with her daughter as well. Gilmore Girls hence does a wonderful job of showing the successes of a single mother.
7 NOT: Hard To Relate To Characters With Big Inheritances
The really interesting thing about Gilmore Girls was that Lorelai had cut herself off from her very rich family and wanted to make it on her own. She worked and struggled and her struggle was relatable. But over the seasons, and especially with the miniseries, it becomes plenty evident that Lorelai and Rory were very rich and had a huge inheritance coming. Rory's college tuition had been paid by her rich grandparents till her own father, who came into his own inheritance, paid it off. These things completely take away from the working-class, relatable aspect of the show.
6 RELEVANT: Rory Was Unapologetically Nerdy And Ambitious
Rory made nerds cool by not buying into the whole need to be cool. She was smart and dedicated and hard-working. She liked studying, doing assignments, and doing homework. She enjoyed pushing herself and becoming the best in her class. She was a complete nerd and she owned it fully. She was unapologetically ambitious and very vocal about it. It was and still continues to be wonderful to see girls be like that on screen. It may be more common in movies and shows these days, but Rory might have just paved the way for that.
5 NOT: Outdated Pop Culture References
One of the things that viewers of the show when it first aired, loved about it, was its use of pop culture references. The writers filled the dialogues of the characters on the show with pop culture references, mainstream and obscure. Especially so, for Lorelai and Rory. One would find very many references to obscure bands, old shows, niche movies, obscure books, and more in their dialogues. Viewers today might find it hard to pick out or relate to any or most of these references.
4 RELEVANT: Bookworms Can Have Boyfriends Too
Rory helped break the stereotype that kids who read books were unattractive. Rory had a string of boyfriends to attest to the false nature of this stereotype. This was yet another way in which Gilmore Girls sought to subvert known tropes of what it meant to be a certain kind of girl and the implications of being a certain way.
Rory was in no way a popular girl at school, nor did she particularly seem very interested in carrying herself in that manner. And in doing so, the show tried to show that a studious girl, could also be pretty and cute and could also have boyfriends.
3 NOT: Some Characters Really Don't Get What They Deserve
The show in its focus to let Lorelai and Rory dream, and let them achieve their dreams, leaves behind a series of characters with ambition who simply don't seem to make it. Lane and Sookie could be prime examples of the same. In fact, some fans argue that Lane seems to be based on the mold set by Sookie with each of these characters portraying the best friends of Lorelai and Rory respectively. The show only seems to care about the ambitions of these two central characters and in doing so, gives very stereotypical stories for the rest of their characters.
2 RELEVANT: Shows Difficult Relationships
Gilmore Girls excels in showing the difficulty of relationships and the strain they can put on a person. Their emotional outbursts and arguments and fights capture very well the nature of such relationships. And not just romantic relationships, Gilmore Girls shows us that mothers and daughters fight, some mothers and daughters have a good relationship, some mothers and daughters have too much resentment between them.
Gilmore Girls doesn't shy away from showing its viewers the darker side to such relationships and this is still relevant to watch today.
1 NOT: There Are Better Portrayals Available Today
Gilmore Girls was unique to the time it was airing because there was no such show that was so focused on the mother-daughter relationship. This is not the case today. There are many shows with more sensitive and maybe even more realistic portrayals that are available to viewers today. One easy example is that of One Day At A Time where there is a single mother, and the mother-daughter relationships in that show are joyful to watch. These shows are much more nuanced and relevant today than Gilmore Girls.
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