In Defense of Rory Gilmore

If you’ve watched Gilmore Girls (and if you haven’t, you definitely should), you’ve probably thought a bit about the so-called “downfall of Rory Gilmore.” Rory Gilmore is an inspiring character whom so many young women look up to and identify with, but in the later seasons of the show, she begins to change. Her seemingly thoughtless actions no longer match her ambition or brilliance, and she begins to make questionable choices. Gilmore Girls being my favorite show, I’ve thought about this a lot. And here’s what I’ve realized: Rory Gilmore isn’t perfect by any means, but she didn’t truly crash and burn in the original series, as so many fans believe. Many of her mistakes were simply the result of poor characterization on the writers’ part and her upbringing as the sole center of her mother’s world.

For anyone who needs a refresher, Rory first appears in Luke’s Diner as a bright-eyed, intelligent, and ambitious girl. She is super close to her mom and they live in the small town of Star’s Hollow, Connecticut. She is frightened by the rigorous academics and her new rival, Paris, as she starts at a new elite high school called Chilton. In episode two, Rory has her first hysterical breakdown when she is hit by a deer. Yes, you read that right. She didn’t hit the deer, the deer hit her! This incident causes her to be late for a very important test, and the combination of the moment’s sheer stress and the stress building up to it causes her to finally crack. She is hysterical as she tries to convince her teacher to let her take the test, trying to prove how much she studied and why she’s late. When Paris snickers at her, she loses it, and starts screaming, asking why she has to be so mean.

Rory’s breakdown is fully understandable. She’s been stressed, and the audience has seen that building up in other episodes. Her new school has been a huge adjustment, and being told she wasn’t going to get to take a test when she had spent weeks preparing was the final straw. Add to that the difficulties of trying to make friends out of her often rude classmates, and you had the perfect recipe for disaster. Did Rory handle this situation the best possible way? No. But did she handle it in a way that was realistic to her character and then work to do better? Yes. Although Rory wasn’t allowed to take the test, she kept persevering as the season progressed. Furthermore, this type of stress (failure on a test, not being hit by a deer) is all too common amongst high school students, and I have even seen a similar situation in my math class. Someone was unable to take a test they were prepared for, and that lack of control caused them to be extremely (rightfully) upset. Rory felt the same way, because she never wanted to be hit by a deer. However, it still affected her academics, causing her to feel like she was losing control of everything she has worked for.

Flash forward a few years later, and Rory is a successful student at Yale. She is finishing up an internship with a man named Mitchum Huntzburger, one of the most successful journalists in the country. However, success has not made Mitchum kind, and one day, he tells Rory she doesn’t have it. She doesn’t have the skill and spark required of a journalist. He uses his power and privilege to shut down a young woman’s dream. This is something that too many powerful men do to ambitious women working on their careers, and it is incredibly detrimental. It furthers the wage gap and reinforces the untrue idea that women are not as deserving of success. Just like so many men in power hurt women, Mitchum hurts Rory’s confidence in such a drastic way that she gives up. This time, Rory doesn’t keep fighting. She doesn’t push through. Her immediate reaction is to steal a boat and drop out of Yale. After one critique! This results in drama, fights, and Rory moving in with her grandparents. I think any fan of Gilmore Girls will agree that the following season was the lowest point for Rory (at least, until the revival, but that’s a subject for another day).

The Rory we all know and love from Chilton would never have stolen a boat. It does not make sense when compared to her academic and career-driven lifestyle. She would have found a way to continue her career, whether that meant proving Mitchum Huntzburger wrong or finding another internship or job. However, in this case Rory does not realize that she has other options. Mitchum Huntzburger is not in control of her career; she is (or, at least, should be). The extremity of this situation shows the pressure Rory puts herself under as a college student, and in her career in general. She cannot allow herself to mess up one small time. She thinks that her career was an all or nothing situation, leading to her massive mistakes later. She faces a lot of external pressure from her school and the people around her, but she puts even more internal pressure on herself. As young women, this is something many of us can relate to. If we do not succeed the first time, it is extremely difficult to recover and remember our own worth. Rory forgets that she is worth more than one bigoted old man’s view of her, and teaches us that we cannot let other people change us in negative ways.

I, obviously, was not a fan of this storyline, but luckily, after far too much time spent away, Rory returned to Yale. To my relief, season seven, though it was a mess in many other ways, was Rory’s best time since high school. She grew up. She got herself another job, made some good friends, and in the finale, was even getting ready to follow Barack Obama on the campaign trail. In this season, she still struggled with feeling like a failure sometimes, but she used her own internal strength to recover. In one episode, she cries because she realizes she doesn’t know what she will do after college. This time, however, she reacts to this realization by deciding to make her own career. She fights for a job at a local newspaper and becomes a leader as editor of the Yale Daily News. She makes a plan for after college, starting by applying for internships and jobs at newspaper companies all throughout the country. She finally creates her own success, instead of relying on the people around her, and, just like the Rory of season one, will stop at nothing to achieve her dreams. One of my favorite examples of this is in the episode “Friday Night’s Alright For Fighting,” in which Rory takes charge of the Yale Daily News and manages to not only get the paper done in time despite chaos in the form of Paris Geller, but to re-rally the entire newspaper crew. This episode shows her determination, dedication, intelligence, and spirit in a very stressful situation.

Rory Gilmore is not a failure by the end of Gilmore Girls. She ends the show as an accomplished young woman, ready to take on the world and accomplish great things. Sure, she encountered rivals and rejection, but it’s about the way you finish the race, not how you start. Rory teaches us the importance of pushing through obstacles, and to her doubters I simply say, “Oy with the poodles already!”