Month: September 2017

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The novel that Rory’s English class at Stars Hollow High School is studying. Written by Mark Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens) and first published in 1884, it is regarded as one of the Great American Novels, and the most commonly taught work in US public schools.

Mark Twain lived in Hartford for 17 years, and wrote many of his novels there, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, giving it a particular connection to the Gilmores’ part of the world. In fact it was Mark Twain who helped inspire Gilmore Girls – Amy Sherman-Palladino originally travelled to Connecticut to look at his wallpaper. Without Mark Twain, there would be no show!

Like On the Road, Huckleberry Finn is another book about travel through America, this time on a raft down the Mississippi River.

Hayride

Lane’s parents arrange for her to attend a local hayride with a Korean-American teenage boy as her date. A hayride is a North American traditional activity where (as the name suggests) people travel in a wagon filled with hay for fun. They are a form of celebrating the harvest season, and may involve other activities associated with the fall.

Rory does not attend the teen hayride, not seeing anything about it she would enjoy (from what we see, the hayride does look pretty lame and boring, as it just goes around the main square in town, rather than through fields). However, in later episodes we learn that Taylor will not allow Rory to skip any town entertainments or functions, not even accepting illness as an excuse.

At this point, Taylor wasn’t a character in the show, although his name is mentioned later in this episode. It is possible that originally Rory was intended to be considerably more detached from the events of the town than she ended up being.

Rory missing the hayride does point to a disdain for teenage activities that seems in keeping with her character – perhaps because they would have meant having a life separate from her mother. This might be why Rory never seems to be popular with her peers, although adored by adults.

Eminem

LANE: Rory, if my parents still get upset over the obscene portion size of American food, I seriously doubt I’m gonna make any inroads with Eminem.

Eminem (born Marshal Mathers III in 1972) is an American rapper who was the best-selling musical artist of the 2000s. His first album was released in 1996, and he gained mainstream success with The Slim Shady LP in May 2000.

Mr. Kim

RORY: When are you going to let your parents know that you listen to the evil rock music? You’re an American teenager, for God’s sake.

Lane has two parents, but her father is never seen during the course of the original show, even at major family events. It is never explained where he is, and Keiko Agena, who played Lane, never asked Amy Sherman-Palladino where Mr. Kim was. Keiko herself felt that he had to travel a lot, and that it might have something to do his religion, such as missionary work of some kind. Perhaps he was always out buying new stock for the antique store. A Year in the Life provides a brief glimpse of Mr. Kim, confirming once and for all that he does exist.

Woodstock ’99

When Lane changes clothing on her way to school, she wears a tee shirt which reads WOODSTOCK ’99. In 1999 a large-scale musical festival was held in upstate New York to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Unlike the peaceful event of the 1960s, the 1990s festival was marred by incidents of  violence, fire, and rape. A CD was released in 1999, and a DVD in March 2000. It seems very unlikely that Lane attended the festival, but she may have got the tee-shirt included when buying either the CD or DVD.

Lane Kim (Keiko Agena)

Rory’s best friend is loosely based on writer, director and producer Helen Pai, a friend since childhood of Amy Sherman-Palladino and a co-producer of Gilmore Girls. Like Lane, Helen is a Korean-American who was raised in a Seventh Day Adventist family.

Lane Kim’s eclectic collecting and obsessive knowledge of popular music seems to be inspired by Daniel Palladino, who has been collecting rock and pop since early childhood, and now has a music collection numbering in the thousands.

Michel Gerard (Yanic Truesdale)

RORY: Come on, Michel. I’ll tell all the ladies what a stud you are.
MICHEL: Hm. I believe that memo has already been sent.

Throughout the original series of the show, viewers speculated on the sexuality of the ever-snarky Michel Gerard, the concierge at the Independence Inn. From Michel’s own vague statements, he could either be interpreted as a camp heterosexual man, or a closeted homosexual man (or one who just didn’t want to discuss his private life – Michel did come across as someone who valued his privacy).

Amy Sherman-Palladino originally intended Michel to be heterosexual, as this comment from him showed. He was meant to be an example of a heterosexual man who has camp mannerisms and stereotypically “gay” interests. At some point she changed her mind, and in the Netflix revival, Michel is confirmed as not only gay, but married to a man.

In fact it was Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) who Amy had planned to be a gay character, but the television executives would not countenance the idea.

In real life, when Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino stayed at the Mayflower, the inspiration for the Independence Inn, the concierge was a French woman.

X-Ray Eyes

LORELAI: What’s with the muumuu? [gestures to Rory’s baggy sweater.]
RORY: Stop.
LORELAI: No, I’m just saying, you couldn’t find one made of metal in case anyone has X-ray eyes?

A possible allusion to the 1963 sci-fi horror film The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, directed by Roger Corman and with Ray Milland in the title role. Made on a shoestring budget, it was nonetheless successful and well-received.

The teenage Rory is apparently self-conscious about her developing figure, and Lorelai teases her about it. Despite the lack of response from Rory, Lorelai’s criticism seems to have been taken on board: although Rory always dressed modestly, she never again wore anything this thick, baggy and shapeless to hide her body.

Capisce

DRELLA: Okay. I am a great harp player, and this is my great harp, okay. So if you’re looking for someone to just be nice to the guests, get a harmonica player, or maybe some guy who whistles through his nose. Okay? Capisce?

Capisce (said kah-PEESH) is an Italian word used in American slang to mean “got it, understand”.

In Italian, it is pronounced more like kah-PEE-shay, and would be used to refer to someone in the third person – such as “He understands”. In Italian, to say you understand is capisco.