Category: S1Ep9: Rory’s Dance

Sixteen Candles

LORELAI: However, not really, since you’ve never actually been to one you’re basing all your dance opinions on one midnight viewing of Sixteen Candles.

Sixteen Candles is a 1984 teen comedy film directed by John Hughes, starring Molly Ringwald. As earlier discussed, it is about a girl named Samantha “Sam”, whose family appear to have forgotten her sixteenth birthday. A significant portion of the film is set at a school dance, where a geeky younger student with a crush on Sam tries to take her knickers for a bet, while Sam pines for a boy named Jake. The film was a commercial success, and was well reviewed; it’s now regarded as one of the best films of 1984.

Lorelai must have taken Rory to see a midnight screening of the film at the Black-White-Read Bookstore, probably within the last year or two. Now that we know Rory has seen the film, it’s opens up the possibility that the Happy Birthday song from the film was actually playing in Rory’s head during the birthday invitation scene.

Sausalito

EMILY: If she doesn’t want to go it must be because of something you said.
LORELAI: Mom, I promise. All I ever said to her about dances is that you go, you dance, you have punch, you eat, you take a picture, and then you get auctioned off to a biker gang from Sausalito.

Sausalito is a town in the Bay Area of San Francisco, on the north side of Golden Gate Bridge. It’s big claim to fame is that it is “the dock of the bay” in the song by Otis Redding, who once lived there. It’s also mentioned in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road as being a little fishing village full of Italians.

Lorelai’s joking explanation for Rory’s fear of dances sounds suspiciously similar to the plot of the 1967 film The Born Losers, where teenage girls are kidnapped, raped, and beaten by the Born Losers motorcycle gang in a small Californian town. We learn later that it is one of Lorelai and Rory’s favourite films. The story was based on a real life incident in Monterey, California, involving the Hells Angels, which was the impetus for Hunter S. Thompson’s first book:  Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1966). Could this have been the book that Dean lent to Rory?

Coke

RORY: I’m gonna go get another Coke.

Coca-Cola, a fizzy soft drink made by the Coca-Cola company since 1886. The name comes from two original ingredients: kola nuts (for caffeine), and coca leaves (for cocaine). The current formula is a trade secret, but the coca leaves now have most of the cocaine removed from them, and there wasn’t really much to start with. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of caffeine.

Coke was the go-to soda on Gilmore Girls, and apparently Alex Bledel’s coffee cup had Coke in it, since she doesn’t drink coffee. However any time I saw them drink coffee the cups looked empty, so I’m not sure how much actual liquid ever got drunk.

Spotted Owl

Emily tells Lorelai that the cover of the latest Chilton newsletter is a picture of a spotted owl, and that Chilton is taking donations to help them; she sent a donation in Rory’s name.

The spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) is a species of bird that lives in old growth forests on the west coast of North America, ranging from Canada to Mexico. Due to destruction of its natural habitat by logging, it is currently classified as a near-threatened species, with numbers continuing to decrease.

Midnight Express

RORY: Hey, maybe on our big trip to Europe we could go to Prague and stay in his [Havel’s] cell.
LORELAI: Absolutely. And then we can go to Turkey and stay in that place from Midnight Express.

Midnight Express is a 1978 drama film directed by Alan Parker, with screenplay by Oliver Stone, and based on the memoir of the same name by Billy Hayes. Hayes was a young American college student who was sent to prison in Istanbul for trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey. The film’s title is prison slang for an escape attempt. Midnight Express did well at the box office and gained critical praise, receiving four Academy Awards.

The film differed from Billy Hayes’ book in several significant ways. In the film, Hayes spent several years in Sağmalcılar Prison (still in existence), although in real life he was in two other prisons as well, and escaped from a different one. As filming in the prison wasn’t an option, Midnight Express was filmed at Fort St. Elmo in Malta, which is a war museum.

This is another reminder of Rory and Lorelai’s planned trip to Europe, and that Rory seems to have Prague on the itinerary.

Václav Havel

RORY: Did you know the cell that Václav Havel was held in is now a hostel? You can stay there for like $50 a night.

Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a Czech statesman, author, and former dissident. He was the last president of Czechoslavakia from 1989 to 1992, then the first president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003.

Havel was a playwright in Prague who rose to prominence with anti-communist works such as The Garden Party. After participating in the Prague Spring, he became more politically active, and played a major role in the Velvet Revolution that ended communism in Czechoslavakia in 1989. A popular president and major intellectual figure of the twentieth century, he was awarded multiple international awards for peace and freedom.

During his period of political activism against communism, Havel was under the surveillance of the secret police, and sent to prison several times, the longest period being from from 1979 to 1983. Havel was held in a prison opposite the police station in Prague; it was a basement cell in a building that had once been a convent run by the Franciscan Grey Sisters (religion was banned under communism, and all church property siezed by the state).

Once communism had ended and the nuns were allowed to have their convent back, they turned part of it into a hostel for budget travellers and called it Pension Unitas; it generated enough funds to rebuild the convent, the church, and other buildings owned by the Grey Sisters.

Pension Unitas closed in 2006 after hosting 150 000 guests, and was relaunched as the Unitas Hotel. You can stay at the hotel for about $180 a night, and it receives excellent reviews.

Prague

EMILY: Your grandfather called last night and told me to let you know he’s bringing you back something very special from Prague.
RORY: Wow, Prague. How amazing is it that he’s going to Prague?
EMILY: It’s supposed to be lovely, very dramatic, castles everywhere.

Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and is also the historic capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Rich in history and culture, the original settlement grew out from the 9th century Prague Castle, the largest ancient castle in the world, which is now the official residence of the President of the Czech Republic. The other main castle in the city is the 10th century Vyšehrad (“upper castle”), which contains the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul, and the Vyšehrad Cemetery, where lie the remains of many famous people from Czech history.

Emily speaks as if she has never been to Prague, but in the next season we learn that she went there with Richard in 1998.