Manhattan Garbage Union

LUKE: Yup, it’s tough when the universe is against you. That’s like taking on the Manhattan Garbage Union.

Luke refers to the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, called “New York’s Strongest”. Workers at New York City’s Sanitation Department are responsible for collecting trash, and for clearing the streets of snow during winter.

The strength of their union became apparent in February 1968 when they went on strike for nine days demanding higher wages, leading to 100 000 tons of trash on the streets, with piles of garbage everywhere [pictured]. The strike was ended when state governor Nelson Rockefeller agreed to the sanitation workers receiving a slightly higher wage than they otherwise would have, and further arbitration.

Martin Luther King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech in Memphis that year was in support of the sanitation workers, and it inspired the sanitation workers in Memphis to launch their own strike, just days after the one in New York ended. The Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association claim Martin Luther King Day (16^th January) as a holiday each year, in recognition of Dr King’s support for their cause.

There were other strikes by the sanitation workers during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, but they were usually resolved within a day or two, the city having learned its lesson that you have to take care of the people who collect your trash.

Mimi

LORELAI: Look, I didn’t come here to make up, or to try to get you to forgive me, or talk. I wouldn’t even have come here at all but I had a really crappy night and I really, really need a cup of coffee. Just pretend I’m not me. I’m Mimi, a new customer.

Lorelai goes into Luke’s after an awful time with her parents, and asks for a coffee, suggesting he think of her as Mimi, a new customer. The assumed name Mimi sounds like me-me, and feels like a slight callback to Taylor calling Lorelai “Mini-Me”.

“Norman Rockwell family Christmases dancing in your head”

RICHARD: And I am shocked by your naïveté … Did you really have pictures of Norman Rockwell family Christmases dancing in your head? Lorelai had her chance for a family, she walked away from it. That was her choice.

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), painter and illustrator, most famous for the cover illustrations of idealised or sentimental American life he created for The Saturday Evening Post for five decades. His Christmas illustrations [pictured] are well known as iconic images of the Yuletide season, and still popular.

Richard also references the poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, and previously mentioned as a classic work which has shaped the American view of Christmas. In the poem it says,

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

Richard mocks Emily’s hopes for Lorelai and Christopher to be together as idealistic and sugary-sweet as Christmas paintings and rhymes. He has never wavered from his position that Lorelai had one chance to have a husband and family, when she was sixteen, with Christopher, and that walking away from it was irresponsible. The idea that not marrying Christopher might have been the responsible thing to do, not to mention that stepping back from Christopher and Sherry now is the more moral choice, is something he cannot fathom.

Lorelai Tells Her Parents About Christopher

When Lorelai goes to dinner with her parents, they ask where Christopher is (they have bought him a far better gift than they bought Lorelai, who got scone mix). Lorelai explains that Christopher’s girlfriend is pregnant and he went back to her, and surprise, surprise – it’s all Lorelai’s fault somehow! Emily accuses her of “flitting from man to man” when she only went on one nothingy date since breaking up with Max more than a year ago.

The last time Lorelai had an argument with her parents about Christopher, it was Emily who ran upstairs to cry on her bed. This time it is Richard who specifically blames Lorelai for not being with Christopher, still harping on about not “following the correct procedure” and getting married when she was sixteen. He then goes off to sulk in his den about it.

Emily and Richard never take Lorelai to task for sleeping with someone else’s boyfriend – they regard Christopher as already “hers”, and Sherry as someone he’s known for “two minutes” (it’s actually more than a year now). They don’t blame her for jumping into things too quickly with Christopher and getting Rory’s hopes up, either. In fact, they offer no moral guidance to their daughter at all, only chastise for not getting her hooks into Christopher and ruthlessly refusing to let go. Their lack of concern for Sherry and her unborn child is utterly chilling.

By the way, Emily had a meltdown about Lorelai and Rory eating on the patio (at a barbecue!), because only barbarians eat outdoors. Yet she is serving some sort of cheese and biscuit refreshment on the patio in this scene. For that matter, she has had a tea party on the patio. Apparently it is alright to eat small snack-sized amounts of food outdoors, but not a full meal. The rules of Emily Gilmore are hard to understand.

Scones

LORELAI: Scone mix, wow.

EMILY: This new little place opened right down the road from our house and they make these wonderful scones, and that is their mix so you can make them right in your own kitchen.

Scones are a baked good, a type of quick bread which uses baking powder as the leavening agent rather than yeast, usually served buttered or topped with jam and cream. They seem to have originated in Scotland, and are common and popular as part of morning or afternoon tea throughout the UK and Ireland.

In the US, scones are usually sweet, heavy, dry, and crumbly, more like a rock cake. They are usually triangular in shape, and filled with fruit such blueberries or sultanas, or flavoured with pumpkin, cinnamon, or chocolate chips. They may be topped with icing, and are usually served as they are, without butter or toppings. They are not very much like what a British person would recognise as a scone. [Picture shows American scones].

Jägermeister and Jello-Shot

RICHARD: We have everything, Lorelai.

LORELAI: All right, I’ll have a Jägermeister and a Jello-shot.

Jägermeister, a German herbal liqueur made with 60 herbs and spices designed to be taken after a meal to aid digestion. It was developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, and is still served in its signature green bottle. Its name means “Master of the Hunt”, a title for a high-ranking gamekeeper. In the US, Jägermeister has become well known through its promotion of heavy metal and hard rock tours and festivals. It also sponsors the National Hockey League.

Jello-shot, previously discussed.

“I was having way too much fun”

DEAN: Yeah, I’m back – and I’m glad to find you not blonde.

RORY: Yeah, I was just having way too much fun, so . . .

Rory refers to the Clairol hair lightener advertising slogan, “Is it true …blondes have more fun?”. It was written by advertising director Shirley Polykoff – a blonde – in 1956, and was considered rather risque at the time.

Rory bleakly jokes that she didn’t dye her hair blonde, because she was already having too much fun (of course she’s actually having a terrible time). Ironically, it is Jess’ girlfriend who is the blonde, and having a lot more fun than Rory.

With his usual ability to turn up unannounced wherever Rory happens to be, Dean has returned home from Chicago three hours early. Although this would have put a serious dent in her plans to be with Jess at the festival, she may be more glad to see him than not, considering that Jess is with someone else, and she’s just had a huge fight with her mother.

Note that even while hugging Dean, Rory is looking over his shoulder at Jess, her face hurt and angry.

Snow White

RORY: Not fair!

LORELAI: Yes, fair, the fairest, the Snow White of fair.

Disney film Snow White, based on the fairy tale and previously discussed.

In the story, Snow White’s wicked stepmother, a queen, has a magic mirror which she questions, “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”. The mirror always tells the queen that she is the loveliest lady in the land … until one day the mirror informs her that Snow White is the fairest of all. And that’s when the trouble begins.

“Dragging his heart all over town”

RORY: I know all of this about Dean … I know how great he is. I knew it before you did!

LORELAI: Well, knowing this has apparently not stopped you from dragging his heart all over this town.

A possible reference to the 1981 song “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, first recorded as a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song. Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac sang on the record, with Tom Petty joining her for the chorus and the bridge. It was released as the first single from Nicks’ 1981 debut solo album, Bella Donna. It was one of the first music videos played on MTV when it launched on August 1 1981, and peaked at #3 in the US.

The song is about a woman who feels weighed down by her relationship, and wishes to part, despite having an emotional attachment to her lover. That does seem to apply to Rory – she does have feelings for Dean, but feels “dragged down” by him.

“Grab a liver treat and a squeaky toy”

LORELAI: If you want Jess, that’s fine – go get him, there he is. If you think that’s the great love of your life, then great . . . grab a liver treat and a squeaky toy and run to him.

Lorelai and Rory not only get into a fight in public at the festival, Lorelai gets perilously close to calling her seventeen-year-old daughter a “bitch” or a “dog” with her barb about grabbing a liver treat and a squeaky toy. She seems to suggest that Rory is acting like a “bitch in heat” over Jess, or is acting like a “dog” towards Dean.