Footnotes to the TV series
Lorelai identifies gauchos as being one of the times in her life she was wrong. Gaucho pants are a women’s fashion item: very wide-legged trousers with a cuff ending mid-calf – basically long culottes. They are named after the trousers favoured by South American gauchos (“cowboys”).
They were in style in the early 1970s as something of a feminist statement, and soon went out of favour because they are rather unflattering. They have never quite gone away, due to being practical and comfortable.
Lorelai refers to Headmaster Charleston as “Il Duce” during her meeting with Mr. Medina and the headmaster. Il Duce (“the duke”) was the title given to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) as leader of the National Fascist Party.
LORELAI: We have stretched ourselves as thin as humanly possible without going completely postal.
In American slang, “going postal” means to become uncontrollably angry to the point of violence, especially in a workplace situation. The expression comes from a series of incidents from the mid-1980s onward in which over-stressed United States Postal Service workers committed mass murder as a result of workplace rage. The earliest known use of the phrase is 1993.
MICHEL: There is a man with a funny accent on the phone asking for you.
LORELAI: Really? Did you guys exchange the secret handshake?
A secret handshake is any non-standard handshake used to signify fellowship within a certain group. The most famous organisation with a secret handshake is The Freemasons.
It is not clear who the man with the funny accent is: it is presumably either Mr. Medina or Headmaster Charleston, neither of whom has an especially hilarious accent. Maybe all Americans sound funny to Michel.
DRELLA: Hey what do you think about Pat Benatar?
LORELAI: Great idea, can she play the harp?
Pat Benatar (born Patricia Andrzejewski in 1953) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and actress. She is best known for her 1980s hits, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love is a Battlefield, and We Belong.
Lorelai is adding Pat Benatar to the list of music Drella is banned from playing.
RORY: I know everything there is to know about Shakespeare … I know his birthday and his mother’s name and that kind of –
In fact William Shakespeare’s birthday is not known, just that he was baptised on April 26. His birthday is traditionally commemorated on April 23 – this is because it is both the day he died, and St. George’s Day, the national saint of England.
William Shakespeare’s mother was Mary Arden.
This song plays in the background while Lorelai and Rory sleep after studying for the Shakespeare test all night. My Darling is by the American alternative rock band Wilco, from their 1999 album Summerteeth. The album was critically acclaimed and went to #78 in the US, although none of its singles charted.
Take-out fried chicken and French fries (maybe from Al’s Pancake World); the Gilmore girls add horseradish sauce to the fries
Pepperidge Farm chocolate chunk cookies
Lay’s potato chips
Starburst soft candy
Rolo caramel-filled chocolates
… and more!
This may be the first time we see the Gilmore girls indulging in junk food: it will not be the last. The constant eating of junk food by the slender and healthy Lorelai and Rory is something which sticks in the craw of many fans, who either see it as a ridiculously unrealistic cheap gimmick, or an outright slap in the face to the audience.
But one of the themes of Gilmore Girls is a celebration of American culture. Rory reads classic American literature (like Moby Dick and Huck Finn), they watch classic American TV shows (like I Love Lucy and The Odd Couple), they watch classic American films (like The Shining and The Wizard of Oz), they reference American popular music (such as Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand), so of course they eat classic American food – which is mostly junk. This in itself isn’t all that unrealistic – 25% of Americans eat junk food every day, just like Lorelai and Rory, and 80% of them eat junk food regularly (the numbers are even higher for children and teenagers, and Lorelai is stuck as a perpetual teen).
Yes it’s a joke, and not entirely a nice one – but there’s some real love there too. The brand names of the food themselves are raised like totems, and can sound almost like poetry. If America means Mark Twain, Judy Garland, Jack Nicholson, and Lucille Ball, it also has to mean burgers, chili fries, Pop-Tarts and Jello-O.
Just as Rory can read an unbelievable number of book (six at once is normal for her), and she and Lorelai watch an unrealistic amount of TV and movies while still having plenty of time for work, school, and a social life, of course they can also eat insane amounts of junk food. It’s just that we tend to praise the first types of unreality as smart and savvy, and decry the last. In the Gilmore Girls universe, there is both not enough time to get everything done, and plenty of time for books and movies – and plenty of room for all the food you can eat.
While Rory is studying, Lorelai reads Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain, first published in August 2000. The book is a humorous behind-the-scenes look at the restaurant industry, both a confessional and a commentary. It provides many hints and tips for the consumer, which may be what drew Lorelai to read it. The book received good reviews and became a best-seller, giving Bourdain a large following and making him a celebrity.
The Oxford Shakespeare. Published by Oxford University Press, it contains all of Shakespeare’s poems and plays, with each work given a short introduction, and a glossary at the back of the book.
Who’s Who and What’s What in Shakespeare: A Complete A to Z Reference Guide with Over 6000 Entries by Evangeline M. O’Connor. This reference guide was first published in 1887; Rory has the newest edition which came out in June 2000.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 