Tag: Brand Names

Filofax

EMILY: You wanted me to get her a Filofax and a mermaid eraser.

A Filofax is a personal organiser in a large leather wallet with a six-ring loose-leaf binder; the name comes from the phrase “file of facts”. They were popular during the 1980s as an accessory for yuppies. Filofax is a UK company founded in 1921, and originally known as Norman & Hill.

This seems to be the “funky dayplanner” that Lorelai suggested that Emily buy Rory (or maybe to Emily, all dayplanners are Filofaxes). Either way, it actually seems like a good compromise between the mother’s and daughter’s tastes, as well as being useful to Rory who loves being organised. It seems a bit odd that Emily didn’t agree to it.

Montblanc

EMILY: A Montblanc pen?
LORELAI: To put on her desk at the law firm?

Montblanc International is a German firm which makes luxury pens, founded in 1906. They are named after the Mont Blanc range in the Alps, to indicate that they are the “peak”; the A in the MONTBLANC logo is designed to look like a mountain.

A Montblanc pen can easily cost thousands of dollars, so Damien’s selling some lower-end ones for $200 actually seems pretty reasonable. A Montblanc pen would be something of a financial burden to a high school student though, as the ink refills are expensive.

Damien’s

EMILY: Well good. I’ll meet you at Damien’s tomorrow at three o’clock.

A fictional department store, perhaps an equivalent to the real life Filene’s department store in Hartford (originally G. Fox and Co.), which was sold to Macy’s in 2006. The scenes in Damien’s were filmed at the Burbank Town Center shopping mall in Burbank, California.

Kleenex

MAX: So anyhow my uncle watches this girl, waiting for the right moment to approach her. Next thing he knows, he gets drafted.
LORELAI: Oh, going for Kleenex.

Kleenex is a brand name for tissues, first sold under the name in 1924. So popular are they that the brand name is often used to refer to the product itself.

Philco

This is the brand of television set on which they watched the first moon landing at Claudia’s house. Philco was a pioneering battery, radio and television company founded in Philadelphia in 1892. A producer of high quality electronic goods, many of their products have become vintage icons. The company was bought by Philips in 1981 in order to gain the rights to the Philips trademark.

Jeep

LORELAI: So what does the deer look like? Huh? Does it have any distinguishing marks – besides the word Jeep imprinted on it’s forehead?

Jeep is a brand of American automobile, made by Chrysler; their range is in sport utility vehicles and off-road vehicles. The original Jeep was made in 1941 for the military, and was the primary four-wheel drive vehicle used by the Allies; after the war they were produced for civilian use. Lorelai’s car is a 2000 Jeep Wrangler (although in the show it is said to be a 1999 model).

A couple of episodes ago, a connection was made between Lorelai and Daisy Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard when Lorelai chose to wear denim shorts to Chilton. Another thing they have in common is that they both drive Jeeps – but Daisy’s was white, while Lorelai’s is tan. Gilmore Girls was filmed on several of the same sets at Warner Brothers as The Dukes of Hazzard – Stars Hollow High School was previously the Hazzard County Courthouse, for example.

After Gilmore Girls run ended, Lorelai’s Jeep was auctioned off in 2011, and sold to the highest bidder. It was bought by someone from Deep River, Connecticut – a small town with a selectman, a strong sense of community, a day devoted to colonial history, a quaint main street, and a town square with a gazebo. In fact, it’s gone to somewhere rather like Stars Hollow!

Rory and Lorelai’s Study Session Junk Food

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.

SAT

MAX: I apologize for the behaviours of some of our guests tonight. It’s a tense time for some people.
LORELAI: The SAT season?
MAX: The waking hours.

The SAT Subject Tests are multiple-choice tests in various subjects given by the College Board, and taken to improve a student’s credentials for admission to universities in the United States. The SAT tests are generally held in early to mid-October.

SAT originally stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test, but by now it is just a brand name and not an acronym of anything in particular.