Chi-Town

Rory warns her mother not to refer to Chicago as “Chi-Town” when she meets her new boyfriend Dean, who is from Chicago.

The term Chi-Town originated as trucker’s slang to refer to Chicago via citizens’ band radio; it obviously takes the first three letters of Chicago and adds Town to it. The slang term spread more widely than CB radio usage after it featured in the 1975 novelty song Convoy by C.W. McCall, from the album Black Bear Road. The song went to #1 in the national charts, as well as #1 in the country charts, and inspired the 1978 film Convoy.

Shaft

LORELAI: I’m going to be so cool in there you will mistake me for Shaft.

John Shaft is a fictional African-American private detective based in New York City. He first appeared in the 1970 detective novel Shaft by Ernest Tidyman, adapted into a film of the same name in 1971 which was directed by Gordon Parks with Richard Roundtree in the title role; Ernest Tidyman was one of the screenwriters. The movie was successful and well-received by both white and black audience members, in large part because of John Shaft’s elegant flair, and the excellent score by Isaac Hayes, which won an Academy Award.

John Shaft detective novels continued being published through the 1970s, and Shaft went on to become a television series from 1973-74, with Richard Roundtree continuing in the role of John Shaft. Two sequels to Shaft were produced in the 1970s.

Shaft came out in June 2000 – not a remake or reboot, but another sequel. In this film, Samuel L. Jackson plays John Shaft II, the nephew of the original John Shaft. It did well at the box office and received generally positive reviews.

Lorelai and Rory could easily have seen the new Shaft the preceding summer, but knowing Lorelai’s love of 1970s cinema, she is probably (mostly) referring to the original film here. The 2000 Shaft soundtrack is R&B and hip-hop – I don’t know if this helps explain Lorelai’s supposed “love of rap” or not.

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

This is the movie that Lorelai, Rory and Dean watch together. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart. It is an adaptation of the 1964 children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by British writer Roald Dahl. The story is about a young boy named Charlie Bucket, who wins a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory with four other children from around the world.

The film received positive reviews, and although not successful on release, went on to become very popular through repeated television broadcasts and home entertainment sales/rentals.

The movie’s theme of a child from a humble background winning that rare chance to change their life and prove they really are special is an idea that Lorelai and Rory seem to love, not so strangely.

9/12 Weeks

RORY: We weren’t making out. It was just one kiss.
LORELAI: Yeah, well by the time that gets to Miss Patty’s it’s a scene from 9 1/2 Weeks.

9 1/2 Weeks is a 1986 erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne, based on the 1978 memoir of the same name by Austrian-American author Ingeborg Day. It stars Kim Basinger and Mickey O’Rourke as an art gallery assistant and a Wall Street broker who have a brief, intense sadomasochistic affair.

The movie was a box office bomb in the US, but hugely successful overseas in its unedited version, especially in France, Italy, and Latin America. Video and DVD brought it a large fanbase and a cult following.

The two main characters in the film first meet in a grocery store, reminiscent of Rory and Dean’s first kiss in the Stars Hollow market.

The Crucible

LUKE: I’m not gonna say you look concerned.
LORELAI: I’m not gonna talk about how good you’d look dressed like one of the guys from The Crucible.

The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a a dramatised version of the Salem witch trials which took place in Massachusetts in 1692-93, the play serving as an allegory of the McCarthy era, when the US government accused people of subversion or treason based on a suspicion of communist sympathies. It won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1953, and has gone on to become a classic of American drama.

The Crucible was adapted into a film in 1996, with Arthur Miller writing the screenplay. Lorelai could easily have seen the film when it came out, if she had never seen it on stage. The Puritan clothing worn by characters in The Crucible remind Lorelai of Thanksgiving Pilgrim costumes.

General Hospital

LORELAI: I was watching General Hospital the other day and you know, they have a new Lucky ’cause the old Lucky went to play something where he could have a real name. So the old Lucky had this girlfriend, Liz, who thought that he died in a fire. So then they bring on this new Lucky and you’re all like “OK, I know that’s not the old Lucky because the new Lucky has way more hair gel issues” but still, Liz was so upset about his supposed death that you could not wait to see them kiss, you know?

General Hospital is an American soap opera which has aired since 1963, making it the longest-running soap opera still in production. It was most popular in the 1980s, thanks to the romance between popular characters Luke and Laura (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis), which ended with their wedding.

Lucas “Lucky” Spencer Jr. was a character on General Hospital, the son of the aforementioned Luke and Laura. His birth was announced in 1985, and he first appeared as a ten year old in 1993, played by Jonthan Jackson. Lucky would also be one half of a soap opera power couple, when he got a girlfriend in 1997 named Elizabeth “Liz” Webber, played by Rebecca Herbst.

Jonathan Jackson left the show in 1999, and it was rumoured that he was going to play Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Although that didn’t pan out, he got other film and television roles.

The character of Lucky was declared to have died in a fire, but they brought him back in February 2000 with Jacob Young playing the “new” Lucky, who had returned brainwashed by another regular character. After months of de-programming, Lucky and Liz made a stab at being a couple again, but decided to be good friends for a while. As Lorelai notes, he just wasn’t the same Lucky.

The episode where Lucky and Liz kiss aired on Friday November 3 2000. As Lorelai says she saw the episode “the other day”, this fits in with the day being Saturday November 4 or Sunday November 5 2000, as autumn festival.

It is interesting how a few of the names in General Hospital seem to have informed those in Gilmore Girls. Luke and Laura is suspiciously similar to Luke and Lorelai, especially since we later learn that Luke’s full name is Lucas, just like Luke Spencer and his son Lucky, and that Luke Danes has a sister named Liz.

Dean’s Favourite Musical Artists

LANE: He likes Nick Drake and Liz Phair and The Sugarplastic

Nicholas “Nick”Drake (1948-1974) was an English singer-songwriter known for his acoustic guitar-based folk music. He produced three albums between 1969 and 1972, none of which were a commercial success, partly because Drake was reluctant to perform live or give interviews to promote his work. Suffering from major depression, he committed suicide by overdosing on prescribed antidepressants at the age of 26.

He remained somewhat obscure, although his work was re-released after his death, gathering him new fans as a doomed romantic hero. By the 1980s he was cited as a musical influence by artists such as David Sylvian and Robert Smith, and had gained critical appreciation; a “best of” compilation album was released in the 1990s. His career had a posthumous revival after his song Pink Moon was used in a 1999 Volkwagen Cabrio commercial, aimed at young people. Since then he has sold more than 2 million albums and downloads.

We can assume that Dean was one of the young people who became instant Nick Drake fans after seeing the VW commercial. As we later disover Dean is a car fanatic, it makes sense that he would discover a favourite singer through a car.

Liz Phair (born Elizabeth Phair in 1967) [pictured] is an American indie rock singer-songwriter. Her first album, Exile in Guyville, came out in 1993 to critical acclaim, and was hailed as a landmark in alternative rock. Her 1994 second album, Whip-Smart, brought her mainstream attention, and is her most commercially successful album. In 2000 her most recent album would have been Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998).

Liz Phair was born in New Haven, Connecticut, but grew up in Winnetka, a wealthy village just outside Chicago – it was a favourite film location for director John Hughes, as seen in movies such as Home Alone, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles. Liz Phair may have been chosen as a favourite singer for Dean because she is connected with both Chicago and Connecticut, his birthplace and later home.

The Sugarplastic is an alternative rock band founded in 1989 by Ben Eshbach and Kiara Geller. Their first album came out in 1995, and their third album, Resin, in April 2000. The most genuinely obscure of Dean’s choices, he may have become a fan quite recently. His indie/alternative tastes in music make him seem like a worthy beau for Rory. For now …

“My pod’s defective”

TAYLOR: You have lived in Stars Hollow for a long time, young man. It’s time you became one of us.
…
LUKE: Sorry, I guess my pod’s defective.

A reference to the 1956 sci-fi horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, directed by Don Siegel and based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. In the film, residents of a Californian town discover that they are being replaced with exact duplicates of themselves, grown from giant seed pods as part of an alien invasion. The duplicates are devoid of emotion and have no sense of individuality. Ignored by critics on its release, this 1950s political allegory is now considered a classic sci-fi film.

The fact that both Lorelai and Luke use 1950s sci-fi films as a reference in their conversation is a sign of their compatibility. We earlier saw Luke is concerned for the environment, and the environmental message of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as the pod people are there to use up resources and destroy ecosystems, may have appealed to him.

Kiss and Tell

The episode title is a common phrase referring to betraying secrets, especially sexual ones. The idiom comes from the 1695 play Love for Love by William Congreve, with the quote being: “And if he needs must kiss and tell, I’ll kick him headlong into Hell”.

Kiss and Tell is also the name of a 1945 comedy film directed by Richard Wallace and starring Shirley Temple in the lead role of Corliss Archer. It was based on a 1943 Broadway play by F. Hugh Herbert, in turn based on his Corliss Archer short stories; Herbert wrote the screenplay to the film. The movie is about two teenage girls, and the trouble that ensues in their families when they become interested in boys, just as there are ructions when Rory gets a boyfriend.

What a Wonderful World

This 1967 ballad by Louis Armstrong plays while everyone is downstairs at Rory’s second party, trading Rory stories, and then continues as Lorelai and Emily talk upstairs. Written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, it was not at first a hit in the US because the record company didn’t promote it, but went to #1 in the UK and was successful around the world.

When it was re-released in 1988 after featuring in the film Good Morning, Vietnam, it went to #32 in the US, and was #7 on the adult contemporary charts. It has become a pop standard, with many cover versions, and often used in film and television soundtracks.