Tag: History

Flat earth

JACKSON: Hey, the world was flat until someone took a boat trip.

Jackson is promoting the modern misconception that people in the Middle Ages commonly believed that the Earth is flat. In fact people have known that the Earth is spherical since the Ancient Greeks – the mathematics to prove it aren’t particularly difficult. The myth seems to date from the 17th century, as a Protestant campaign against Catholic teaching.

The idea that it was the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World which changed everyone’s mind about the flat Earth comes from Washington Irving’s 1828 biography, A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.

Highly romanticised, it contained fictional scenes where some of the Spanish disagreed that the Earth was spherical. Even Irving pointed out that a flat Earth theory didn’t affect Columbus’ navigation, but rather the limited understanding of Earth’s size and position of the continents.

History class

Rory’s class is studying the German theologican Martin Luther (1483-1546), who was a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. The teacher quotes from Luther’s tract To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520), advocating a break away from the Catholic church.

Rory is able to correctly identify both the author and the year from the quote, and get her answers in before Paris can. This shows that Paris is already challenging her to do better in class.

Incidentally it demonstrates that Paris’ paranoia about Rory has actually helped to create the situation she feared – if Paris had not been so antagonistic, the shy Rory would no doubt have remained quietly in the background on her first day at a new school.

Chilton Preparatory Academy

The exclusive co-ed private school in Hartford to which Rory gains a late acceptance, kicking off the events of the entire Gilmore Girls series. It is loosely based on Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in the town of Wallingford, Connecticut.

The name Chilton may have been inspired (in universe) by Mary Chilton (1607-1679), a Pilgrim who came to America from England on the Mayflower, giving the name a historical connection; Mary Chilton was an ancestor of George Bush and George Bush Jr. According to legend, Mary was the first passenger to step ashore at Plymouth in 1620, excitedly jumping out of the boat and wading out to Plymouth Rock. It seems like a name suitable for daring young girls willing to leap into a new world.

For the 2017-18 academic year, Choate’s tuition fees for a day (non-boarding) student were $44 400. However, they have a generous financial aid package which would mean that someone in Lorelai’s situation would have their tuition fees heavily subsidised. You can also pay by the month with no interest, and unlike Chilton, there is only a small enrolment fee.

It is unclear why Chilton never offered any similar financial aid to Rory – perhaps because she was a late acceptance. For the purpose of the plot it was necessary for Lorelai to be desperate for money, or Gilmore Girls could never have happened. So Chilton had to be a price-gouging school with massive enrolment fees, no financial aid, no payment plans, and no up-front information about their fees for parents (Lorelai is apparently disconcerted to learn Chilton costs anything at all).

Exterior scenes at Chilton were filmed at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California; this 1920s Tudor-style mansion is in a public park owned by the City of Beverly Hills, and is a popular place for film and TV locations.