Footnotes to the TV series
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.
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 Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s early plays, and a farce involving two pairs of twins and mistaken identity. It was written around 1594, so Rory’s statement that it was written in 1590 is just an estimate – the exact date isn’t known. It was published in 1623 though, as that was the first collection made of Shakespeare’s plays.
Richard III is one of Shakespeare’s historical plays. It was written around 1592, so Rory’s guess of 1591 is within the acceptable time-frame and not actually wrong. In real life, it would be very unusual for students to be tested on their knowledge of the dates of Shakespeare’s plays, as they are usually not known for sure. As we never see the actual test, Rory could be studying all the wrong things anyway.
Shakespeare’s Sonnets are a 1609 collection of love sonnets, most of which are addressed to either a Dark Lady or a Fair Youth. It is not known whether these figures are fictional or based on real people. It is not even known for certain whether the sonnets were written by William Shakespeare.
During the study session, Lorelai makes a buzzer noise when Rory gets a question wrong, as if she is on a game show.
PARIS: “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alterations finds, or bends with the remover to remove: O no! It is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken; it is the star to every wandering bark, whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken”.
Paris is quoting from William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, first published in 1609, and one of his most famous love sonnets. She is demonstrating how well she has studied for the test, although only Paris could recite a love poem to someone as a threat.
LORELAI: Ooh a test! Great!
RORY: It’s on Shakespeare.
LORELAI: Bard with a beard – love it!
As England’s national poet, William Shakespeare is often referred to as the Bard of Avon, or simply The Bard.
At the parent-teacher meeting, Mr. Medina discusses what he has in store for the children this semester – Elizabethan literature.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is the focus of this episode. Oddly, Mr. Medina doesn’t mention that the class has a test on Shakespeare that very Friday.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was the foremost tragedian of his day, despite the Chilton parent who questions his significance. He had a rather mysterious life, and some scholars believe he may have co-authored certain of Shakespeare’s works. His most famous plays include Edward the Second and Doctor Faustus; his most popular poem is The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a philosopher, scientist, jurist, statesman, and author, serving as both Attorney-General and Lord Chancellor of England. He has been called the father of empiricism and the modern scientific method, and he has influenced the modern world in countless ways. There is a theory that he may have written some, or all, of Shakespeare’s plays. One of his most famous literary works is The New Atlantis, a utopian story.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) is considered the second most important playwright of his era after Shakespeare. He is best known for his satirical plays such as Every Man in His Humour and Volpone, and for his lyrical poetry.
John Webster (c1580-c1634) is a playwright best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi. His dark, almost Gothic, view of the world is one which went down very well in the twentieth century, and he has been re-assessed favourably by modern audiences.
JACKSON: So, I hear the huckleberry crops are gonna totally suck this year!
[Sookie just looks at him.]
Huckleberry is an American dialect word for the shrub fruit known as the bilberry – a variant of the English dialect word hurtleberry or whortleberry. In America, the term huckleberry is applied to several different species of berry, including dangleberries and blueberries.
The peak season for huckleberries finishes in mid-September, so by this time of year the huckleberry crop would normally “suck” anyway. No wonder Sookie gives Jackson a look.
The huckleberry crops serve as a reminder of Huckleberry Finn.
MAX: Look at the large red circles around various parts of your paper as friendly reminders that to err is human. And that here at Chilton we try to beat that humanity right outta ya!
Max is referring to the quote “to err is human; to forgive, divine”. It comes from the 1711 poem An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope (1688-1744).
Max indicates humorously that there will be no forgiveness for errors at Chilton.
When the scene changes to Rory’s English Literature class, the teacher is now Mr. Max Medina (Scott Cohen). However, when Rory first started at Chilton two episodes ago, her English Literature teacher was Mr. Remmy (John Billingsley).
There is no attempt made to explain this away, such as Mr. Remmy suddenly leaving and Mr. Medina taking his place, or Mr. Remmy having filled in temporarily while Mr. Medina is sick (Mr. Medina says they’ve been studying Shakespeare for the past three weeks). It is just retconned as Mr. Medina having always been the English Literature teacher and Mr. Remmy never existing.
You can try to explain it as Mr. Remmy being the English teacher and Mr. Medina taking the English Literature class, except that if you add up all Rory’s subjects that she takes in her first semester, that would give her too many classes to attend. It also doesn’t quite gel with Rory being behind in her reading for Mr. Remmy’s class, and then getting a D in Mr. Medina’s class because she was behind in her reading.
The decision seems to have been made to match Lorelai up with Rory’s teacher, and Mr. Remmy wasn’t going to cut it as a love interest, thus entering Mr. Max Medina. The best-selling novel The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot had just been released in October 2000, which featured a teenage girl living with her single mother, and the mother began a relationship with the heroine’s Algebra teacher. Either this was an influence on Gilmore Girls, or it’s an example of zeitgeist.
Actor Scott Cohen does have some experience at the front of a school classroom: in his twenties he spent some time as a substitute teacher, teaching music to kindergarten children at an elementary school in Queens, New York. He was offered a permanent position, but had to turn them down so he could concentrate on his acting career. He and Lauren Graham, who plays Lorelai, were already friends before they starred in Gilmore Girls as a couple.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 