Footnotes to the TV series
LORELAI (on learning that Rory overheard her secret): Well, the best laid plans.
A paraphrase from Robert Burns’ Scottish poem, To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785. The original lines are The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/Gang aft agley, commonly translated into English as The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
The idiom means that the most carefully detailed plan can go wrong when put into practice.
RORY: So, do we go in [to her grandparents’ house] or do we just stand here re-enacting The Little Match Girl?
The Little Match Girl is a short story by Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson, first published in 1845, and frequently included in books of Anderson’s fairy tales. The story is about a poor young girl, a seller of match sticks, freezing in the street on New Year’s Eve. As she huddles against the wall of a house, she sees visions of food, warmth and joy in the the flames of the matches she lights for comfort.
Like the little match girl, Rory has been excluded from the wealth and luxury that exists in the house she stands near. It is intriguing that the story’s ending involves a reunion with the little girl’s grandmother, who loved her deeply – a hint of the affection from the older generation that is awaiting Rory inside the house.
LORELAI: Aw, you’re not gonna give me the Mommie Dearest treatment forever, are ya?
Mommie Dearest is a best-selling 1978 memoir by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of Hollywood screen star Joan Crawford. In the book, Christina details the years of alleged physical and psychological abuse she received at the hands of her alcoholic and controlling mother Joan. When the book came out, even people who knew the Crawfords were divided on the accuracy of the book. Some friends of Joan said that Christina exaggerated details of her life, and Christina’s two younger sisters said her stories were untrue. On the other hand, other friends and colleagues of Joan’s said they witnessed many of the incidents in the book first-hand, Joan’s private secretary confirmed Christina’s stories of abuse, and Christina’s brother staunchly defended her. The book helped to raise awareness of child abuse.
The book was made into a film in 1981, directed by Frank Perry and with Faye Dunaway in the role of Joan Crawford. It was panned by critics, but a commercial success. Intended to be a serious biographical drama, Mommie Dearest became a cult classic due to its unintentional campy humour and over the top acting. It seems like the kind of film Lorelai and Rory would have loved to mock.
There are enough references to Rory writing a book about Lorelai one day during the show to suggest that it was a long-standing joke between them, perhaps initially triggered by either reading or watching Mommie Dearest.
The novel that Rory was reading the week before; her total absorption in the novel is what Dean says first attracted him to Rory. The debut work of French author Gustave Flaubert and first published in 1857, it is considered a literary masterpiece.
Madame Bovary is about a beautiful well-educated young woman who finds herself trapped in a dull marriage to a village doctor. Her longing for romance, fostered by reading popular novels, leads her into affairs with other men, with tragic results. The theme of infidelity is one which will be important in Rory and Dean’s relationship, and the hint is right there in the pilot.
The novel that Rory is reading. Written by Herman Melville and first published in 1851, it is regarded as one of the Great American Novels and is Melville’s best known work. The novel is about the obsessive quest by a sea captain for revenge against a great white wale named Moby Dick.
Rory tells Dean that she thinks it is “really good”, and that it is her “first Melville”, although she admits that it is a cliche to have Moby Dick as your first Melville. Herman Melville has ten other novels still available, and presumably Rory plans to read more of them.
Is the fact that Rory is reading this novel when she meets Dean an early warning of his own obsessive nature? Or perhaps, like Huck Finn and On the Road, it’s another novel about a specifically American journey, this time upon the sea. The sexual innuendo of a “big Dick” when meeting Dean probably isn’t to be disregarded, either.
When Rory is cleaning out her locker at Stars Hollow High, the viewer can identify at least three of the books she has piled up in there.
One is The Second Sex by French philosopher Simone Beauvoir, a 1949 work which is a seminal text in modern feminism. The book speaks frankly about teenage girls and their sexuality, which could be important information for Rory. It is also very critical of marriage as an oppressive instution which leads women into domestic and emotional slavery: does this have any effect on Rory’s understanding of relationships? The book does seem to have informed Lorelai’s views, who is committment-shy, not interested in cooking and housework, and highly focused on her career. We may wonder if Rory borrowed the book from her mother: especially as the book discusses the difficulties of mother-daughter relationships.
Another is Mistress of Mellyn, a 1960 Gothic romance by popular British novelist Victoria Holt (pen name of Eleanor Hibbert). Set in Cornwall in the 19th century, a young governess finds romance with her employer, but there is some mystery over the fate of his first wife which the girl investigates. The book has a similar plot and themes to classics such as Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. This literary romance became an immediate bestseller upon publication. Could this choice of novel show Rory’s desire for romance?
You might be able to spot Chikara!: A Sweeping Novel of Japan and America by American author Robert Skimin, published in 1984 – the year that Rory was born. It’s an epic historical saga about a Japanese-American family, covering the years from the early twentieth century to the 1980s. It may be telling that the book involves multiple generations, and a man’s search for power for himself and his sons – but in the end it is his granddaughter who triumphs.
If nothing else, the books demonstrate the wide range of Rory’s reading.
LORELAI: Sookie, there are several chapters from a Stephen King novel I’d re-enact before I’d resort to that option [asking her parents for money].
Stephen King (born 1947) is one of America’s most popular authors. He is best known for his horror novels and short stories.
The novel that Rory’s English class at Stars Hollow High School is studying. Written by Mark Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens) and first published in 1884, it is regarded as one of the Great American Novels, and the most commonly taught work in US public schools.
Mark Twain lived in Hartford for 17 years, and wrote many of his novels there, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, giving it a particular connection to the Gilmores’ part of the world. In fact it was Mark Twain who helped inspire Gilmore Girls – Amy Sherman-Palladino originally travelled to Connecticut to look at his wallpaper. Without Mark Twain, there would be no show!
Like On the Road, Huckleberry Finn is another book about travel through America, this time on a raft down the Mississippi River.
LORELAI (to Luke): Look, Officer Krupke. She’s right at that table, right over there.
Officer Krupke is a character from West Side Story. Originally a 1957 Broadway musical, it was made into a 1961 film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. West Side Story was the #1 film of 1961 and won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
In the story, Officer Krupke is a gruff policeman responsible for law and order on his beat. In the film, the role was played by William Bramley.
West Side Story is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, revolving around rival New York gangs. This is perhaps the first tiny hint that star-crossed young lovers will feature heavily in Gilmore Girls.
RORY (responding to Lorelai’s offer of cosmetics): God, RuPaul doesn’t need this much makeup.
RuPaul (born RuPaul Charles in 1960) is an American drag queen. In 1993 he found mainstream success with his dance album Supermodel of the World; several of its singles became hits, and two more albums followed in the 1990s. RuPaul was signed as a model with cosmetics company MAC, released his autobiography in 1995, and got his own talk show in 1996.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 