Dance Marathon

In this episode, Stars Hollow is holding a dance marathon to raise money. Dance marathons began in the 1920s and were at their peak in the 1930s, with people vying to win the cash prize at the end, that could be for as much as a year’s salary. Today they are generally held as charity fundraisers, and only last for twelve to twenty-four hours, not the thousands of hours they went on for in times past, which sounds like absolute torture (and they were often rigged as well).

We learn that the dance marathon is an annual event, that Lorelai has been close to winning it for four years in a row, since 1998, and that the previous year she only lost at the eleventh hour. It’s possible the one in 2001 took place around the same time as Mia’s visit (she may have come back for it). The one in 2000 presumably took place after Lorelai’s date with Max.

According to the banner in the town square, this is the 50^th annual dance marathon in Stars Hollow, so the first one was held in 1952. In fact, this is around the time dance marathons began to decline in popularity. Could Stars Hollow have really been thirty years behind the trends?

Other Vocabulary Terms in This Episode

Soft Shoe

Lorelai says she could disrupt the town meeting further by doing a soft shoe.

Soft shoe dancing is a type of tap dancing performed in soft-soled shoes in a relaxed, graceful manner. It is particularly associated with vaudeville.

Bongos [pictured]

Rory says she could accompany Lorelai’s soft-shoe dance on the bongos.

Bongos are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands.

Bunions

Lane tells Jess that Rory has bunions from all the walking she has to do since he crashed her car.

A bunion, also known as a hallux valgus, is a deformity of the joint connecting the big toe to the foot. The big toe often bends towards the other toes and the joint becomes red and painful. The onset of bunions is typically gradual, and the causes are not clear, but tight shoes, high heel shoes, family history, and rheumatoid arthritis have been proposed as possible risk factors. Walking a lot doesn’t seem to be a problem (and indeed, Rory is quick to say she doesn’t actually have bunions).

Garvey Avenue

LORELAI: “Oh, and lots of cars stopped at a blue light on Garvey Avenue. Why a blue light? Well, ‘cause blue’s the new red.”

Garvey Avenue is a major road in the San Gabriel valley of Los Angles’ Eastside district [pictured]. For the purposes of fiction, there may be some confusion or conflation with Garvey Street, which is in the city of Everett in Massachusetts, three miles north of Boston, once a part of Charlestown and still bordering it. That might possibly be seen as confirmation that Christopher and Sherry live in the Charlestown area of Boston.

Walmart

JESS: Walmart.

LUKE: Excuse me?

JESS: I’ve been working there twelve hours a week for the past few months to get extra money for the car.

Walmart, previously discussed. There is a large Walmart Supercenter in Hartford, which might be where Jess has been working [pictured]. How he’s been getting there without a car for months is a mystery – if he was taking the bus back and forth, you’d think his path would have crossed with Rory’s at some point, or someone would have noticed him at the bus stop. Perhaps he’s been getting a lift with someone.

Luke really isn’t taking enough notice of Jess as a guardian. Jess has been working out of town for months, either getting lifts or catching the bus, and done a course in order to get certification to drive a forklift. Jess’ dedication and work ethic is commendable – Luke’s lack of interest in his life isn’t. What if Jess had been doing something dangerous or illegal all these months?

When Luke asks Jess what his Walmart discount is, he responds with 15%. In real life it is 10%.

It’s been shown several times over that Jess is Lorelai in teenage boy form, and here is another parallel between them – like Lorelai, Jess is beginning his working life while still in his teens, and isn’t afraid to work hard in a blue collar job to pay the bills, just as she did.

Totalitarian

JESS: My own good? Can we be a little more Totalitarian here?

Totalitarianism, a form of government that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state, and exercises an extremely high degree of control and regulation over public and private life. In totalitarian states, power is often held by dictators

Like Lorelai, Jess likes to criticise anyone who tries to cramp his style in over the top political terms. Lorelai calls them Nazis and Fascists, Jess calls them Totalitarian.

“I’m always on your side”

LORELAI: Thank you for finally being on my side for something.

RORY: Mom, I’m always on your side.

A really harsh comment from Lorelai, who is obviously at a very low point, emotionally. Rory has almost Stockholm Syndrome levels of support for her mother – Lorelai has done some really terrible things to Rory (like kissing her teacher at work in front of other students, or letting her freak out over the fact they had termites), and received nothing but kindness and forgiveness in return.

Oprah, Uma

LORELAI: Rory, Gigi. Rory, Gigi. They’re identical.

RORY: They are not identical.

LORELAI: Two syllables, repeating consonants. Rory . . . .Gigi.

RORY: Oprah, Uma.

Rory references the 67th Academy Awards in 1995, which were hosted by David Letterman. He made a joke about Oprah Winfrey and actress Uma Thurman, by introducing them to each other:

“I’ve been dying to do something all day and I think maybe we can take care of this. Oprah? Uma. Uma? Oprah”.

The joke is simply that they are two women with unusual names. The punchline to the joke was, “I feel much better. Have you kids met Keanu?”. (Meaning actor Keanu Reeves, who, like Winfrey, was a presenter at the awards – Uma Thurman was nominated for Pulp Fiction).

The joke was considered so random and ridiculous that hardly anybody laughed – perhaps in desperation, Letterman kept repeating the joke, and even tried it again with different celebrities (Signourney Weaver and Quincy Jones). Although the awards ceremony got good ratings, Letterman was flayed by the press.

David Letterman was named one of the worst hosts of the awards, and ratings on his own show suffered and never recovered. It further damaged his relationship with Oprah Winfrey, who he was already in a bit of a feud with (they officially made up in 2005).

Lorelai is really stretching things to say Rory and Gigi are identical names. A bunch of names have two syllables, and repeating consonants are not that unusual (Nina, Lily, and Poppy would also fit, for example, and does anyone really think Nina is identical to Rory?).

“He came back a changed man”

SHERRY: Yeah, I’ve been wanting to tell you, actually. Chris and I had a rocky stretch. I thought for sure he was out the door. I mean, he was so distant and hardly ever talked. I wasn’t even sure if I was gonna tell him about the baby. I thought I was gonna either go it alone, or not go through with it at all. I mean, I was kind of in the same position that you were in when you were pregnant, do you know what I mean? … I decided that I would tell him before I made any decisions, and that was the weekend he was with you and Rory, remember? There was a wedding or something . . . Well, I don’t know what happened or what you said, but whatever it was, it worked. He came back a changed man. All of a sudden, he was so attentive and devoted, and so willing to make it work. He said that he’d missed out before, and he didn’t want to miss it again. And I just credit a good portion of that to you.

Christopher said that he and Sherry had problems in their relationship, but from Sherry’s perspective, it was that Christopher was withdrawing from her and “quiet quitting” their relationship.

It doesn’t really make sense that Sherry credits Lorelai for changing Christopher’s attitude. Sherry decided to tell him about the baby, and Christopher returned to Boston, saying he was there for her and the baby, and didn’t want to miss out on fatherhood for a second time. Why would she think that Lorelai made the difference, rather than the knowledge he was going to be a father?

My hunch is that Sherry intuitively knew or suspected that Christopher and Lorelai shared something on their weekend together (if your boyfriend you’ve been having problems with spends a weekend with his ex, there’s a good chance you’re going to get suspicious about it).

I think she tells Lorelai that it’s because of her that Christopher returned to her as a way of warning Lorelai away from Christopher, or to let her know that she knows she and Christopher slept together, and that they don’t need to discuss it any further.

“It’s just minutes from here”

LORELAI: It’s gonna be Harvard [that Rory’s going to].

SHERRY: Well, I certainly hope so. It’s just minutes from here. Did you know that? …I’ve already clocked it – two point seven miles, which is nothing. I’ve already checked out the best late afternoon route for her to take to come over after classes.

Lorelai has already driven to Harvard University – how can she not be aware how close it is to Sherry and Christopher, that she also just drove to? The fact that Cambridge is right next to Boston must surely be a bit of a giveaway.

I’m not sure exactly where Sherry and Christopher live, but the Bunker Hill area in Charlestown is 2.7 miles from Harvard, which is a nine minute drive [pictured]. This is the oldest part of Boston, and Christopher did say he’d like to live somewhere historical. Any further west, north or south, and they wouldn’t be living in Boston, and any further east, they would be too far away.

If so, for Rory to visit them, she would need to take a bus, and would still have a walk of at least twenty minutes. The other way would be to take the subway, which would require a change in the middle, and there would then be a ten minute walk. A fifteen minute bike ride might be easier.

The knowledge that Rory going to Harvard means her spending a lot more time with Christopher and Sherry must surely be making it seem less attractive to Lorelai.

“You are so not a baby person”

MAUREEN: Okay, I’m drunk, which is why I’m telling you that we were very shocked when you told us because you are so not a baby person.

SHERRY: Oh, I’m still not. I mean, she’s all mine when she’s got the legs to dance, but Christopher’s the baby person.

Previously, Sherry told Rory she wanted at least two children, and was considering becoming a single mother using a sperm donor, she wanted to be a mother so badly. Now she says she’s not a baby person, and later tells Lorelai she considered an abortion.

It’s possible she means that although she wants to be a mother, she doesn’t particularly care for babies, and considering having an abortion in a shaky relationship is normal. However, it does sound like Sherry simply misrepresented herself to Rory (and Christopher?).

Lorelai and Rory must be stunned to hear that Christopher is a “baby person”. Really? Either Christopher really does feel as if he missed out on Rory’s babyhood, or that’s the story he’s telling Sherry. Maybe both Sherry and Christopher have been dishonest with each other.

The fact that Sherry doesn’t see herself as a baby person is a foreshadowing of what occurs after she becomes a mother.