Footnotes to the TV series
CHRISTOPHER: So, should we avoid the subject for awhile or just dive right in?
LORELAI: Call me Greg Louganis.
Gregory “Greg” Louganis (born 1960), Olympic diver, LGBT activist, and author. He won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, in springboard and platform diving. He is the only man, and the second diver, to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympic events. He is regarded as the greatest American diver of all time, if not the greatest diver in history.
[Later that night, Lorelai is decorating the lobby as Christopher walks down the steps.]
CHRISTOPHER: Well, look who’s got Martha Stewart locked in a basement.
Martha Stewart, previously discussed.
LORELAI: So, guess who’s in the process of breaking up?
RORY: Brad and Jen?
Actor Brad Pitt, previously discussed, and his first wife, actress Jennifer Aniston (born 1969), who rose to fame starring as Rachel Green on the sitcom Friends (1994-2004), and is often considered one of the world’s most beautiful women.
The couple began dating in 1998, and were married in 2000. Their relationship was highly publicised, and their marriage often considered a rare success in Hollywood, but they did actually divorce in 2005, a few years after this episode aired.
PARIS: How’s this sound for a template? I have done my best. I have lost. Mr. Nixon has won. The democratic process has worked its will, so now let’s get on with the urgent task of uniting this country … Hubert Humphrey’s concession speech. Now, other than the part about Nixon, parts of it really seem to apply here.
Paris refers to Hubert Humphrey’s concession speech on 6 November 1968, acknowledging that Richard Nixon had been successful in his bid to become President of the United States by a narrow margin. It ended: “I have done my best. I have lost. Mr. Nixon has won. The democratic process has worked its will. Now let us get on with the urgent task of uniting this country”.
Paris says that Hubert Humphrey probably wasn’t considered very fun either, but this is one of a myriad of things that Paris gets completely wrong. Hubert Humphrey was known for his positive outlook and zest for life, a free spirit who loved every minute of being alive and wanted to make the world a happier place. Even when conceding defeat, he spoke about how much fun the campaign had been. It’s probably one of America’s tragedies that they failed to elect him as President.
LORELAI: How dare you accuse my face of that! My face is calling Gloria Allred when we get home.
Gloria Allred (born Gloria Bloom in 1947), attorney known for taking high-profile and controversial cases, especially those involving the protection of women. She represented Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during the O.J. Simpson murder trial in 1995. She has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
RORY: Um, actually, I have to get home. I have to review my campaign platform …
LORELAI: Yes, our little Hillary Clinton here is running for student body vice president.
Hillary Clinton (born Hillary Rodham in 1947), former First Lady of the US from 1993-2001 as the wife of President Bill Clinton. In 2000, she was elected as the first female senator for New York, becoming the first First Lady to hold elected office and the first to serve in the Senate.
In a later season, we learn that Hillary Clinton is one of Rory’s heroines.
PARIS: So, I have been racking my brains for weeks trying to figure out exactly who should be my vice presidential candidate, you know? Who would be Yin to my Yang, Joel to my Ethan, Damon to my Affleck, and then suddenly, it hits me – the perfect person … You.
Yin and Yang
An ancient Chinese philosophical concept of harmonising opposites, where Yin is passive and feminine, and Yang is active and masculine, but each force is equal, interdependent, and complementary. Note that Paris designates herself as the active Yang principle!
Joel and Ethan
Joel Coen (born 1954) and Ethan Coen (born 1957), filmmakers. The films of the Coen Brothers span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Their most acclaimed works include Raising Arizona (1987), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).
Damon and Afflleck
Matthew “Matt” Damon (born 1970), and Ben Affleck (born Benjamin Affleck-Boldt in 1972), actors and filmmakers. They wrote the screenplay for the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, directed by Gus Van Sant, in which they also starred. They won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. They later played parody versions of themselves in the film in the 2001 comedy film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, directed by Kevin Smith. [Picture shows Affleck and Damon in Good Will Hunting].
Paris only now chooses Rory as her running mate, with the election mere days away. Shouldn’t she have chosen a vice-presidential candidate ages ago?
LOUISE: We talked to people that we should never have even had to stand near.
MADELINE: The hairstyles alone proved the Farrelly brothers are not making this stuff up.
Brothers Peter Farrelly (born 1956) and Bobby Farrelly (born 1968), screenwriters and directors. Their films make frequent use of slapstick and toilet humour, often populated by blunt-spoken, profane working-class characters in small roles.
Their debut film was Dumb and Dumber (1994), in which both lead characters, played by Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, have spectacularly bad hairstyles. (Carrey later starred in the 2000 Farrelly Brothers’ film Me, Myself and Irene as well).
The Farrelly Brothers have two films in which characters accidentally use semen as hair gel, There’s Something About Mary (1998), and Say It Isn’t So (2001) – previously discussed as one of the potential “disgusting cow” films of that year. Madeline could be referring to either or both of these hair-related things in Farrelly Brothers films.
RORY: Go away, Randolph.
Referring to William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), businessman, newspaper magnate, and politician, previously mentioned. Hearst developed the nation’s largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. He was twice elected as a Democrat to the US House of Representatives, but was unsuccessful in his attempts to run for President in 1904, Mayor of New York in 1905 and 1909, and Governor of New York in 1906.
Like Hearst, Paris is the head of the newspaper and a presidential candidate. While running for President, Hearst shamelessly ran newspaper stories in favour of his own candidacy – Rory is suggesting Paris is doing the same thing by trying to influence the article Rory is writing about her speech.
William Randolph Hearst was unsuccessful in his bid for President, which might be a tease from Rory as well.
PARIS: Just make sure you mention that Schatzi pulling the Sharon Stone/Basic Instinct bit was a cheap attempt to distract the whole student body from my mandatory recycling program.
Basic Instinct, a 1992 neo-noir erotic thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven. It stars Michael Douglas as a San Francisco police detective investigating the brutal murder of a rock star. During the investigation, he becomes involved in a torrid relationship with the prime suspect, a crime novelist who is played by Sharon Stone.
Basic Instinct was the #4 film of 1992. Reviews at the time were mixed, and it garnered controversy for its graphic sexuality and violence, including a rape scene. Gay and bisexual rights activists protested the film, saying it followed a pattern of negative depictions of queer characters in film. It was later recognised for its groundbreaking depiction of sexuality in mainstream cinema and its transgressive nature in the film noir genre. Sharon Stone received praise for her performance.
Paris refers to a notorious scene when Sharon Stone’s character crosses her legs while wearing a short dress without panties during her interrogation, so that her vulva briefly appears on film. Stone and Verhoeven have differing versions of how consensual the filming of it was, but are apparently still on good terms.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 