The Great White Hope

LORELAI: You are the great white hope of the Gilmore clan. You are their angel sent from up above. You are the daughter they didn’t have.

The Great White Hope is a 1970 biographical drama film, directed by Martin Ritt and based on the 1967 stage play by Howard Sackler, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play.

Set between 1910 and 1915, the story is about a boxer named Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones), based on the real life boxer Jack Johnson. Because of his string of victories in the ring, the press announces the search for “the great white hope” – a white boxer who can defeat him. To complicate matters, Jack falls in love with a beautiful white woman named Eleanor (Jane Alexander), and their relationship, illegal at the time, leads to disaster.

The Great White Hope was well received by both audiences and critics at the time, who praised the lead actors, but its reputation has declined over the years.

Lorelai believes her parents, as she does, sees Rory as a new, improved Lorelai, and as the “great white hope” who will do better than Lorelai has done. She actually tries to see her father’s point of view, by telling Rory that Richard’s appalling behaviour at dinner was brought on by his memories of Lorelai as a teenager, and terrible fear that Rory will also get pregnant and throw her life away.

Rory’s Fight With Richard

Rory has tended to think of her grandmother as the more difficult and exacting grandparent, while her grandfather can be counted on to dote on her. Moreover, her grandmother had a meltdown after Rory and Dean stayed out late together.

However, at the special dinner it is Emily who makes an effort to be civil with Dean (we already know from Rory’s Birthday Parties that she thinks social occasions are not suitable times to get into arguments), while Richard basically attacks Dean.

Richard is furious that his precious beautiful granddaughter, so smart and ambitious, bound for an Ivy League university and a glittering career, should have a boyfriend like Dean – an average student who doesn’t know where he’s going to college, and hasn’t thought about what job he might do later.

Richard comes down hard on Rory for choosing Dean as her boyfriend, telling her that as a Gilmore, she has a responsibility to uphold the family name. We know from his fight with Lorelai in Christopher Returns that the Gilmore name is very important to Richard, and that he has immense family pride. He warns Rory that Dean can only hold her back in life.

Richard is incredibly rude and snobbish in this episode, revealing how elitist he is. There must surely be some jealousy as well, knowing that he is not the most important male in Rory’s life.

Rory is justifiably angry with him, and defends Dean as well as she can – as she can’t exactly counter Richard’s arguments, all she can say is that Dean is incredible and special to her, and that he shouldn’t be treated that way as a guest before storming out.

Rory will later find herself in the same position as Dean when a future boyfriend’s parents don’t believe she is good enough for their son.

Rory Invites Dean to Dinner at Her Grandparents’ House

While Dean is changing the water bottle for Lorelai on the back porch, Rory comes out to talk to him. (Apparently the Gilmores always drink bottled water – I don’t know if the Stars Hollow water supply is undrinkable, or if Lorelai and Rory prefer the taste of bottled water, or drink it for health reasons, or some other reason. Much of the Connecticut water supply has chromium-6 in it, the cancer-causing agent that featured in the 2000 biographical film Erin Brockovich, but the official statement is that it is at levels too low to be dangerous. The Gilmores may be playing it safe, especially as eleven other cancer-causing agents have been detected in the Connecticut water supply at levels above the legal limits).

Rory invites Dean to come with her to the special dinner her grandparents are giving in her honour. Emily told Rory she could “invite her friends” to the dinner, probably meaning her “friends” from Chilton (Emily doesn’t know that Rory is currently at outs with the few friends she has made at school). She almost certainly did not mean Rory to invite Dean, who she last saw taking Rory to a school dance, which ended in disaster when the pair of them fell asleep and didn’t get home until dawn.

Dean has the good sense to point out that Rory’s grandparents probably aren’t madly keen to see him again, but eventually accepts Rory’s invitation to please her (their relationship has only just re-kindled, and he probably doesn’t want to start off by saying no to her).

The scene is shot almost like a proposal – Dean is kneeling at Rory’s feet with the water bottle, while she holds out her hands in supplication, as if ready to receive a ring. It’s a reminder that Lorelai never got this traditional down-on-your-knees proposal from Max. If you look at how happy and excited Rory appears at the thought of taking Dean to her dinner, it’s in stark contrast to the sad, anxious face Lorelai has when we see her and Max getting engaged over the phone.

The show seems to be saying, “This is what you deserve, Lorelai: this is how happy you should be”.

Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story

This 1994 television movie directed by Oz Scott is the movie Lorelai and Rory watch with Dean. It has been previously mentioned as a biographical drama film in which Joan and Melissa Rivers played themselves, recreating key moments in their lives together.

Lorelai mentions some of these, such as the suicide of Melissa’s father, Edgar Rosenberg in 1987; Joan getting banned from The Tonight Show, where she first became famous, in 1986 (she didn’t return until 2014); and Joan forcing Melissa to get a nose job at eighteen which matched her mother’s nose job around 1986.

The film was panned as critics as strange, embarassing and self-indulgent, so Lorelai and Rory are not alone in mocking it. I would imagine they are watching a video of the movie which Lorelai taped off TV.

Rory has just got back with Dean, and he is immediately returned to the status quo of watching movies chosen by his girlfriend and her mother, and doing chores for Lorelai. I guess we’re meant to assume that just being permitted to love a Gilmore girl is so wonderful that you will allow yourself to be treated like a nonentity in sheer gratitude.

Zelda Fitzgerald

RORY: Did you pick out your ring?
LORELAI: Yup, he’s gonna surprise me with it tomorrow.
RORY: Twenties Deco?
LORELAI: Supposedly ripped right off of Zelda Fitzgerald’s cold dead hand.

Zelda Fitzgerald, born Zelda Sayre (1900-1948) was an American socialite, writer, artist, and the wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The couple became icons of the Jazz Age, and her husband dubbed Zelda “the first American flapper”.

The Fitzgeralds’ marriage deteriorated, and Zelda was admitted to psychiatric care, diagnosed as schizophrenic. She spent the rest of her life in and out of sanatoriums. Like Amy Sherman-Palladino, Zelda studied ballet as a child, and as an adult, became obsessed with it again to the detriment of her health.

Lorelai is joking about her engagement ring being Zelda Fitzgerald’s, just that it is from the 1920s. It is telling that she links her engagement ring with a woman who had a famously disastrous marriage.

Lorelai and Max Get Engaged

At her parents’ house, after spending some time restlessly examining her empty ring finger, Lorelai phones Max in a panic. After her conversation with Luke, she begins demanding of Max where they will live, tells him that she wants to keep working, and doesn’t want to change banks. It turns out Max hasn’t thought about these issues either, but figures that if Lorelai is asking about details like which bank they will use and where they will keep their shopping coupons, she is saying yes.

We never get to see how, or even if, Lorelai accepted Max’s proposal. He seems to assume that she is saying yes, but just wants to iron out a few details. We see Lorelai’s face when she realises what Max is saying, and she looks sad and anxious rather than joyful. We never see the rest of their conversation – the next thing is Lorelai coming in, smiling at Rory, and them screaming and hugging.

Did Max and Lorelai get everything sorted out, and did Lorelai truly say yes, or has Lorelai allowed herself to be railroaded into marriage because it’s what Max and Rory want? It’s dubious whether Lorelai would have agreed to the engagement if she saw Max face to face rather than talked to him over the phone.

It’s ironic that Luke’s insistent questioning of Lorelai about her future marriage with Max, designed to put her off the idea or make her think twice, actually had the effect of pushing her into an engagement with Max. He has been well and truly punished for his poor behaviour.

Luke Hears Lorelai’s News

With great trepidation because everyone has made it seem like such a big deal, Lorelai tells Luke that Max proposed to her. He has already guessed (or heard it on the Stars Hollow grapevine), and deliberately behaves in a nonchalant manner.

She is already taken aback, when he begins questioning her about what her plans for married life with Max are. Of course she doesn’t have any – she hasn’t even decided whether to marry Max or not, let alone thought about the reality of it.

Luke’s questions, which are quite rude and intrusive, have the effect of making Lorelai realise in a panic that she and Max haven’t had even one conversation about where they will live as a married couple, whether Max expects Lorelai to keep working, if they plan of having children together, or even how they will manage their joint finances.

Incidentally in this scene, you can get a good look at the coffee brand that Luke uses in the diner. It’s Hills Bros. Coffee, a brand from San Francisco sold since the early twentieth century. It was owned by Sara Lee in 2001, and is now owned by Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA.

Hills Bros claim their coffee has a bold, smooth flavour, but reviews for it tend to say it smells better than it tastes, and is generally pretty mediocre, although very strong and good value for money. Somehow Luke manages to make this average, budget-wise coffee taste amazing – which is quite a feat for someone who doesn’t drink coffee and doesn’t approve of it. Perhaps Lorelai and Rory aren’t as fussy about coffee as they think they are, or they are heavily biased by their love for Luke.

Everyone is Interested in Lorelai and Luke

Once word (instantly) gets around town that Lorelai has had a marriage proposal, all the townspeople are inordinately interested in seeing how Luke takes the news.

This is taken to exaggerated levels when a line of people, most of whom we have never seen before, form a line and begin following Lorelai to the diner. They then proceed to press their faces against the diner’s windows so they can watch Luke hear the news. They won’t be able to hear anything from the street, but apparently they don’t care.

For normal people, only friends and family (maybe) are interested in your wedding news; for Lorelai and Luke, they are the celebrities of Stars Hollow that even strangers find completely fascinating.

Rory tells Lorelai that “everyone knows” that Luke “has a thing for Lorelai”, which means that Rory knows too, and still discouraged Lorelai from seeking out a relationship with him.

“Why don’t you want to think about this?”

RORY: Why don’t you want to think about this?
LORELAI: Because I haven’t made my mind up about the yes or no part, so I don’t want to start fantasizing about dresses and flowers or doves and tulle until I do, so please change the subject.

The fact that Lorelai needs to think about whether to say yes or no is a sure sign that she doesn’t really want to marry Max. If she did, she would be jumping at the chance, or at least coming up with ways to justify saying yes.

(You can see in the background that Lorelai has donated her yellow daisies to the entire town, and they even seem to have set up a little red wagon in the town square from which to either sell or give away the flowers to passers-by. It’s a typically big-hearted gesture by Lorelai which serves to make her more of a star and the centre of attention. It’s also practical, as she could hardly take all the daisies home).

Everybody Needs a Little Sanctuary

After receiving her daisies, Lorelai walks past the Town Troubadour, who is singing this 1998 song by Grant Lee Buffalo. The rival Troubadour walks by, and the Town Troubadour gives a little nod, indicating that he can join in, which he does. Hence the two troubadours mend their quarrel – this episode is all about ending arguments and bringing people together.

Everybody Needs a Little Sanctuary is from the band’s album Jubilee, previously mentioned. The song uses the metaphor of bees in their hive to evoke the sweetness of love (a slight callback to Rory’s dream about swimming in honey), and mentions the queen, as if Lorelai is the “queen bee” of Stars Hollow. It is another song about love bringing safety and security: like Rory with her boyfriend Dean, Lorelai seems to be most attracted to Max as a safe place to be.