I had to scroll back to double check that if you’d in fact founded an organisation and were on the board of a museum at 17!! I so enjoy your writing! I was obsessed with the relationship between Lorelai and Rory when I was a pre-teen because my own relationship with my mother was so fraught with tension and resentment. Thank you for writing this beautiful piece!
hahah yes, I was an annoyingly precocious teenager, alhamdulilah! I hear you on being obsessed with their relationship... the anthology was fascinating bc some people who wrote for it actually HAD similar dynamics in real life...!
I really loved this essay, thanks, Yassmin. I've thought a lot about this - mothers and daughters - but you articulate it better than I've ever managed to in my own thoughts. I was similarly fascinated with the Gilmore Girls but like your friend, it was a depression watch for me, too. Thanks for writing and sharing this - I feel this is an essay I will revisit, and will definitely look at the anthology.
Wonderful piece. I have yet to fully watch Gilmore Girls - I am unsure if I would make it through all episodes, but I have seen several episodes. I think your reflections on daughter-mother relationships is really considerate. What you’ve written makes me want to watch the whole series simply to compare my relationship with my late mother with those in GG. Admittedly, I am also curious since there are so many people I know who have watched and loved the series. Thank you for sharing this work with us.
It definitely does seem like one of those series that if not defined a generation, certainly left its imprint. I wonder if there are versions of that today... or if things don't go for long enough!
Thank you for this piece and your reflections! I never thought of the Gilmore Girls in this way.
I only managed to watch a couple of episodes, I couldn't get into the series. I found Rory and Lorelei's relationship too unreal, I couldn't relate to them at all. My granny was so different, so warm and caring, nothing to do with Emily. And their town so polished, perfect and white. I say this as a white woman, my own town during secondary school was more diverse, and that helped me to become the person I'm now.
Your comment on the permanent state of daughter is food for thought, I know I'm going to spend some time next week pondering on this. So thank you again, Yassmin
Thank you, for reading and commenting! yeh, I think I watched it at a particular point in time... and it resonated for who I was then, but I'm not sure I'd ever be able to go back. Interesting, eh!
I suppose that when I watched it I was in a very tumultuous point in life, I had started uni, felt quite lost and my family had been struggling for a few years (my clothes were hand-me-downs or second hand). I couldn't really relate to affluent people on TV, very different realities and I was quite class aware thanks to my upbringing.
Most of my peers at uni loved the series because it gave them a beautiful world to escape into. Some days I wished that for me, but it never happened.
It's truly fascinating seeing how we remember the Gilmore Girls and how watching them made us feel, our reactions to the same event. Very interesting piece, Yassmin
Your Gilmore Girls essay was exquisite & I thank you for publishing it here. I got to recall my "Gilmore years" with Jo & we came up with the following views after a few morning chats:
I related to Lorelai as a black sheep daughter who redeems herself.
Jo related to Rory but now she's Miss Patty the dance teacher.
Paris was the best of them all.
The men were pathetic and childlike, the nadir being Rory's boyfriend at Harvard.
The show was WHITE!
The only gay character was also the only POC character and was a sneering stereotype. Actually, was Michel gay? Was that his name?
There was no God in the WASP world but we had Mrs Kim as a fundamentalist who thankfully was given a better story line as the racist trope almost had us turn off the DVD.
Maybe, we viewers, in our various states of depression as noted in the replies, maybe we just loved the song?
Every cup of coffee they obsessed over would have been crap watery American weak filter crap that you'd need 10 mugs to get even a mild buzz.
Omg I just remembered Emily's maids!
I never want to go to a mediaeval fair.
Was the series just a version of American Gothic?
(Written while suffering extreme side effects from two vaccinations. Thanks for the distraction. )
I had to scroll back to double check that if you’d in fact founded an organisation and were on the board of a museum at 17!! I so enjoy your writing! I was obsessed with the relationship between Lorelai and Rory when I was a pre-teen because my own relationship with my mother was so fraught with tension and resentment. Thank you for writing this beautiful piece!
hahah yes, I was an annoyingly precocious teenager, alhamdulilah! I hear you on being obsessed with their relationship... the anthology was fascinating bc some people who wrote for it actually HAD similar dynamics in real life...!
That sounds fascinating!
I have to check the anthology out.
LMK if you do! Yx
I really loved this essay, thanks, Yassmin. I've thought a lot about this - mothers and daughters - but you articulate it better than I've ever managed to in my own thoughts. I was similarly fascinated with the Gilmore Girls but like your friend, it was a depression watch for me, too. Thanks for writing and sharing this - I feel this is an essay I will revisit, and will definitely look at the anthology.
Thank you!! Let me know what you think if you do get it! Yx
Wonderful piece. I have yet to fully watch Gilmore Girls - I am unsure if I would make it through all episodes, but I have seen several episodes. I think your reflections on daughter-mother relationships is really considerate. What you’ve written makes me want to watch the whole series simply to compare my relationship with my late mother with those in GG. Admittedly, I am also curious since there are so many people I know who have watched and loved the series. Thank you for sharing this work with us.
It definitely does seem like one of those series that if not defined a generation, certainly left its imprint. I wonder if there are versions of that today... or if things don't go for long enough!
Thank you for this piece and your reflections! I never thought of the Gilmore Girls in this way.
I only managed to watch a couple of episodes, I couldn't get into the series. I found Rory and Lorelei's relationship too unreal, I couldn't relate to them at all. My granny was so different, so warm and caring, nothing to do with Emily. And their town so polished, perfect and white. I say this as a white woman, my own town during secondary school was more diverse, and that helped me to become the person I'm now.
Your comment on the permanent state of daughter is food for thought, I know I'm going to spend some time next week pondering on this. So thank you again, Yassmin
Thank you, for reading and commenting! yeh, I think I watched it at a particular point in time... and it resonated for who I was then, but I'm not sure I'd ever be able to go back. Interesting, eh!
I suppose that when I watched it I was in a very tumultuous point in life, I had started uni, felt quite lost and my family had been struggling for a few years (my clothes were hand-me-downs or second hand). I couldn't really relate to affluent people on TV, very different realities and I was quite class aware thanks to my upbringing.
Most of my peers at uni loved the series because it gave them a beautiful world to escape into. Some days I wished that for me, but it never happened.
It's truly fascinating seeing how we remember the Gilmore Girls and how watching them made us feel, our reactions to the same event. Very interesting piece, Yassmin
Ah to be a young summer job miner in Dalby.
Your Gilmore Girls essay was exquisite & I thank you for publishing it here. I got to recall my "Gilmore years" with Jo & we came up with the following views after a few morning chats:
I related to Lorelai as a black sheep daughter who redeems herself.
Jo related to Rory but now she's Miss Patty the dance teacher.
Paris was the best of them all.
The men were pathetic and childlike, the nadir being Rory's boyfriend at Harvard.
The show was WHITE!
The only gay character was also the only POC character and was a sneering stereotype. Actually, was Michel gay? Was that his name?
There was no God in the WASP world but we had Mrs Kim as a fundamentalist who thankfully was given a better story line as the racist trope almost had us turn off the DVD.
Maybe, we viewers, in our various states of depression as noted in the replies, maybe we just loved the song?
Every cup of coffee they obsessed over would have been crap watery American weak filter crap that you'd need 10 mugs to get even a mild buzz.
Omg I just remembered Emily's maids!
I never want to go to a mediaeval fair.
Was the series just a version of American Gothic?
(Written while suffering extreme side effects from two vaccinations. Thanks for the distraction. )