- 19 hours ago
Go to http://ro.co/take to get a membership starting at just $99 for your first month. 📺 Gilmore Girls is of course the story of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore both figuring out how to grow up...
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Gilmore Girls is of course the story of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, both figuring out how to grow
00:05up into the people that they want to be. But there's a third Gilmore woman who provides a
00:09very different perspective to the show with her own biting wit, matriarch Emily Gilmore.
00:15Hold on, I'm looking up aneurysm in our medical dictionary to see if I just had one.
00:18Emily was constantly at war with her daughter Lorelai, over everything from major life decisions
00:23to the minutiae of her outfits. You had the word juicy on your rear end.
00:27Uh, well, if I'd known you were coming over, I would have changed.
00:31And to what, a brassiere with the word tasty on it?
00:33She is uptight and close-minded, the total antithesis of the fun and free Lorelai. And
00:38she can often come across as suffocating and even straight up mean. But if we take a closer look,
00:44we can begin to better understand why Emily behaved the way she did, and why her evolution
00:49was actually just as important as Lorelai and Rory's. Emily and Lorelai are in many ways like
00:55oil and water. Emily, an archetypal wasp, beholden to societal rules and unwilling to
01:01express any emotion beyond tepid displeasure. Lorelai, an energetic free spirit who feels
01:06deeply, jumps into experiences headfirst, often without thinking everything through,
01:10and who wants to live life by her own rules.
01:13So Lorelai, how are things at that charming little inn of yours?
01:17Mm, they're still charming and little, and we're just crossing our fingers it doesn't
01:21assert itself and become rude and large.
01:23As Lorelai was growing up, Emily expected that her daughter would follow in her footsteps,
01:28molding herself into the perfect society wife and mother. Lorelai had other plans. She
01:33bristled against her mother's constraining nature, and when she became pregnant at 16,
01:37chose to run away and attempt to make it all on her own, rather than be stuck under her mother's
01:42thumb any longer. And she did. She found a place to stay, worked her way up at her job,
01:48and began carving out her own life for herself. Though this would be a great success to most,
01:53in Emily's eyes, Lorelai's life was still a letdown, because she wasn't successful in the
01:58quote-unquote right ways.
02:00Independent inn.
02:01You really should identify yourself when you answer the phone at work.
02:04Sorry. Independent inn. Major disappointment speaking. Better?
02:07Yes, thank you.
02:08A big part of the reason that they butt heads so intensely is because they're actually a lot
02:13alike. They're strong-willed and quick-witted women with their own opinions that they are not
02:17afraid to share. And they're always convinced that their way is the best way. It's really their
02:22split-in mindset around how life should be lived and how women should behave that drives the wedge
02:28between them.
02:28I saw a supply closet down the hall. Maybe my masseur could finish me in there.
02:32Okay, mom.
02:34Or perhaps I could roll myself against a stucco wall, eliminate the need for a masseur altogether.
02:38Because Lorelai ran away and cut her parents out of her life at only 16, there's an underlying
02:43what-if in their relationship. How might have things been different if she had stayed?
02:48Lorelai likely imagines that she would still have rebelled either way. If she hadn't had the
02:52pregnancy to spur her choice, then it likely would have come when she graduated and moved out.
02:56Emily, on the other hand, often seems to want to imagine a world where Lorelai had stayed and
03:01came to appreciate Emily's world, and began trying to fit herself into the correct mold as
03:07she entered adulthood.
03:08You can use your mother's old golf clubs. They're upstairs gathering dust along with the rest of
03:12her potential.
03:13Okay, mom, can I maybe talk to you for a minute?
03:16We see this come to a head when Emily and Richard harbor Rory after she decides to drop out of Yale
03:20against Lorelai's wishes. Lorelai fears that Rory dropping out means that all of the hopes she had
03:25for her are dashed, and so is upset that her parents are not only okay with it, but have
03:30been helping and hiding Rory without telling her. Emily feels like she's helping out her grandchild,
03:35both by giving her a place to stay, and by pulling her back into the fold, finally giving herself
03:40the chance to raise a child the right way.
03:43You guys must be pretty jazzed though, huh? I mean, you finally did it, you finally got a shot
03:47at getting the daughter you've always wanted. Now you get your do-over, a new and improved Lorelai.
03:52But why is Emily so obsessed with this idea that there's only one correct path forward in life?
03:58Never underestimate the value of the upper hand, Rory. You're in the real world now. Status
04:04matters. But your grandfather and I are very proud of you.
04:07Emily is a product of her era and social class. She was brought up in a time when women's proper
04:13roles were very strictly defined, and her social status also came with its own rigid set of ideas
04:18about the world and how one should exist in it. Her goals in life were more based around keeping
04:32up appearances and solidifying the aesthetics of wealth and success, with happiness and freedom
04:37taking a back seat in that pursuit. For her, marrying well was a major life success, securing
04:43yourself not only financial security, but also a feeling of safety.
04:47And I'd sneak out of bed, and I'd put on my wedding dress, and my tiara, and my gloves.
04:53How very safe I felt. How very right, and wise, and honored.
04:59And so, when it came to raising her daughter, she attempted to get Lorelai to focus on these
05:03same things. To become a person that someone else would want to marry, instead of focusing
05:08on who she actually wanted to be. Everything Emily does, from her choice of friends, to
05:13her home decor, to her clothes, and beyond, is about performing the person she thinks she's
05:18supposed to be. This gives her a feeling of control over her life, which means she feels
05:22very uncomfortable when she has to step outside of that box.
05:26I feel ridiculous.
05:27You look great.
05:28I look like a Clydesdale.
05:29Emily doesn't see her power stemming from herself or any personal trait of her own, but
05:34instead from her money. Or rather, from her access to someone else's money. First her
05:39parents, then her husband's. This then becomes her means of access to and control over both
05:44Lorelai and Rory. Lorelai needing money to pay for Rory's private school is what pulls
05:49her back into her mother's orbit. And so Emily jumps at the chance to use this financial leverage
05:54to get what she wants emotionally. Making them repay the loan, not with money, but with their
05:58presence.
05:59Dinner, Friday night. No spurs, please.
06:02And this is also why she bristles so much at any attempts towards financial independence
06:06on Lorelai's part. Like when she gets mad at Lorelai for trying to pay her and Richard
06:10back the Chilton money. Because she knows that that money is what really gives her any semblance
06:15of control in their relationship.
06:17I was going to wait until you called me, but my life isn't as long as yours. Did you sit
06:21on the couch?
06:22The couch? You did this?
06:23Of course I did it. My granddaughter's a Yalie now. She needs to live like a Yalie.
06:27Social media is full of juice cleanses, soup diets, and other unsustainable cycles. But
06:33there's a better, more sustainable way. If you've heard of GLP-1s, you've probably
06:37heard about how difficult to obtain and expensive they can be. That's where Rowe can help. Rowe
06:42has compounded GLP-1s in stock now. And you can see if you qualify from the comfort of home,
06:47without having to deal with scheduling a doctor's appointment. And if you qualify, you can get it
06:52in one to four days. Rowe members have support throughout the entire process. And, if eligible
06:58for medication, will be able to access their provider on demand to answer any questions they
07:02might have.
07:03Go to roe.co slash take. Memberships start at just $99 for your first month. Medication costs
07:10are separate. That's ro.co slash take. Go to roe.co slash safety for black box warning
07:18and full safety information. Compounded medication is not required to and does not receive FDA
07:23review or approval. Prescription only.
07:27The view that Emily grew up surrounded by was that one should do whatever it takes to
07:32ensure the best life for your children, even if that meant doing so by force and against
07:36their will.
07:37I only want the best for her and since she is incapable of judging what is right and what
07:40is wrong, I had to step in, I had to act.
07:43And that best life didn't have anything to do with happiness or fulfillment, but was solely
07:47focused on their continued access to their wealth and social standing.
07:50I was supposed to graduate from high school, go to Vassar, marry a Yale man and get myself
07:55a proper nickname like Babe or Bunny or Shih Tzu.
07:58This, unsurprisingly, caused issues with kids like Lorelai who sought freedom and had a desire
08:03to express themselves as they pleased. Especially during the early 1980s when there was a new
08:09wave of angsty teens like Lorelai beginning to push back against the establishment and ideas
08:13about who they were supposed to be.
08:15I spoiled their plans. I took their fine upbringing in a world of comfort and opportunity and
08:21I threw it in their faces. I broke their hearts.
08:24Emily's belief that the only thing that really matters in life is securing wealth and social
08:28standing is why she's so against things that make Lorelai happy but don't fit that mold.
08:33From her job to the people she cares about.
08:35I guess people who frequent diners don't look too closely at what they're eating out of self-defense.
08:39We don't serve roadkill at my place.
08:41As many times as Lorelai proves she can take care of herself even if she does stumble along
08:46the way. Emily still sees her as her rebellious child that she needs to reign in and set on the
08:52right path. While this kind of life is constricting to someone like Lorelai who grew up in it and did
08:56everything she could to escape it, we also get to see the things that make it so enticing to
09:01outsiders through Rory's eyes. Lorelai had given Rory a lot of personal freedom but we see how that can
09:07take a sharp turn into being spoiled when money becomes involved. Rory is quite quickly pulled in
09:12by the allure of high society life. The idea of a life where everything good is plotted out for you
09:17and you get to just float along. The ability to use wealth to get whatever she wants and just
09:21being a Gilmore. And it's that spoiled nature that makes people easier to control. When they
09:35realize how much easier everything is with access to money, it takes a lot more to get them to give
09:40it up or go against it. Rory also shows how difficult it is to hold these two parts of oneself. The part
09:45that wants freedom to do what they want and the part that wants the power to mold the world into what
09:50they want. She enjoys the trappings of the life and the way it opens doors for her and is there
09:54to catch her when she falls. But she also simultaneously pushes back against the idea
09:59that she's that kind of person. Whether you like it or not, you're one of us. You went to prep school,
10:05you go to Yale, your grandparents are building a whole damn astronomy building in your name.
10:09That is different, okay? She wants the power without the restriction, but that's generally not how it
10:14works, especially for women. And that gets at the heart of Emily's whole thing. In her
10:20era, the way she chose to live was presented as the single way that women were able to build
10:24relatively safe and comfortable lives for themselves. And she feared for Lorelai that
10:29breaking out of that mold would only lead to disaster. And to be fair, it was not an easy
10:33journey for Lorelai. Because she had so completely bought into the rules and ways of her world,
10:39she couldn't see that there was another way, even as Lorelai went out and proved it. Emily found
10:44security and wealth, but Lorelai had chosen to build a different kind of life for herself,
10:48where she could feel truly safe and happy because she knew that she had the freedom to fail,
10:53pick herself back up, and try again. No one on the show is static, not even the stoic Emily
10:59Gilmore. Though she thought her life would be simple and follow the plans she set out for herself,
11:04or really that was set out for her. She's continually thrown off course and has to find ways to adapt.
11:09From losing her only child when Lorelai ran away, to constantly being at odds with her when they do
11:14reconnect, to Richard's affair, to learning to live on her own for the first time in her life,
11:19to losing Richard and truly being on her own. Change is difficult for anyone, especially when
11:24you've been stuck in the same patterns for so long. So it's not surprising that it took a lot to shake
11:29Emily out of her rigid ways.
11:31Mom, he's taking the dining room chairs.
11:33They don't bring me joy.
11:34While her and Lorelai's similarities were part of what drove their constant bickering,
11:38it's also what allowed them to understand each other on a deeper level once they took the time to try to
11:43connect. I don't remember being in labor for 14 hours with anyone else, so no, there's no one else.
11:48Okay, I'll be over. I'll be waiting. Blind and waiting.
11:52While they never fully see eye to eye, Emily is willing to stand up for Lorelai and Rory when it
11:56matters. They are in this together. I don't see why. Why should Christopher sacrifice everything we
12:00planned for him just because... Choose your words extremely carefully, Strobe.
12:04And they are able to find some common ground. And raising a child who doesn't always live her life
12:08the way Lorelai would have wanted gives her a new perspective on what Emily went through
12:13raising her. And while Emily is pretty loudly against most of Lorelai's lifestyle, it's clear
12:18that deep down she is proud of the person her daughter has become and the life she's built for
12:23herself. What'd I miss? I was just admiring your mother's life. Oh, I do that daily. And while she'll
12:28never let go of her love of the finer things in life, she does begin to see how those kind of things
12:33aren't the key to personal fulfillment. I like that woman. And you know what?
12:39I like these shoes. You're becoming one of us, Grandma.
12:43Gilmore Girls was about Lorelai's adult growing up and Rory's regular growing up,
12:47but also about Emily growing and changing thanks to having these two in her life too.
12:52Emily never became a perfect person. Just like everyone else, she still had many flaws and
12:57obstacles she had to work to overcome. But her story is positive in that it shows that even when
13:02you've been trapped in your ways for so long, you can break out of that box and start working
13:07towards being a better, more caring person and start living the life you want.
13:12And I'm going to have two glasses of wine at lunch every single day.
13:15Only prostitutes have two glasses of wine at lunch.
13:17Well then buy me a boa and drive me to Reno because I am open for business.
13:22That's the take. Click here to watch the video we think you'll love,
13:25or here to check out a whole playlist of awesome content. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on
13:30notifications.
Recommended
1:29
|
Up next
12:13
1:13
1:18
12:31
9:31
1:05
1:40
1:29
14:18
2:27
2:21
1:13
Be the first to comment