Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life - What did everyone think?
SPOILER ALERT - Please do not read if you have not watched Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
I'm kind of a huge fan of the show Gilmore Girls. I have watched the seven-season run probably 7-10 times in its entirety. I watched it when I was bored, when I was sad and needed comforting, and when I was stressed and needed motivation. I identified so strongly with Rory's journey, her tough schooling, her friendship with Lorelai, and her decision to not marry Logan in the series finale, etc.
Rory's character in "A Year in the Life" still speaks to me on a fundamental level. She is existentially lost, she works hard but is not as successful as she should be, she has to move back home in her thirties even though she is highly educated, highly motivated, and highly qualified for almost every job she applies to. Basically, she embodies the millennial overachiever that is so characteristic of today's youth. She has essentially been screwed by society and is unable to 'make it' in traditional terms of journalism. She is unhappy that she is, in her eyes, a failure, and turns to inappropriate lovers and literally forgets about a boyfriend that she has no feelings for. It is sad for me to see her in such a state of failure (though it is not entirely of her making) becuase I have felt much like this in recent years. The traditional successes you could once attain from education and hard work don't necessarily exist any more. I don't want to sound as if I am complaining, but I, like Rory, was part of the generation that were told: "get a University degree and you can get any job as soon as you graduate." We worked our butts off in school, got top grades, and then BAM. The real world hits and it becomes very obvious very quickly that no one is impressed by you, and your hard work is far from over.
So, as hard it was for me to see Rory as anything but wildly successful, it was certainly realistic. We do see a glimmer of hope for Rory's future, however, and I (someone who likes happy endings and everything being tied up nicely at the end of a story) choose to believe that writing her book will lead to some level of success. Becuase I still have to believe that if you work hard enough, and want it badly enough, you deserve to be happy and successful.
Something else that made me sad for Rory's character: the final four lines of the final episode. "Mom?" "Yeah?" "I'm pregnant."
I read a Huffington Post article that pointed out that this statement was a perfect way to mirror Rory with Lorelai. Essentially Rory = Lorelai. Furthermore, to be brief, Logan = Christopher and Jess = Luke. I suppose they are correct, but I always felt like Rory is what Lorelai never got to be. Lorelai was a brilliant student, but she was stubborn, so when she became pregnant with Rory at the age of 16, she 'squandered her potential' (to use a horrible and very Mr. & Mrs. Gilmore viewpoint). Rory was supposed to become what Lorelai could not when it came to education and work, anyway. The end of "A Year in the Life" was a really nice tie up for both Emily and Lorelai Gilmore. The two of them seem to have made peace with their lives and have found happiness. But Rory is a failure of a journalist (again, I mean in her eyes), she is stripped of her potential, and she's now, at 32 years old, with no money, going to raise a child, presumably on her own, without the support of the father (assuming that it's Logan) becuase he doesn't want to be with her (or does he?). Again, this is a realism issue that, while I suppose it's quite poetic, doesn't jive well with me, the one who loves happy endings.
We can only assume, that if the writers intended for Rory = Lorelai, then Rory will raise Logan's baby on her own, then end up with Jess. Can't Rory have her own life? Why can't Rory just be Rory, and have the fruits of her labour bring her happiness without there always having to be a baby or a man involved.
ANYWAY, I still loved it, despite all of this. What did you think????