WARNING: If you’re planning on watching Gilmore Girls in its entirety and do not want anything to be given away, you shouldn’t watch these clips. (I’m not naming any names, but I might be speaking to someone who’s a Baptist pastor and a Kaufman resident.) If you’ve watched through Season 5, you’re safe. (That’s you, JSmo.)
Jeez Louise!
I watched this episode, “Say Something,” late Friday afternoon. Chris came out right after this scene. I wasn’t crying. I wasn’t even misty-eyed. But my pain was still visible, which, of course, caused Dead Inside Chris to laugh.
Chris: “Goodness.”
Me: “What?”
Chris: “You.”
Me: “He’s her best friend! Her best friend!”
Chris: “Yeah, yeah.”
Me: “You don’t know, Chris. You just don’t know.”
Chris: “I know the Gilmore girls aren’t real.”
Me: “Yeah. Well. . . . The feeling’s real!”
Chris: “They’re not real.”
Me: “The situation’s real!”
Chris: “Caelyn, your mom’s a little crazy.”
Me: “YOU DON’T KNOW!”
And I don’t know which is worse. This phone call or when Luke breaks into Lorelai’s house to check on her and the two meet on the front porch and Lorelai pulls herself together, stumbles over the word “ex-boyfriend,” and tells Luke this is the last crazy thing he’ll ever have to endure from her.
Could it hurt any more?
But I love those scenes. I really do. I’d even love them without the parallel porch scene in “So . . . Good Talk.”
But I sure don’t mind that one either.
One of these days, I’m going to have to make a list of all the significant Gilmore porch moments, because the more I think about it, the more I see that repeated image as a grounding point in the show’s comprehensive narrative. Hopefully, before that happens, one of you will mercifully remind me that I don’t want to become like those one of those Michael Jackson fans who believes her life’s purpose is to “know Michael Jackson and make him known” or Elliott Smith crazies who capitalizes the “h” in “him” and “he” and “his” when referring to Elliott (whom I happen to really love) or even a blogger whose blog turns into roryandlogan.net (which was a real site until it expired this month) or something even worse.
And, while we’re at it, I have a confession to make. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television for children two-years-old and under. None. Last week, I’m pretty sure Caelyn was singing along to “Where You Lead I Will Follow.” And I usually fast-foward the credits, since I’m not a huge Carol King fan. But maybe it’s not that she’s watching too much TV. Maybe her love for Adult Contempo (which, sadly, does run deep) just got the best of her.
I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. At any rate, I’ll be sure to keep my fingers crossed during her first IQ test.
12 Comments
January 28, 2008 at 10:38 am
So this is a wasted post for me. OK. Fine.
We watched GG S1D1 this weekend. The first episode was OK, but by the third we were pretty into it. It takes a bit to get their inflections and rhythms. And that dude that calls Rory “Mary” makes me want to kick his butt. Also, that cheeseburger was HUGE.
January 28, 2008 at 11:03 am
I should’ve warned you about the girls’ bad eating habits. I could go for a huge cheeseburger right now.
Maybe two.
Yeah, Tristen’s a punk. And he’s probably another reason GG’s got such an undeserved tween image. (He’s also been on Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill. He’s a WB “dream boat” staple.)
It took a few episodes for me to get hooked too, and I didn’t even start with the very first one! I think in the first half of S1, the characters (actors and writers) are learning the rhythm of the show just as much as the audience. When the head writing reigns switch at the beginning of S7, I think you’ll get that same feeling again. But in both cases, the cast, crew, and audience all fall into step (and/or recover). And it’s definitely worth the work.
Glad you’re finally basking in the light of GG!
January 28, 2008 at 2:19 pm
By Chris’s standards, no one should ever have any response to fiction at all, because nobody in fiction is real. I mean, no excitement, no laughter, nothin’!
Have you ever noticed how significant doors are in GG? If I had it in book form, I’d mark every instance of a character standing still in front of a closed door, and of significant events that occur in or in front of doorways.
January 28, 2008 at 5:00 pm
EXACTLY, Lex!
I don’t know what I have to do to convince Chris of this. I’m afraid it might be a lost cause. I mean, I could even put Seinfeld on the line, and I still don’t think he’d see it our way.
Yes! The doors! I was just thinking that today when I re-watched that clip of L & L kissing in Lorelai’s doorway. When she closed the front door and the camera panned out, the significance of doors all through the series just hit me. (Even though she’s behind the door, and as you correctly noted, the symbolism often comes in when the character’s in front of the door. But I guess she’s in front of it on the inside.) Man, I wish we’d talked about this sooner! I noticed the porch thing a while ago, so I’ve been looking for it as I’ve been watching the series again. And I can think of lot of door instances now, but my memory’s not perfect. I’m sure I didn’t take note of a lot.
Next time.
If GG (the show as it is now, not the semi-related teen novels) is ever in a book form, we should trade marked texts. But I’d bet this is the closest we’re ever gonna get.
Thanks for making me not feel crazy.
January 28, 2008 at 5:13 pm
The door thing is really huge, all throughout the series. If memory serves, it starts with the first episode, when Lorelai goes to ask her parents for money. She stands a the door for a long time before finally ringing. Then she and Rory stand there when they go for the first FND. I think that’s the most common tip-off–people standing still in front of a door and looking at it. It’s a pretty powerful symbol of fear, hesitation, resistance, change, intimacy, etc.
January 28, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Great points, Lex! And really good insight. I definitely agree.
Yep, that does happen in the first episode. And the first FND. And when Christopher and Lorelai go to FND. And when Lorelai’s going to tell her parents about Jason. And Max. I guess both Gilmore porches are pretty important.
Plus, you’ve got Lorelai waiting in front of Luke’s door after not showing up to paint. Rory in the front yard at the end of the S4 finale, with Lorelai following and closing the door behind her. Then Dean outside the side door in the S5 opener. Rory standing outside Dean’s door in S5. Logan in front of Rory’s door in post-”Bridesmaids Revisited” S6. Maybe even Rory struggling to open her apt. door. The goodbyes in Logan’s doorway in S6 (or 7?). Emily waiting for Loreali on her front porch in S7. And, if we need to mention him, there are a few Jess door and/or porch moments too — after Lorelai rails on him for not calling Rory when he says he will, maybe when Rory’s standing in front of the closed gym doors after the hockey game, and at Yale in S5 (?).
And since it’s a show, not a book, I think you can maybe count some of the times when you hear a door shut and see a lone character standing/sitting still. Because in a book, the door would have to be specifically referenced to create the same effect.
And have you noticed the times when a door is left open? There are a few of those that I think say something too.
So, yeah, it’s a pretty powerful, important symbol.
You see! This kind of stuff, maybe more than anything else, is why I love GG so much.
January 28, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Oh, yeah, and, of course, the one I blocked out of my memory. The pit. The mire. Lorelai in front of Christopher’s door in the S6 finale.
January 28, 2008 at 5:59 pm
And, yeah, I do know all those instances I gave don’t involve characters always standing still in front of a closed door. I still think they’re all important and that the door and/or porch theme still runs strongly through them, but I think that image you mentioned — the closed door and the still character — is probably the strongest of the bunch.
January 28, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Well, this discussion will certainly change the way I view the rest of the series…
January 29, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Now I’ll have to pay more attention to the doors and porches as well. Since this is my first time watching the season, I do so as my guilty pleasure only and pay little attention to the symbolism. However, it is definately there!
I cried too at both of those scenes. The feelings evoked by a show are very real, even if the characters are not. That’s a mark of good media of any form. Chris should know that.
(…and anyway, the Gilmores ARE real!)
Steve, I think you and Joy will really get into this show and like it if you’ll give it a chance! I keep telling Kevin the same thing. In fact, I catch him looking up and watching and asking questions about it if I have it on when he’s home. I started watching over this summer during 1 hour nursing sessions every 3 hours (I had other things that I also read or watched throughout the 24 hours). Katy wisely suggested having a series to watch during the early months. Now, I’m totally hooked! Great characters, fast-pace, good story-lines, great symbolism as noted by Lex and Katy, and quite entertaining.
January 31, 2008 at 9:48 am
JSmo, there ain’t nothin’ guilty about the Gilmores. It’s all pleasure, baby.
Yes. Chris should know that. But you and I both know that he values relationships second to humor and/or story/action on television. Movies are a whole different ball game. Characterization moves up to the same level as story in that arena. (Or at least I think that’s his perception. But he may think otherwise.) I think that may have to do with what he believes the purpose of each is. (Don’t let his aloofness fool you. He’s awful worried about Jim and Pam — if you’d surrender to The Office, you’d know what I’m talking about.)
Don’t you psychologists have a term for people who believe that characters on TV are real? Or are communication geeks the only ones interested in the social realities created and perpetuated by media? :) (Although there’s definitely a line between those two things!)
June 25, 2008 at 3:15 pm
[...] the door for good, even with the words “wide open” on her lips. (You guys remember when Lex pointed out the immense importance of doors in this show, [...]