Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Supermom: Lorelai Gilmore

For once, watching an excessive amount of TV is actually going to pay off for school...

Gilmore Girls holds a very special place in my heart especially since I have devoted countless number of hours living vicariously through the characters in the quaint, close-knit town of Stars Hollow.




I want to focus on Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) who plays Rory Gilmore's (Alexis Bledel) single mother. After getting knocked up at age 16, Lorelai runs away from home and a future that her wealthy, conservative parents had planned for her which consisted of becoming a proper lady in society, go to an Ivy League, marry a well-to-do man, and have children in wedlock. Obviously that all changed when she had Rory, but Lorelai took that as an opportunity to leave behind the life she knew she was not cut out for. Throughout the first 16 years of Rory's life, Lorelai and Rory had no contact with Lorelai's parents until they got financially involved in their lives by offering to pay for Rory's education at a prestigious private school as long as Lorelai and Rory agreed to come for dinner every Friday night. Therefore, throughout the seasons, we see as Lorelai and her parents amend and reestablish their relationship and as Rory becomes close to the grandparents she never came to know before.

In the episode, The Incredible Shrinking Lorelais in season 4, Lorelai is in the process of buying and renovating an old inn and seems to have everything under control; however, it's not until the end of the episode that she realizes just how stressful it is for her, as a single mom, to provide for her daughter as well as pump in all this money for her career. She breaks down and confides to her good friend/future love interest Luke, telling him that sometimes she wishes she were married and to have a partner to be around and pick up the slack when she can't. This is a very intimate moment for the viewer since it's one of the first times we see her in such a vulnerable state and we get an inside look at just how stressful it can be for a woman to be "superwoman."

In the process of finding the full episode but for now, here's the clip of Lorelai confiding in Luke:



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