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11. Stars Hollow, Chilton, and the Politics of Education in Gilmore Girls
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202 StarsHollow,Chilton,andthePolitics ofEducationinGilmoreGirls M A T T H E W C . N E L S O N College is breaking my spirit. Every single day, telling me things I don’t know, it’s making me feel stupid. —M A R T Y speaking to Rory after a marathon study session, in “Emily Says Hello” (5.09) In Lorelai Gilmore and the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Amy Sherman-Palladino created a character and place that represent a kind of middle-class American ideal. Lorelai is a smart, successful, fiercely independent woman who has made a comfortable life for herself and her daughter, and she has done it on her own. Lorelai’s neighbors are, for the most part, like her: hardworking, community and family oriented, and self-made. Stars Hollow and its residents represent the meritocratic ideal; if you excel at what you do—make the best coffee, cook the best food, grow the best produce—you will be successful. The middle-class ideal exemplified by Lorelai’s life in Stars Hollow is set against the upper-class community of her parents, Richard and Emily, in Hartford. This community is built on aristocratic rather than meritocratic ideals. If you are not from a family with a proper pedigree, you are unlikely to be fully accepted. And even if your family credentials are impeccable, they still may not be good enough for all members of this community, as we see when Rory is deemed “unsuitable” for Logan Huntzberger (having not been “bred” for it), even though, as she argues in “But I’m a Gilmore!” (5.19), her ancestors “came over on the Mayflower.” StarsHollow,Chilton,PoliticsofEducation | 203 In the diegetic world of Gilmore Girls, these two communities exist as binary forces, and Rory is the only character who can effectively function in both. Other characters’ attempts to cross the classbased boundaries are portrayed as “fish out of water” situations that are usually played for laughs. For example, in “Rory’s Birthday Parties ” (1.06), the audience is treated both to Lorelai’s horror at the over-the-top extravagance of the titular shindig thrown by Emily as well as the latter’s discomfort at drinking out of “Holiday Inn” wineglasses at Lorelai’s party. Although humor is often derived from the differences between Hartford and Stars Hollow, Sherman-Palladino’s juxtaposition of these two communities can be seen as a serious statement about class. And as the audience makes judgments about social relations and class mobility based on the ways they are presented in Gilmore Girls, the deck seems stacked in favor of Lorelai’s middle-class life in Stars Hollow. Indeed, the audience is invited to appreciate the eccentricities of the Stars Hollow residents and their rummage sales, knitting marathons , and Revolutionary War reenactments while finding amusement at the pretentiousness of Emily’s inability to remember the names of her ever-changing household staff or her obsession with the personal lives of other members of Hartford’s elite. Likewise, the spontaneity and independence of Lorelai’s self-made life are portrayed to be more admirable than her parents’ affluent but formal lifestyle. The upperclass characters on the show are generally snobby, condescending, and confrontational. We see examples in Emily’s constant critique of Lorelai’s table manners and fashion choices and in the way she disparages Luke’s appearance when he accompanies Lorelai to the renewal of Richard and Emily’s vows. We root for Lorelai to end up with the ever-present Luke instead of the irresponsible and undependable Christopher. Likewise, Rory’s Stars Hollow love interests have a likability and relatability that the would-be suitors from her grandparents’ world do not. In the show’s first season, Rory is pursued by Tristan, a classmate at Chilton. Tristan is a smarmy snob who refuses to call Rory by her name while intimating that she would be lucky to go out on [3.144.102.239] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 20:14 GMT) 204 | Race,Class,Education,Profession a date with him. Meanwhile, Dean, Rory’s boyfriend in Stars Hollow , is polite and hardworking. When Tristan and Dean confront one another at a school dance, Tristan insults Dean’s clothing and provokes him into a fight. This incident leads the audience to believe that Dean is a good guy and that Tristan is not. In short, the upperclass characters in Gilmore Girls are, for the most part, arrogant, unlikable, and unpleasant people who seem...