Ry The Smart Kid Analysis

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Rory, The “Smart” One: Look Where She is Now Fans of the original TV series Gilmore Girls know and (most of us) love Rory Gilmore. She represents a certain American Dream for young girls who strive for what could be considered an ideal feminist path. Rory was born to a single, teenage mother and the pair, through hard work, dedication, and a few family favors manages to send her to a top-rate, private preparatory school. Chilton Academy, although not the foundation of her success, would certainly become an important factor in her admittance to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale (she attends the latter) and her promising journalism career. Truly, a new American Dream, that which the youth of America can strive towards, and which the vast majority …show more content…

Well she’s Smart of course! Her success is built upon the premise that she is capital S Smart. How do we know this? How does Rory know of her “Smartness”? The adults in her life all affirm it constantly. We hear time and time again, “Rory’s a smart kid.” Her astronomical intelligence pulls her occasional failures into sharp focus. The sixth season of the show focuses on her personal crisis as she realizes that, Smart as she may be, she may not make it in her chosen field.
Growing up, my mom, sister and I had a weekly ritual: Order a pizza and put on Gilmore Girls. I always related to Rory. I never aspired to the Ivy Leagues, but I was born into relative privilege as a white girl with the opportunity to get a good education, and I was always “Smart”.
I was reminded of this connection as I watched the 2016 4-part addition to the series, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. I, along with my mother and sister, was deeply dissatisfied with the portrayal of most of the major characters. Set 10 years in the future, this addition seems to morph everyone into the worst possible version of themselves. The most common criticisms in my house were of Rory, and the path she’s seemingly taken. “Rory never would’ve-” my mom pleads with the TV screen about any number of the character’s choices. For me the discomfort wasn’t so much with the implausibility of how it turns out, but rather with the possibility that Rory’s promising future looks like

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