"Gilmore Girls" was a show on the CW network that ran from 2000 to 2007, created by Amy Sherman Palladino and Daniel Palladino. For those who haven't watched the show, I'll outline the premise with the caveat that you should most definitely drop what you're doing now and binge watch all seven seasons. "Gilmore Girls" follows the journey of the three women in the Gilmore family: Emily, Lorelai, and Rory. This is the most basic description I can give to the show, and it highlights what is so amazing about the show: It follows women, experiencing the lives of women, who don't require men to make themselves interesting.
The show brought many fresh concepts to television: ultra-fast dialogue, pop culture references, and deep, fully developed female characters. The drama of the show stems from the relationship between matriarch Emily, estranged, daughter Lorelai, and her daughter Rory. The plot is pulled by conflicts between mothers, daughters, and women. This is rare in television today, and even more unique back when it was airing.
The fully developed female characters are paired with extremely underwritten male characters. The tertiary recurring roles such as Taylor Doose, Kirk, Michel, and even the beloved Richard Gilmore. Even Luke, arguably the male lead of the show in later seasons, was not initially meant to be a developed main character.
Romantic interests within the show, of which there are still plenty, still maintain the theme of women being the center of the plot. Lorelai's first romantic interest, Max Medina, is explored at first through the filter of how it affects Rory, and how Lorelai involves Rory in the relationship. In the final season, Lorelai's surprising relationship with Christopher does not fuel the drama, it is Rory's reaction to their relationship that drives the plot forward.
Even secondary plots are focused on the relationships of women, and the nuances that females can have in their interactions with each other. The grappling between Lane and Mrs. Kim is a staple of the show, and for many seasons Lorelai and Sookie's main drives are to open their own inn (five stars for females being successful in business). Rory's frenemy-ship with Paris Gellar is both amusing and emotional in the same moments.
If you're a frequent TV show analyzer like myself, you may have heard of the Bechdel test. This test is used as a test to analyze how well females are represented in a film, book, or television show. The test has three premises, checking to see whether a narrative has two named female characters, if those two named female characters talk to each other, and whether their conversation concerns something other than men or children. It is not the first and only way to determine whether a body of work is misogynistic or not, and failing the Bechdel does not automatically make the narrative sexist.
"Gilmore Girls" passes the Bechdel test many times over, not only in each episode but in nearly every scene. And Gilmore Girls doesn't just ace the Bechdel test, it raises completely the bar for female representation in television. If you were to run an inverse Bechdel test on "Gilmore Girls," it would most likely fail in nearly every episode. In fact, it takes six episodes for two male characters to speak to each other at all, and then not until the next episode does the show pass a male Bechdel test.
The show is relatively absent of developed male characters. Most of them, even if present, rarely go beyond stereotypical TV tropes. Even Richard Gilmore, who is one of my favorite characters, has very few emotionally charged moments outside the women in his life. Mr. Kim, Lane's father, doesn't appear at all during the original series. In many of Lane's storylines, he would be a natural part of the plot. But Mrs. Kim is a developed, strong enough character to stand on her own. Two of Rory's love interests, Dean and Logan, have little development independent of their relationship with Rory.
Even more amazing than the underwritten male characters is how strong the female tertiary characters are. Even small roles such as Babette have poignant, deep moments in their few moments on the show. Paris' breakdown when she doesn't get into Harvard is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the show's earlier seasons.
"Gilmore Girls" works simply because it follows the idea that the experiences of women are rich enough to create a beautiful story and an entertaining world. The importance of this show remains today, and is reflected in modern shows such as "Orange is the New Black," "Scandal," and "Parks and Recreation." The importance of women-driven television was described perfectly by creator and producer Amy Sherman Palladino: "Girl power in my mind is to let girls be exactly what they are. Let them be angry. Let them be resentful. And rebellious. Let them be hard and soft and loving and silly. Let them be wrong. Let them be right. Let them be everything because they are everything."
