We Hate Rory Gilmore.

By Evangeline Lin, ’27, and Grace Liu, ’26

I started Gilmore Girls on September 3rd, 2023, at approximately 11pm. I’m not sure if it was because of the relentless TikTok edits that flooded my ‘For You Page’, or if it was because “Rory Gilmore” and “Netflix” simply fit in with the fall aesthetic. Nevertheless, I still ended up binge watching all seven seasons of it in about a month, which also led to some dreadful 1 am studying. 

When Rory first appeared on my bright TV screen, I could immediately tell she was the main character. Mainly because, she had the main character “look”: fair skin with no makeup, naturally curled lashes, pin straight hair, and a whole ton of books in her arms. In every scene and every room, she seemed to shine (quite literally in my case, since the only thing I could see in my dark room was her on the screen).

Watching her flit from class to class, getting straight As with the highest honors, all while having no dark circles clinging onto her eyes, I set my goal for the 2023-2024 academic year: I would become the Chinese “Rory Gilmore”. I was determined to read just as many books as she did, sleep at 10am, and even joined Wolfington Post because Rory was on “The Franklin” at Chilton (I’m kidding about the last part).

I gave up on this newfound goal of mine after the first two weeks of school, and resorted to the usual “goal settings” form in PEAKS.

And then I started hating Rory.

Here are the three reasons why:

#1:

Rory is concerningly fine with hurting other people for personal gain. When the editor of Yale Daily News, Doyle, told her her previous reviews weren’t good enough, she resorted to fat shaming a ballerina to appeal to him. Not only did she call out the ballerina’s ‘fat rolls’, but she responded with “I didn’t call you a hippo, I compared you to one” when confronted. People shouldn’t have to bring down others to benefit themselves. Because of her, not only did the ballet shut down early, but all of her dormmates started receiving negative attention. You might not agree with this opinion piece, but at least we aren’t criticizing weights to make a point in this article. In the later seasons, Rory also gets overly jealous of her ex-boyfriend (Dean)’s wife, Lindsay. Instead of keeping her feelings to herself, she called Lindsay lazy for choosing to be a stay-at-home mom. While Dean worked multiple jobs to support Lindsay, their financial situation wasn’t Rory’s business at all. Gossiping in Stars Hollow wasn’t the right solution. After all, Rory only did it to bring down a romantic rival. 

#2:
Gratefulness. Pause for a second. Can we talk about how Rory treats her mother, Lorelai? With Thanksgiving just around the corner (at the time of writing), let’s focus on how much Lorelai has done for Rory and how much of it Rory has reciprocated. For context: Lorelai got pregnant at 16 and has dedicated almost her entire life to raising Rory afterwards. She has never missed Rory’s important events, especially her graduation from Chilton. Rory, on the other hand, decides to take a bus to Manhattan in order to cheat on her boyfriend, and she ends up missing her mother’s graduation, the single most important event that Lorelai wants her to be present for. I could excuse it if it was something super important for Rory, but she’s seeing someone who she wasn’t even dating at the time! To sum, Rory does not reciprocate the love her mother has given her, nor appreciate what her mother has had to sacrifice for her.

#3:

She’s perfect. Too perfect. She gives an unrealistic representation of what it means for high school girls to be successful. It is quite unrealistic, probably impossible, to juggle relationships (shoutout to Dean and Jess), write 20 newspaper articles, go to debate tournaments, read 10 books a week, and much, MUCH more. Rory did this all while achieving perfect grades and helping out around town? Somehow, she does this all without losing a wink of sleep, and manages to eat breakfast at Luke’s every. Single. Morning. How does she do this? If we knew, we would’ve all been doing it a long time ago.

This is also why I like Paris Geller more. Not only is Paris a diligent student who tries her best in school, but she also depicts the challenges of being a high school student. She got high and low marks, sometimes she showed up to school with dark circles, and sometimes she panics about fitting into friend groups (unlike Rory who magically sits down with the most esteemed sorority at her school and is instantly accepted). Paris embodies the struggles that everyone faces – staying up until 2am finishing a science paper due the next day. Been there, done that.

In short: I dislike Rory because she makes me feel like I’m not enough, whereas I like Paris because she’s a realistic character.

Rory started the series as an admirable character who I wanted to be like, but as the seasons progressed, she fell further and further from grace, ultimately becoming a character we couldn’t stand.

Btw: We didn’t ACTUALLY binge watch all 7 seasons! One of us is on season 4 and one of us quit so please don’t spoil it :>Double btw: We like Paris more
Triple btw: We don’t hate Rory THAT much; both of us still aspire to be like her (academics wise)