Rory is a Millennial Cautionary Tale (Spoilers)

I’m going to work under the assumption anyone who wanted to watch Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life has already done so. If you don’t fall into that group, and care about spoilers, you should stop reading now. I should also point out I have a different relationship with this show than many of my peers. I didn’t watch until recently. During most of the show’s run, I was working an after school job and only had so many VHS tapes to record shows. This one didn’t make the cut. So I’ve only had a year or so of waiting for this continuation, which probably changes my view some.

In Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, we meet Rory where we never expected to find her, in an overall struggle. While I was watching, I found myself disliking her more and more. I couldn’t understand what ASP was doing…and then it hit me. Rory is a cautionary tale for millennials.

  • She followed her passion, when she probably shouldn’t have. Our generation was raised with this idea of following your passion, and with the idea you know what that means when you’re 18. My passion in high school was computers, or at least I thought it was. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized learning new things is actually my passion. Computers are just a great catalyst. Rory thought her passion was journalism, but it’s looking more like it’s actually story telling. It’s a distinction hard to make without world experience.
  • She confused being busy with working hard. We see Rory flying around, living in other people’s homes, and carrying three phones. She’s keeping very busy with work, but she’s not working hard. She feels like she is, but she’s so preoccupied with being busy she’s not actually working. If she were, she’d be prepared for interviews.
  • She’s “not like other millennials.” Right there in Star’s Hollow Rory has a potential support group. But she’s dismissive of them. She doesn’t want to associate with their failure, even though it is reflective of her own. She believes she is different from them without even hearing their stories.
  • She takes the easy path. Rory’s relationship with Logan is the prime example of this. He’s not available, and she knows this. But it’s easy to fall into the old habit of being with him.

Not only are these things affecting Rory, they’re affect Lorelei as well. Rory was supposed to be great. She did well in school, went to an Ivy League school, had a supportive family, she did everything she was supposed to do, and she still ended up lost in her personal and professional life. And neither one of them know how she got there. The only one being truly critical is Emily, but she communicates it in a way that makes Lorelei and Rory defensive.

Basically, Gilmore Girls is doing what it’s always done. Showing a bit of society in the reflection of three generations of women. When in that context, where Rory is now totally makes sense.

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