Taking a seat on the couch right next to my mom, I throw a blanket on my lap, grab a few Red Vines, and then press “play” on the remote. We both look at each other and smile, before going back to staring intensely at the television. When I hear the theme song, I begin giggling. “Where you lead, I will follow,” I sing discordantly. “Anywhere that you tell me to.” I have heard this song, without exaggeration, hundreds of times.
Over the past few years, Gilmore Girls has remained to be my favorite show, despite the fact that I have rewatched all seven seasons dozens of times. Especially during the pandemic, Gilmore Girls served as my security blanket. But why?
Why did I turn to the show for a sense of protection and comfort? Let’s find out.
1) A Simpler Time
At the age of eleven, I decided to finally watch Gilmore Girls after hearing my friend rave on and on about the show. The worst thing that can happen is that I won’t like it. It’s worth a shot, I thought to myself.
I enjoyed watching every minute of the show, from the first episode to the last. When I received a bad grade on a project I worked hard on, I watched Gilmore Girls. When I was sick, I watched Gilmore Girls.
When I did not make the soccer team I wanted, I watched Gilmore Girls. And when the pandemic hit, I, without hesitation, turned to Gilmore Girls.
I am sure all of us can agree on one thing about the coronavirus pandemic: It has been extremely difficult. Not the kind of difficulty that becomes easier over time. Not the kind of difficulty that is manageable.
No, the pandemic has been like nothing I have ever experienced before. But, Gilmore Girls subsided my worries, concerns, and fears like medicine.
I have come to realize that re-watching the show reminds me of a simpler time, when I was younger. At the age of eleven, when I first started watching the show, my biggest worry was getting a grass stain on my knee from playing outside. I definitely was not worrying about the safety and well-being of my family and friends.
Seeing Rory, the main character, and her best friend, Lane, dressed up as Pilgrim women while working at a canned goods drive was calming. Watching characters at the Bid on a Basket fundraising event in their town, Stars Hollow, was relaxing.
During quarantine, I used Gilmore Girls as a way to gain a bit of my innocence back.
2) Escaping Reality
Rory and her mom, Lorelai, live in a very small town, Stars Hollow, located in Connecticut. Nothing ever really happens in Stars Hollow. Conflict arises only a few times: when there is a grapefruit shortage and when Kirk, a resident in Stars Hollow, cannot find a handful of the remaining eggs he hid for Easter that are now rotting and producing a horrible smell.
Being thrust into a world where there is not a whole lot to think about was a much-needed break during the midst of the pandemic. I desperately needed an outlet, and Stars Hollow was it.
3) What Has Changed
Gilmore Girls is still special to me. But, one main thing has changed: It is no longer my security blanket. Watching the show brings me so much joy, but it does not protect me anymore from what is going on in the world.
Ever since I could formulate sentences, I have been obsessed with happy endings; the type of ending that always ends a Disney movie. And in search of it, I have read books and watched movies and television shows that are light and, in some ways, meaningless. They all end in the same way: Everything is resolved.
But this is unrealistic. The eleven-year-old girl in me only craved happy endings. But now, the fourteen-year-old me does not.
Each one of us has a comfort show. The show that makes you smile and laugh. The show that conceals everything bad about the world.
However, there comes a time where you have no more tools to push things aside. It is, simply put, part of growing up. And, in my experience, this is one of the most difficult concepts to grasp and accept: Nothing is perfect.
