Torch Confessions: “Gilmore Girls”

There are several paths to demonstrating masculinity, but watching “Gilmore Girls” on television is not one of them.

The show features a pair of quick-witted female leads in single mother Lorelai Gilmore and her teenaged daughter Rory who engage in rapid-fire dialogue wracked with references to pop culture, music and literature.

One needs only to look to the feminine nature of the theme music of the show, both to get a feeling for why my fanaticism for the program is considered a confession, and to understand my loyalty to the show.

“Where you lead—I will follow anywhere,” sings recording artist Carole King and her daughter, as images of Rory and Lorelai flash across the screen and my imaginary pair of X-chromosomes surface, thus gluing my eyes to the screen.

Rory is 16 when the show begins, but the series follows her development and journey through young adulthood. She dreams of attending Harvard University, but in a twist of events, ends up at Yale where she serves as editor in chief of the Yale Daily.

It may seem strange for me to closely identify with a female character, but I’ll admit that as a 14-year-old boy I essentially wanted to be Rory Gilmore.

Not in the sense of a gender change, but because she was intelligent, approximately my age and had dreams of becoming a journalist. Ending up just like Rory was my goal.

I also related to Lorelai through her snarky quips and music sense, which pretty much solidified the series’ total control over my life for a time. Both of these characters—among others on the show—listened to and often referenced great music. Giving nods to the likes of Metallica, The Ramones and Black Sabbath established a pipeline between the writers and my soul, and allowed them to win over my undying fandom.

The full series is available on Netflix, and it was even recently announced that the show would be reborn exclusively on the streaming service, in four new 90-minute episodes that I am way too excited for.

A release date has not yet been set for the revival of the show, but rest assured that 360 minutes of my existence will almost immediately be spent binge-watching them soon after they’re made public.