The Gilmore Girls Netflix revival is hopefully coming soon to a computer screen near you. (Have you added it to your list yet?) Although specific details about what’s to come have yet to come to light, one thing is clear: A Year in the Life will follow in the path of the original Gilmore Girls series in its unabashedly feminist focus on the complex and empowered women of Stars Hollow.
In an early review of the show for The New York Daily News, Eric Mink declared that “in the small-town-Connecticut universe created by executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino, women rule.”
Emily, Lorelai and Rory—three generations of Gilmore women at the center of the show, each rich with complexity, independence and wittiness—transcend one-dimensional female tropes on television. Paris Geller, Rory’s former enemy and friend, is relentlessly driven, unapologetic and outspoken. Rory’s best friend, Lane, is inspired by her passion for music to become a drummer and start a band that actually goes on tour—all despite her mother’s blatant disapproval of rock n’ roll. Miss Patty, the beloved town dance instructor, is a boisterous middle-aged woman who talks shamelessly about her lusty attraction to younger, handsome men. A women named Gypsy is the trusted town mechanic. These women truly shatter female stereotypes of submissiveness and passivity.
If you pay close attention, Gilmore Girls is also jam-packed with more subtle feminist undertones. Rory hangs Planned Parenthood and NARAL posters in her dorm room at Yale. Lorelai and Rory challenge the 1950’s definition of the “perfect housewife” while watching The Donna Reed Show. Rory reads feminist literature like The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Bitch:In Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel, and short stories by Dorothy Parker.
But perhaps the defining element of Gilmore Girls was the dialogue, and the conversations between characters were as feminist as their backstories and sub-plots. Here are what I think are 10 of the best feminist quotes from the women of Stars Hollow—so far.
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