Alcohol Use on Gilmore Girls - possible spoilers

[MikeinLA]

I mean at 18 you can smoke, vote and die in a war but you can't have a few beers with your mates?

The specific drinking age in different places isn't the issue here, and this is exactly the kind of immature thinking which makes legislators in some of them raise the drinking age. Smoking, voting, serving in the armed forces, and drinking are all very different activities, and just because you are mature enough for some of these does not mean you are mature enough for all of them. And if you smoke at all, at any age, you are making a very immature and deadly choice. You should take THAT off your list of activities at any age!

In the United States, we believe a 16-year-old can be trusted to drive and an 18-year-old is mature enough to vote. On the other hand, you must be at least 35 to run for the office of President of the United States. Different age limits are appropriate for different activities. We think people under 21 are too young to drink alcoholic beverages. Insurance company statistics involving such things as teenage drivers and accidents in which alcohol is a contributing factor support this point of view.

I'm satisfied that Gilmore Girls  does not make drunkenness look funny or underage drinking look cool.

[lessa]

You all are right.But laws in the US are really restrictive ...Here in Europe you can buy a drink even if you are 16.They don't care about the age.
By the way ..have you ever seen THE OC?They aren't even not 18 and they get drunk pretty much.

To drink sometimes .. even every friday nght dinner is quite okay.But Logan .. he drinks scotch every time we see him.

Yeah, how come we never see Logan with a bad hangover?

[Bazy_dk]

Iv'e never noticed that there was much alcohol on the show. i actualy though it was a bit unrealistic that the never drink. Doctors says the you should dring 1 glas of redwine a day, which seems normal maybe not one a day. But 2 one day and 0 the next.

Especialy with Rory being in college. I don't think that we should discuss the appropriate drinking age since we will probably never agree and probably some people will say somethin mean. The drinking age in Europe is very different from country to coyntry. In Denmark you can drink in private homes from 16, but can't get served until 18. In Sweeden  I think it is 20 or somthing.

The reason why I was surpriced how little alcohol is on the show is due to my culture. In other cultures it is different. I actualy think Denmark is the number one beer-drinking country in the world. So that probably explain my relationship to drinking.

I agre with the person who says, that there are different ages for different things. In Denmark you can get punished by law and have sex at 15, drink and smoke by 16, drive and vote at 18 and retire on statepension and ride half price n the bus at 60.

Edit: i noticed an e was missing in statepension - but I don't know if that's an english word anyway, so..

Every thing at is own age!

[QweenB]

The reason why I was surpriced how little alcohol is on the show is due to my culture. In other cultures it is different. I actualy think Denmark is the number one beer-drinking country in the world. So that probably explain my relationship to drinking.
I agre with the person who says, that there are different ages for different things. In Denmark you can get punished by law and have sex at 15, drink and smoke by 16, drive and vote at 18 and retire on statpension and ride half price n the bus at 60.

Denmark hey??? Will you be my Prince Fredrick??? Hehe.

Enough funny business...In Australia (ok, too broad - in most Australian states) an underage person is allowed to have a drink in the household at any age (I guess to young though and the parent would get in trouble for being negligent) In a restaurant a child can have a drink if they are with their parents and eating a meal. The thing that disturbs me is that at age 18 you are an adult and at the one time you are allowed to drive a car on your own and drink. Obviously the law says until you are 21 you cant have any alcohol in your system while driving but what stupid laws give a kid a drink and a car all at once. It explains the high number of youth car accidents we have here.

Im off probation in 2 months, I have never had a drink and driven and Im proud to say it :-D

QweenB xxx

[lessa]

I don't know if it's common knowledge, but most of your life will probably occur well over the legal drinking age in your country. In my experience, most parents trust their own instincts rather than the letter of the law on when or whether to allow their children to drink. I am kind of wondering about something, though.
The topic has been mostly about whether Gilmore Girls could influence teen drinking decisions, but does it influence parental decisions about their children and drinking? Lorelai trusting Rory to know her own limits looks so nurturing on TV, but what if Rory hadn't been more conservative than she? Would she have been as open-minded if Rory had been eager to get drunk?

[GGOO]

well... that probebly is too wide range of a question b/c all parents will respond differently!  In general though, I think Rory and Lorelai, though they have had their flaws, have a much more trustworthy relationship than what people have in reality. Me and my mom have a great relationship but... it's still isn't Lorelais and Rorys..... theirs just isn't the same. Plus- Lorelai has Rory as a daughter... Rory is VERY intelligent and modivated to do well and reach her goals. Many parents don't have teens that are as good (in the behavior sence) as Rory. I meen... her friends are Lane and Paris.... I don't think they are going to g out and do anything that crazy!

[Stephanie]

You all are right.But laws in the US are really restrictive ...Here in Europe you can buy a drink even if you are 16.They don't care about the age.
By the way ..have you ever seen THE OC?They aren't even not 18 and they get drunk pretty much.

To drink sometimes .. even every friday nght dinner is quite okay.But Logan .. he drinks scotch every time we see him.
Yeah, how come we never see Logan with a bad hangover?

Possibly some good scotch - been resting in a barrell for a long time to get rid of the impurities, and he may drink a lot of water.

Enough funny business...In Australia (ok, too broad - in most Australian states) an underage person is allowed to have a drink in the household at any age (I guess to young though and the parent would get in trouble for being negligent) In a restaurant a child can have a drink if they are with their parents and eating a meal. The thing that disturbs me is that at age 18 you are an adult and at the one time you are allowed to drive a car on your own and drink. Obviously the law says until you are 21 you cant have any alcohol in your system while driving but what stupid laws give a kid a drink and a car all at once. It explains the high number of youth car accidents we have here.

Im off probation in 2 months, I have never had a drink and driven and Im proud to say it :-D

QweenB xxx

Yeah but the P late system makes you stay on 0 alcohol level, so the minimum age you can drink (in NSW) and drive a car is 20, and most people don't get off their P's untill early 20's.
I have never driven and had a drink either.

On the other hand, you must be at least 35 to run for the office of President of the United States.

Damn, I was hoping to run for it next year.

[Dani257]

I don't know if it's common knowledge, but most of your life will probably occur well over the legal drinking age in your country. In my experience, most parents trust their own instincts rather than the letter of the law on when or whether to allow their children to drink. I am kind of wondering about something, though.
The topic has been mostly about whether Gilmore Girls could influence teen drinking decisions, but does it influence parental decisions about their children and drinking? Lorelai trusting Rory to know her own limits looks so nurturing on TV, but what if Rory hadn't been more conservative than she? Would she have been as open-minded if Rory had been eager to get drunk?

I would hope no parent is letting a tv show influence their ideas.  First, they're adults and should use something better than a tv show as guidance.  And, there are too many factors.  Who Lorelai is, who Rory is, their standards, the fact that they have writers manipulating the situtation to produce the outcome of the story they want to tell.  All these things, especially the last, influence the outcome.  None of these things are there in real life.  So, if there is a parent wondering where to set down the rules about drinking, please make up your own mind.  Don't let a fictional character decide.

As far as Lorelai letting Rory set her own limits, she really couldn't do much more during Spring Break, since she wasn't there to stop it.  So, her attitude was she couldn't stop it, and forbidding it would make it that much more attractive.  So, give the information necessary to keep Rory as safe as possible.  I think it's important to stay true to her character.

[lessa]

Of course there are plenty of resources available for parents with questions. Some of it's raw statistical data, some of it is advice or possible scenarios. Everybody is different, though, and while I don't think television is the only resource that should be consulted, I don't think it is completely useless. I can't trust my mother or my daughter to read the same manuals about drinking that I read, but we can all watch Gilmore Girls and use it as a point of reference.
In that capacity, I've found the portrayal of alcohol use on Gilmore Girls deep enough to provide talking points, but not pedantic enough to provide conclusions, (as I think has been reflected on  this thread.) It's worked out pretty well for me, anyway.

[write2amy]

now that i think of it, it does bother me.   @ friday nnight dinners loreali has a martini or somthing like that 1st, then a feww glasses of wine @ dinner.   

rory was drunk @ the "jolly good fella" party, the party so she could find a sutible boyfriend, spring break, then after honor's weding...

[klutzy]

I never really thought about all the alcohol use, but now that you point it out there has been a lot of it throughout the show. There was that time with the Founder's Day Punch, and then underage drinking with Jess and the beer. I don't really have much of a problem with it because I think that if everyone was squeaky clean, it would end up being like 7th heaven. I like 7th heaven and all, but I would hate for GIlmore Girls to become squeaky clean. The truth is, people aren't perfect. People who underage drink, People drink a little and drive, and yes people get drunk at weddings and make idiots of themselves. I think that alcohol is just used to make GG more realistic.

[lessa]

I worry when they use it as a two-by-four to force a character out of character. It really wouldn't work well in real life. If Lorelai had really just slugged eight shots of tequila back-to-back, her audience probably wouldn't have understood a word she said. If she'd managed to stay on the stage.

[MikeinLA]

If Lorelai had really just slugged eight shots of tequila back-to-back, her audience probably wouldn't have understood a word she said. If she'd managed to stay on the stage.

That scene was accurate. If she belted down eight shots, she would gradually become more and more intoxicated over a period of an hour or more, eventually passing out, which she did. She would for a time have been in the condition shown: Staggering, slurring her speech, and losing control.

This is one of the dangers of drinking by people who don't approach it carefully. You can't just stop when you feel drunk because you will keep getting drunker, even after you stop drinking, as your body continues to absorb the alcohol still in your stomach.

[1giantGGfan]

Can I ask a question that has to do with a little earlier on this page?
What's the difference between 20 and 21? You are 20 years, 11 months and 2 weeks old. what will happen in the next 2 weeks that will all of a sudden make you mature enough to drink? someone said it, but by enforcing a drinking age, you are basically telling kids, once you are this age you can go out and have a drink, which they will take as 'let's go out and get smashed so we won't remember tonight at all!' Sure, that's real mature.

As for the eight shot tequila speech, I wouldn't know if it was acurate or not, and it's not somethign I am really going to want to find out from hands on expereience. If it's anything like what happened with Lorelai following her 'slurge' I don't even want to try it.

[Jess__love]

Once again, I totally agree with you Angela. Of course we have to have a set drinking age, but 21 is so ridiculous. It's insane that you can go to war at 18, but aren't mature enough to legally have a drink until you're 21.