3.03 - Application Anxiety

[lessa]

Ha1 Yay, Town Hall, maybe Lorelai's support was out of a perverse sympathy for the Application Anxiety Taylor was inevitably feeling about approaching Luke!

I love your Stepford interpretation, bing. If Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant, would she have dropped out to "find herself" instead? I imagined a banner to that effect, a sort of "If not for Harvard Hair, this could have been Lorelai,"  unfinished for lack of bunny costume graphic. Hmm, maybe I'll just splice some ears onto her Bad Santa costume... Did you see the bit in Mean Girls when Lohan is describing Halloween costumes for slutty girls? Just a little lingerie and some animal ears... actually, it could go to the heart of the metaphor. I mean, maybe the bunny costume was a sort of g-rated symbol for what you get when you Google 'bunny costume.' Or even a play on the circa-70's pregnancy test, which involved a rabbit.

I see the conveyor belt as well - maybe Lorelai openly accepting her choices and being thrilled with everything she does just works better for manipulating Rory than Emily's tactics did on Lorelai? But conveyored or not, Rory and Lorelai have had plenty of "are you sure this is what you want" moments, and Lorelai has as good as promised that she'll understand if Rory drops out and gets pregnant instead. It's different. (Snort, at least it is in Rewindy land.)

[Sooks]

Jim - You bring up a good point about the Lorelai conveyor belt - she has had Havard imprinted on Rory since forever, and I wonder how much of that was just wanting Rory to go to any school other than Yale, because of the history of those who went to Yale? It seems that Lorelai sometimes wants Rory to do something just to spite her parents and to show them that she's not Lorelai. I wonder how much pressure Rory feels from that motivation. But, that's another subject for a different episode.

And again, I agree with you regarding Lane and Rory's relationship. They have been built up as best friends and they do a lot together, though less as the series progresses, due to the different ways their lives go. But, you're right, it would be nice to see Rory and Lane confiding in each other a bit more. There needs to be someone else besides your mom who you feel you can confide in, and for Rory it seems not even her boyfriend at the time, Jess, Dean, Logan, does she feel comfortable with enough to really truly confide in. There needs to be someone else that you feel safe with. I had sometimes wondered if Rory wouldn't talk to Emily a bit more if she had the opportunity? Again, that's not a friend her own age but it would be someone else. I'll keep thinking about this one. Good point!

[lessa]

I guess Rory isn't dumping on Lane right now because they're going the other direction. Lane's got her own application anxiety going as she starts taking nascent steps towards assembling her dream behind her mother's back. Lorelai observes the mom code absolutely, but she obviously identifies strongly with Lane's need to think outside Ms. Kim's rigid conveyor. And she's got priors for pinch-hitting when Rory's orbit takes her too far away from Lane.

What i liked was the comparison of Lane to Dean. I mean, Lane relies completely on her Lorelai's, they make her escapades possible. But when Rory's not around, Lane has her own stuff that means everything to her and her future. Dean, by contrast, has forgotten all about working on cars, and it never even occurred to him that Boston might have a use for a guy who could build one. Get a job at the right shop, and he wouldn't have had to bother with college until he'd saved a little and was ready to learn how to install electrical systems. He didn't need to let his life revolve around SAT scores to stay with her, anymore than Lane did.

I wonder if that's anything like it was for Christopher? I mean, he was so obsessed with being Lor's guy, he never paid attention to the little details of his own life, even though getting a life was what she ultimately needed him to do before she could take a chance on him.

[bingbong]

About the question, "If Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant, would she have dropped out to 'find herself' ", my guess is she would have gone through the motions of the conveyor belt by attending college for a year or two before dropping out. She was destined to go her own way. I also like to think she was destined to have Rory sooner rather than later and perhaps she would have gotten preggers while in college. This delayed arrival would have made Rory too young for Dean, Jess and Logan, but available to destroy the psyche's of other unsuspecting guys!

Maybe i don't fully grasp the Mom Code, but doesn't assisting Lane in her musical quest put Lorelai in open defiance of the Code? This episode is only the beginning, and she truly saves the day for Lane when she opens up the garage for the band. This makes her Lane's personal patron of the arts. I love Lane's quest as a drummer, but Lorelai can't have it both ways. I think she made her choice in defiance of the Mom Code. Lorelai would never assist Lane in doing something that she thought was harmful, but that's my point: who is she to decide what's good for Lane, knowing Mrs. Kim would disapprove? This is much different from advice when Lane touched a guy's hair. Mrs. Kim would bonk Lorelai's head with an antique chair if she knew about her role in Lane's musical pursuit.

[lessa]

The Mom code is complicated. You can't make someone else's daughter do stuff, and you can't force her to behave on behalf of her mother. Lorelai invokes the mom code when Lane wants to sneak off for a date, but not when she wants to sneak around and rehearse with her band in the middle of town where everybody but Ms. Kim knows she's doing it. It's not about what Ms. Kim thinks is best for Lane exactly, it's about keeping her safe when her mom's not there to do it. Excessive tattling is counterindicated unless Lane is doing something dangerous like seeing a boy alone or running away from home.

In FFY land, Lorelai admits that Emily would have lost her without the pregnancy, but also admits that it doesn't mean she's really lost her. Lorelai may not have been dumb enough to voluntarily skip the diploma, but then again, she may have. It took her a long time to complete her education without parental pressure, GED aside. And let's not forget how Christopher behaved when his confinement became too much for him.

Honest, it's enough to make me wonder if a set of working ovaries would have changed James Dean.

[thevoid99]

That was hilarious.  Lorelai and Rory freaking out.  Emily's freaking out.  Paris is freaking out.

Taylor wants a soda shoppe.  Luke gets annoyed.

Wow, that's one weird family and the girl in the bunny suit.  Wow.

It's a weird-ass episode and the first episode where we get to meet Dave Rygalski.  He's dreamy. 

Dean questioning his future with Rory and... man he is so clueless about the possibilities of what he can do.  Plus, Rory is naive to think that the relationship will last. 

[honkifuluvGG]

Okay so I know I'm a week late but I've kind of had a crisis going on.  Plus I haven't even had a chance to review this episode again but I always had a topic that I wanted to bring up for discussion on this episode and thought I would quickly do so now before it gets too far out of people's memories.

It occured to me a while back when watching this episode that ASP must really have issues with well to do families.  It would appear that any family that comes close to possessing some sort of wealth is the spawn of satan in her eyes.  She can do nothing but paint them in a negative light to some degree.  With E & R they are so into their money and status that they can't truly love their child, or see past their duty to their status to connect with her and with this episode she paints the opposite - which one would think would be what she is trying to point out as lacking in the elder Gilmores make-up.  Yet with the Springsteens she is so over the top perverse in their depiction that people can't help to be creeped out by it.  Are there seriously no well to do families that are just normal in her world?  Plus there is the whole stereo type that every single Chilton student other than Rory is a rich spoilt brat.  I'm sure I had more examples than this but for now that is all that's coming to mind and all that I have time for.

Does anybody else view it this way or is it just lil ole me?

[~*SailorMoonFan*~]

It occured to me a while back when watching this episode that ASP must really have issues with well to do families. It would appear that any family that comes close to possessing some sort of wealth is the spawn of satan in her eyes. She can do nothing but paint them in a negative light to some degree. With E & R they are so into their money and status that they can't truly love their child, or see past their duty to their status to connect with her and with this episode she paints the opposite - which one would think would be what she is trying to point out as lacking in the elder Gilmores make-up. Yet with the Springsteens she is so over the top perverse in their depiction that people can't help to be creeped out by it. Are there seriously no well to do families that are just normal in her world? Plus there is the whole stereo type that every single Chilton student other than Rory is a rich spoilt brat. I'm sure I had more examples than this but for now that is all that's coming to mind and all that I have time for.

Does anybody else view it this way or is it just lil ole me?

No, i've noticed this too. 

[lessa]

Class warfare in ASP productions is a given, I'll grant you that. But I don't buy it about the Springsteens. They were normal, even if Lorelai is creeped out by them.

Think of it this way - the rich families were weird and overscheduled, but the small, poorer families on the show are all equally dysfunctional in terms of overcontrolled kids who fail to find dreams. Lorelai is a practically perfect parent, rich or poor, but Luke, Mrs. Kim, Liz, and Mrs. Gleason were all able to make a perfect mess of their kids without a fortune to work with.

I'm really sorry to hear about your crisis, bing, I hope real life is going okay.

[bingbong]

Lessa, i think you meant to direct your good wishes to Caryn/Honki and i echo your thoughtful sentiments to her. Hang in there, Caryn!

The depiction of the Springsteens can be interpreted openly, but i think Caryn's point was the intent of the writers to depict the Springsteens in an unsavory manner. Compare the way the "conveyor belt" kids are presented against the rebel Carol; Carol's point of view is intended to be the sympathetic one and the writers give their point of view through the reactions of Lorelai and Rory.

There are examples of dysfunctional families on GG that cross the economic spectrum. But i agree with Caryn's premise that ASP and the writers put the negative emphasis on the economically upscale families, in particular the parents. The parents of Logan, Christopher & Jason all came across poorly, to put it mildly, and those three sons searched for salvation by distancing themselves from their parents. When Paris, Madeline & Louise mentioned their parents it usually involved something bad. When ASP went deeper into characters she gave more complex portrayals, such as with Paris and E & R, but they are the exceptions.

The examples of dysfunctional screw-ups on the middle/working class side were generally portrayed more sympathetically by the writers. The names lessa mentioned are good examples: When we finally met Liz, she was a screw-up but a likeable screw-up, certainly not as bad as Jess suggested prior to her appearance. The writers made her more likeable as the series progressed and her ending with T.J. and their new child was borderline blissful. I can't defend much of Mrs. Kim's hard-butt attitude during the early seasons, but in the late seasons she became a great supporter of Lane's musical cause. Not much good to say about Kirk's mom, as Kirk described her, but she was used primarily for comical purposes (admittedly, there is something ugly under the surface). Luke was of course consistently portrayed as noble in his efforts to help Jess, Liz and later with Anna; by the end of the series, there was little dysfunction in his family.

[lessa]

I'm so sorry about that, honki, it was late and I read a few things wrong. I do hope the crisis passes before I can get my bungled well-wishes to you.

If the Springsteens were supposed to be unsavory, the writers went wide of their mark. Competitive quizzing at dinner is a little darker than reading the paper and commenting on the contents together, but a lot of the things you have to do to get into Harvard seem weird.

The thing is, I always got that the wealthy had their own little circles, goals and weirdness just like the Stars Hollow town meetings and fundraisers. Lorelai is part of both city societies, and both societies are a little crackers. She's a little more vicious with her DAR jibes, but she doesn't exactly spare her neighbors.

(And admit it, the conveyor belt isn't all that much more high pressure than Mrs. Dean's mom's desire for grandkids...)

[bingbong]

Well, L & R said afterwards that they like Darren and they certainly had no objections when he forwarded his recommendation to Harvard. I agree, nothing very unusual about dinner-table quizzing. I'm looking at the tone of antiseptic weirdness that the writers gave to the scenes, especially once the Springsteen kids arrived. The quizzing scene reminded me of a scene in the movie "Seabiscuit," where the father was quizzing the kids on literature. No Ivy League pressure, it was intended to show a genuinely loving family enjoying entertainment together, in contrast to the element of pressured conformity that the GG writers overlayed onto the Springsteens.

No question about Lindsay's mom. There was no shortage of parental conveyor belts on GG. Mrs. Kim had hers in full gear but Lane became the Kim version of Carol.

[honkifuluvGG]

I was just flicking channels and AA was showing and this exchange in particular just cracked me up today.  It fit with my mood I think.

Rory exits the diner and runs to catch her bus as Luke walks over to the table
Luke: Fast runner.
Dean: It’s the coffee.
Luke: Not your face?
Dean: Excuse me?
Luke: Sorry, just missed my youth for a second. I’m back. Coffee?

[LoveMe011]

I was just flicking channels and AA was showing and this exchange in particular just cracked me up today.  It fit with my mood I think.

Rory exits the diner and runs to catch her bus as Luke walks over to the table
Luke: Fast runner.
Dean: It’s the coffee.
Luke: Not your face?
Dean: Excuse me?
Luke: Sorry, just missed my youth for a second. I’m back. Coffee?

indeed a classic moment...it's not that often we see a moment like that from luke. sure, he's got a great sense of humor, but he usually doesn't resort to the childish insults such as this one...i had to laugh out loud when i heard it.

Happy 500th Post to Me! 

[flowergirl321]

I watched this last night. Because I just got the third season, it's so funny, I liked the part when they went to that guy's house. And how Lorilie made fun of those two kids. I know I spelled her name wrong but oh well.