Full Description
This work examines the Gilmore Girls from a post-feminist perspective, evaluating how the show's main female characters and supporting cast fit into the classic portrayal of feminine identity on popular television. The book begins by placing Gilmore Girls in the context of the history of feminism and feminist television shows such as Mary Tyler Moore and One Day at a Time. The remainder of the essays look at series' portrayal of traditional and non-traditional gender identities and familial relationships.
Topics include the hyper-real utopia represented by Gilmore Girls' fictional Stars Hollow; the faux-feminist perspective offered by Rory Gilmore's unfulfilling (and often masochistic) romantic relationships; the ways in which "mean girl" Paris Geller both adheres to and departs from the traditional archetype of female power and aggression; and the role of Lorelai Gilmore's oft-criticized marriage in destroying the show's central theme of single motherhood during its seventh season. The work also studies the role of food and its consumption as a narrative device throughout the show's development, evaluating the ways in which food negotiates, defines, and upholds the characters' gendered and class performances. The work also includes a complete episode guide listing the air date, title, writer, and director of every episode in the series.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction—"Where You Lead":Gilmore Girls and the Politics of Identity
Ritch Calvin
1. Welcome to Stars Hollow: Gilmore Girls, Utopia, and the Hyperreal
Erin K. Johns and Kristin L. Smith
2. Rory Gilmore and Faux Feminism: An Ivy League Education and Intellectual Banter Does Not a Feminist Make
Molly McCaffrey
3. Reinventing the Bitch: The Dynamicism of Paris Geller
Angela Ridinger-Dotterman
4. Drats! Foiled Again: A Contrast in Definitions
Anne K. Burke Erickson
5. Good Girls, Bad Girls, and Motorcycles: Negotiating Feminism
Alicia Skipper
6. Got MILF? Losing Lorelai in Season Seven
Tiffany Aldrich MacBain and Mita Mahato
7. Wheat Balls, Gravlax, Pop Tarts: Mothering and Power
Melanie Haupt
8. Generation Gap? Mothers, Daughters, and Music
Faye Woods
9. Like Mother-Daughter, Like Daughter-Mother: Constructs of Motherhood in Three Generations
Stacia M. Fleegal
10. Gender Lies in Stars Hollow
Brenda Boyle and Olivia Combe
11. Food Fights: Food and Its Consumption as a Narrative Device
Lindsay Coleman
12. Still More Gilmore: How Internet Fan Communities Remediate Gilmore Girls
Daniel Smith-Rowsey
Appendix: Episode Guide
Notes on Contributors
Character Index
General Index
