hi! so as everyone knows, rory isnāt the most loved character out there. The common conclusion is that she went completely downhill after season 4. Or in other words: āShe was always an entitled brat that everyone spoiled rotten, and it became obvious in collegeā
ik youāre a rory defender (cause thatās what people who like her are lol), so iām kinda curious what your opinion on this take is. Iāve also noticed people like to point out it was āhow she was always going to end upā which i really disagree with tbh
iāll be honest this take is so stupid and reflects really bad critical thinking skills. rory was never spoiled. i know we like to point this out a lot, but she spent the first eleven years of her life living in a garden shed. i think itās emphasised a lot amongst the tumblr circle bc the show didnāt focus too much on it, but we know it for a fact and i meanājust think about that: they had one room and probably only one bed that rory and lorelai shared, and clearly no money to their name. emily and richard may have been her grandparents, but anyone who thinks that relation brought about any financial benefit for rory before chilton seriously needs to go back and re-watch the first few eps of s1, where itās very clearly established that theyāve been estranged for years and theyāre all just starting to get to know one another. anyway, i think that debunks āspoiledā, but i also just wanna point out that everyone putting rory on a pedestal was absolutely detrimental to her in the long run, had no benefit, and was never anything she asked for. however, the townsfolk and lorelai believed she could do no wrong for a reason: because she was a good kid. she did well in school because she was smart and because she put in the effort; she helped out during dorky town events without complaint; she helped luke at the diner after his uncle died, she helped her mom out at the inn, etc etc. she cultivated a reputation as a responsible, kind person, because thatās just who she was. this interpretation of her character was not fictitiously created. that being said, rory was never perfect by any means. everyone is human and everyone has flaws (which is largely what gilmore girls is aboutāanyone expecting to find āperfectā characters here should go watch another show). people in her life turning a blind eye to those flaws is ultimately what caused her to spiralābecause everyone in her life had told her that she could do anything, she could be anyone, she was a great writer, etc etc., and then to be told by the head of a media conglomerate that she couldnāt and wasnāt? that would be crushing. that would be horrible for anyone to hear. should she have stolen a yacht? no. should she have dropped out of yale? also no. but do i understand why she did those things? yes. as for it ābecoming obvious in collegeā, I really think this has more to do with loganās influence. not to pin everything on him, but itās not like s4 yale rory was living a privileged lifestyle. she was regularly visiting the hollow still and trying to make good grades as a freshman. her first big mistake was really the thing with dean, which iāve talked about a lot but: imagine youāre rory and your boyfriend of almost a year who you were in love with just up and leaves without any explanation, and you canāt talk to your mother/best friend about it because said mother/best friend hated your boyfriendās guts, so you have to shove everything youāre feeling down and hide your pain and internalise it. then your first boyfriend who has a fiancĆ©/wife keeps showing up in your life and you think āoh, heās steady, heās reliable, he stayed. maybe i made a mistake, maybe i chose wrong.ā then said ex comes to your house and convinces you he and his wife are through, and heās leaving her, and he essentially begs you to sleep with him. i mean, seriously: no she shouldnāt have done it, but there was a lot of coercion involved in what happened that night (as well as a lot of unresolved feelings toward jess). in the fight with lorelai she asks something like: arenāt you glad it was with someone whoās good? someone who loves me? because thatās what rory wanted: someone who wouldnāt leave, someone who was obvious about their love for her. anyway, iāve gotten completely off track but the gist is: no she isnāt spoiled, and no that isnāt always how she was gonna end up. she made some mistakes just like everyone else does and the majority of the audience crucify her for it because they, like all the people of stars hollow and lorelai herself, bought into the idea that she was a faultless angel.
