“ Rory is supposed to be realistic not perfect,” we’re not asking her to be perfect, we’re just asking her not to continuously cheat and sleep with men in relationships.

In my opinion: Rory is a realistic character and realistic characters aren't supposed to be perfect but in the first few seasons she came across perfect

The reality about Rory is that she isn't a "genius." She just grew up in a small town where there wasn't much academic competition to begin with, and she was surrounded by people who pretty much inflated her ego, all-day, every-day. By the time she graduated high school, she inaccurately believed the hype that she was in fact uniquely talented and hence the sense of entitlement. However when she arrived at college, it was the first time in her life where she actually did have academic competition, and she quickly discovered that she wasn't as talented as she had previously believed, and she didn't have the skills, humility or the grit to not only accept her newly-discovered inadequacies but to put in the hard work that is necessary to overcome them, and instead no longer having the wrap-around adulation of the people in the town she grew up in, she simply imploded. It's not that unusual.

After spending her whole life being praised by literally everyone and never having consequences for anything I think how Rory turned out was extremely realistic. That being said it doesn’t make me like her.

It always confused me was why Rory wanted to be a journalist? It just seems so random. Rory is shy, soft spoken, and a good follower, not strong voiced, probing, passionate leader ( which are all traits required to make a good investigative journalist). I’m not sure if this personality and job mismatch can be attributed poor writing or if it was intentional to set up her downfall. If it was to set up her down fall then the Rory we got in a year in the life was the most realistic version of this character we could have gotten. The thing is Rory never put in a fraction of the amount of effort at school as she thought she did. She simply never had the qualities or the work ethic to make it in a job that has very poor job security and where only the best of the best thrive. Because of how everyone around her praised her and put her on this pedestal, she began to think she could never do any wrong. As a result, she was unable to improve herself to actual become a good journalist or develop the common sense that she needs a job with better job security and that doesn’t require as much effort to be successful. Rory and others in her life seem to view her like a mini Lorelei. They seem to attribute Lorelei’s personality traits (hard working, independent, socially intelligent, strong willed, competitive, overcome a lot of hardship, etc) to Rory because she’s Lorelei’s daughter. But in reality Rory has never had to overcome anything in life nor as she ever challenged herself like putting herself out their to make friends, join clubs, travel, learn a new skill, etc. it seems she is also unaware of the fact she is more like her grandparents and her lifestyle actually has always resembled more of theirs than her mothers. Rory was given every opportunity to thrive in life with minimal effort, and yet she still couldn’t take blow to her ego by getting another degree in something she’s less interested in and dropping journalism. She turned down the opportunity to be in a happy marriage with the guy she wanted to be with, because she felt she had something to prove to everyone. Even though I didn’t like Rory as a character in the last few seasons I truly commend the writers and Alexis Bledal for crafting such a well realized and interesting character. That even a decade after its final season ended people are still to this day in-depth analyzing Rorys personality.

In my opinion Rory was always meant to fail. She never really had what it took to get into an Ivy League college or thrive as a journalist. I hate to see it but I agree with Mitchum’s speech to her. Rory was obviously VERY smart but nothing in Rory’s character’s journey throughout indicates a true curiosity of what the world has to offer or the high achieving personality streak that it takes to get into and thrive in Ivy League college. Paris fights for that Ivy League spot: she is on every committee, manages group work to ensure she gets the A she wants, and isn’t shy about making sure she gets what she works for. Meanwhile Rory sits back to let Paris lead, and doesn’t pursue any hobbies or passions outside of reading. When she had to go to DC for student government she wasn’t excited… if you want to see the world and write about it for your career wouldn’t you be excited to have this opportunity? When it comes to her work on school newspapers there are also no plot lines about her writing articles. We know she does great work but we don’t see her putting herself in new situations with confidence or interest in order to do research. Even the whole Europe trip after graduation was clearly an out growth of Lorelei not getting to do that. Rory never pursued travel, when that would have definitely been an option through Chilton. They could have had her travel during summer (like DC) or winter break to keep her in all of the episodes but still show a real interest in it. Watching the revival and knowing it was Amy Sherman-Palladino’s chance to finish the show her way, it really put into perspective that Rory was unfortunately always set to fail because, even though she didn’t realize it, she was really trying to live out Lorelei’s dream.

she's held up as the golden child of a town full of unachievers. she was a big fish a small pond and couldn't hack it when she went to college because she wasn't special or intelligent. that she couldn't handle a five class workload, so she definitely can't hack real life. rory is terrible in a pinch. that's something clear throughout the show. when faced with a fork in the road, rory always takes the easiest route or the one others gude her to. amy said that she didn't watch the 7th season so it makes sense that no one really progressed or grew from the end of the show to a year in the life. I also maintain that the show we watched from 2001 to 2008 is the visual representation of the book she's writing in A Year in the Life. It explains why the story is so skewed in the series and Rory and Lorelai are painted in such a positive light (always the victim in a bad situation and the sweetheart of the town).

Rory Gilmore was not a failure. We all falsely believed she was Lorelai's mini me, only to get slapped in the face when she grew up to be Christopher. All this because Lorelai brought in her family's insane amount of money and privilege into Rory's life. What most viewers fail to realize is that up to the point where the pilot episode shows of Rory's life, Rory grew up poor AF. Watch the episode where Emily meets the owner of the inn Lorelai ended up working in and you will realize that the pilot episode blinded most people to the reality of how poor a household Rory grew up in and the house they lived in was something Lorelai had been in debt in for years while paying it off with a maids salary. So not only did she grow up poor, she also grew up knowing that if she wanted anything, she had to work and study hard for it. Then comes Chilton, a super elite and expensive school, but Lorelai gets stunned by the price tag? How could either of them have thought of enrolling Rory without even looking at the paying options? So in come the Grandparents to pay and all of a sudden a lot of things in Rory's life become SOOO much easier. Honestly the only thing I'm surprised about Rory is that she never resented her mother for forcing her to grow up in poverty, and making her work harder than she really had to in life, because her grandparents adored her and it was Lorelai's obsession of getting away from her family that kept Rory from her better life, because Lorelai is right, Rory was the daughter her mother always wanted, and she could have been if Lorelai hadn't dragged her away to live Lorelai's way.

I always wondered how rory was even broke in the reboot. Did the writers just forget she's a trust fund kid in regards to Richard? He talked about her trust fund she was to recieve at 25 in the original show.

She peaked in high school. She had a good work ethic learning from her mom that you could go from maid to running the place in a decade she could have achieved even more than her mom if she went to school for something that would have actually propelled her like business with her grandparents she could’ve had the same financial support that Bezo’s himself had.

Wonderful example of the perils of a fixed mindset, instead of a growth mindset

Somewhat disagree on Rory being the classic gifted child vs. the hard worker. While she clearly had academic aptitude, she was constantly studying and clearly participating in that "grind" as much as Paris. What came very naturally to Rory was quick problem solving such as when she ran the DAR thing and was an intern at Huntzberger's newspaper. However, the fact that at 32 she only has one successful piece published makes it seem like she has less of that natural talent than she and others thought. She was Stars Hollow's golden child mostly for being extremely hard working. Another indicator that she didn't glide through her studies but had to grind was her freshman year breakdown and dropping of a class. The way she was used to working was not relying primarily on talent.

Rory wasn't a failure til Amy made her one in the revival. In the series, Rory made some bad choices, not mistakes, but she redeemed herself, went back to college, got her a job.

rory could have been one of the best characters ever, after her downfall she could learn from her mistakes and work her way up but a year in the life destroyed all chances of that.

Really well done! Especially love all the bits of psychology thrown in. I think it’s unfortunate how Rory turned out but can only be expected because of how she grew up. Keep it up!

I don't like the pressure Lorelei put on Rory. I believe Rory can be successfully, but she really needs to want that and in the revival Rory did not know what she wants and that is the only reason Rory was no-where. She had no direction and dedication, so she was nowhere. I believe the revival shows how important it is, to have a vision for yourself and to know what you want. Only if you know what you want you can achieve it. Jess had a vision and he worked for that despite any setback.

She’s a professional student. She should have found something to play up that strength. In-the-trenches journalism was not for her. She’s an indoor girl, and that’s perfectly fine.

one thing that i can appreciate as a third culture kid who moved to a new place almost every year is that i was exposed to a variety of people and situations. i understood how the world works from a young age and never thought of myself as special. sure, now i have crippling self-esteem issues and find it hard to believe in myself but still .. i am glad to not be a rory

ugh girl!! i TOTALLY understand hating the heat. thankfully I've recently moved to a city with a cooler climate and it's already sooo much better

This is a really good analysis of Rory as a character!

Rory should have gotten her masters and teach at Chilton rather than be a journalist

wow, this is so well made!

What I really want to know is what Rory did during those ten years between season 7 till the revival, going off on Obama's tour, publishing a single article in the New York Times, moving to N.Y..... but what else did she do? For work I mean. To be able to pay her rent and everything else. 10 Years that's a lot - did she at least try to apply for other News Papers, cause they're are so many across the U.S and beyond. Or what? Was she just pining over the New York Times, while... doing what? Waiting tables? Writing a few articles here and there for smaller news papers?

This is one of the best girlmore girl/ Rory analysis videos I’ve seen. Thank you for doing it and for sharing your analysis with us 👏🏼

this is such a good relaxing video. thank you for sharing

I love your smile!! So pretty omg

Very well thought out video, a necessary deconstruction of Rory Gilmore.

People rarely ever supported her emotionally or acknowledged her imperfections. We see this when Dean and Rory broke up the first time around. Everyone demonized Dean and Rory was uncomfortable with it. The same thing happened when Jess and Rory got into the accident. Everyone was demonized Jess, even Dean let Rory off the hook even though he clearly didn’t want to. Rory really is what happens when you have excess entitlement, in a way her treatment was a form of abuse because she never really was acknowledged as a whole person when it mattered. She was a golden child with immense pressure put on her and was showered with unhealthy amounts of adoration. If we even look back at Lorelei’s response to Rory wanting to drop out of Yale, she treated her with callousness and such a lack of understanding. It made me really sad that Rory felt shaken and her mom didn’t hear her out. I can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if Lorelei had let Rory talk through her feelings instead of letting herself be triggered by her daughter’s perceived “failures”. Lorelei even went to her parents for backup to help talk some sense into Rory (again I personally feel like just hearing her out would’ve sufficed) and her parents went to the opposite end of the spectrum and babied her instead. No one ever really addressed the source of Rory’s insecurity which is a common theme in the show. Rory isn’t perfect at all but in my opinion, I really feel bad for her. She really wasn’t allowed to not be perfect regarding these big life moments and didn’t have anyone to lean on emotionally. In my opinion, Rory seemed like she didn’t have a lot of people around to challenge her lovingly when it mattered.

I loved your video. Really well put, 👌

Im a failure like her

well this channel will blow up

I moved from New England to Southern California many years ago. I couldn't handle the triple- digit heat, especially in December, lol! My in-laws moved to Northern California from the Philippines in the early 70's. Even they had a hard time with the heat when they visited our Los Angeles apartment in the summer. That's when I knew it was too hot. 😂 Great video!

Rory annoyed me at times but I do feel sorry for her. The whole town put so much pressure on her. She is also so young through all of it. Who doesn’t look back to who they were at 18-20 and cringe a little? Basically I think she’s just a realistic person who is a product of her upbringing and makes mistakes.

Great video!

I like your character a lot 😍🌟

First all Rory gilmore grandparents were rich not her or Loreli. We only see lit bit of their poor life . Living in shed near the inn. The idea of Harvard might be inspirtion of something better.Chilton Rory was able to work her way up.

Good job!

It made me so frustrated that she couldn’t figure out a way to pivot with all the money and resources in the world Realistically a lot of people I know who graduated constantly have to pivot change and evolve just to keep a job in this economy.

You are so sweet and seem like such a nice person! Have a great day 🧡

Excellent!

The one part of the sequal that makes sense for me is Rory not having a stable form of employment. She would have graduated in 2007 either just before or at the very start of the 2007/2008 global financial crisis, which caused massive redundancies (I lost my job at the time because of it, as I was the newest employee) and changes to how job searches and applications worked. Granted with her connections from Yale and through family /friends she could have found something, but turning down headmaster Charleston's offer made no sense - even if she still wanted to be pursuing journalism or writing, she could have taken the job to keep the lights on and sustain her whilst pursuing her passion alongside it

I thought y'all liked flawed characters

I liked the first season for a bit but....then the two of them just always had this air about them that they thought they were better than everyone just because they were witty. I ended up watching every episode and came out loving Emily the most....and obviously Luke.

with all the times she had doing city events, helping her mom, and dating in hs, am I the only one who thinks that she is not working too hard for anything? she got everything thrown to her and the reality of life kicks her and she hasnt figured out how to bounce back. guess at 30 she is still growing up

I subscribe to you! Great video!

How did 10 years pass on her own without real life ever making her grow up, even a little bit? We got a 32 years old, entitled teenaged Rory that still has no consideration for anybody on Earth but herself. It was NOT any more realistic than if we saw her as a complete success story.

Every GG analysis is about how dislikeable Rory is, I feel all lonely on the anti-Loreli island😂😂

did u mean foreshadow

Wasn't Rory pregnant with Logan's child in "A Year in the Life"?

Everyond fails at some point in life. Who makes you all experts on life

GREAT VIDEO AND MY NAME IS ALSO VERA!!!!

I dont think Rory is a failure. Im getting so tired of fans thinking that. I hope you all know its okay to struggle and be lost. No one is perfect not even the fans or the people making the videos.

I'm rewatching the show (again) this time looking at the characters of Lorelei and Rory as neurodivergent, specifically ADHD (Lorelei absolutely, Rory possibly more Autistic or ADHD/Autistic combo) and the show makes a whole lot more sense.