Entertainment
13 Ways 'Gilmore Girls' Changed Your Tweenage Life
If you're a core millennial, it's very possible that you spent some important years of your adolescence maturing in Stars Hollow. Gilmore Girls was must-watch TV for any tween in the early 2000s, and if that's the age that you tuned in, it definitely was an influential series. Don't deny it, Gilmore Girls changed your life as a kid, probably in one way or another. Who didn't want to grow up a Gilmore? And by that, I mean be a strong, self-sufficient, pop-culture savvy young woman with eyes as blue as the sea. And while only some of these goals were actually manageable, it's fair to say that the show influenced your real life in some capacity.
Perhaps any pop culture references caught in the conversational crossfire made you expand beyond the WB teen drama category. Or it's possible the show introduced you to actors that would become a very important part of your young sexual awakening and Google history search ("Jess Mariano shirtless" still pops up from time to time). Maybe you just started eating terribly and surviving on four lattes a day, and now you have the health issues to prove it. No judgement, just a possibility.
In any case, I've rounded up all the ways that Gilmore Girls impacted your habits and beliefs as a kid.
1You Began To Value Life In Public School
This could be true if you happened to attend a P.S. Whatever and saw all the fierce politics that happened at Chilton. And hey, if you went to private school, it comforted you to see your girl representing the plaid skirt and all.
2And Yet, It Also Made You Obsessed With Yale
Seriously, Yale became the CW's end-all, be-all. So if Gilmore Girls didn't do the trick, then Gossip Girl probably did five years later.
3If Kickstarted Your Caffeine Addiction
No doubt that regardless of the taste, you started chugging coffee-coffee-coffee like the Gilmores did in your tween years. That's probably why you never grew as tall as your doctor said you would.
4You Also Became Really Big On Diner Food
Maybe because you too wanted the meet the flannel-clad man of your dreams, or maybe it was more about the fact that you lived in suburban New Jersey and that's the only non-Barnes and Noble place to hang. (Not that I'm projecting or anything.)
5You Became Obsessed With Milo Ventimiglia
And it's an obsession that still forces you to power through the saccharine storylines of This Is Us today.
6And It Made You Aware Of Melissa McCarthy Before She Was A Big Star
At the time, it obviously didn't impact you, but years later you got to be smug when Bridesmaids came out and Sookie St. James became world famous.
7You Constantly Compared Your Own Mom To Lorelai
Probably in a huffy "Why can't we be best friends and eat Mallomars for lunch?" kind of way. These days, the comparisons haven't stopped, but they're probably a lot more fair (like, seriously, I'm surprised Rory never developed health problems on that Gilmore diet).
8You Caught The Journalism Bug (Temporarily Or Not)
Watching Rory pursue her passions was no doubt inspiring to young girls who wanted an outlet for their writing. For some, that spark flickered out. For others, they became serious journalists that the adult Rory Gilmore couldn't measure up to. And the rest of us... have gotten some really great listicle experience.
9And You Pushed Yourself To Read More
Or at least, you tried to expand your bookcase beyond copies of Harry Potter.
10You Illegally Downloaded A Whole Lot Of XTC
The band was a constant fave in the early days of the show, although there are hundreds of bands that could've ended up in your Limewire feed after a thorough song search.
11It Got You To Think & Talk Quicker
Or perhaps that was just all the caffeinated fuel getting you to speak a mile a minute, either way you still converse and quip a rapid speed.
12You Embraced Many Unconventional Fashion Choices & Most Likely Bangs Sometime Around 2006 Or So
You probably never went for the tie-dye tee, Daisy Dukes, and trenchcoat combo, but there are more than a few skinny scarves in childhood bedroom.
13You Began To Believe You Can Do Anything
Whether that's get into an Ivy League school or run your own inn, Gilmore Girls' greatest gift to us regular girls is allowing us to believe we can do whatever we want with the support of our fellow ladies. Obviously that wasn't always a good thing, but the show nonetheless taught us we're allowed to make mistakes, lead complicated lives, and come out stronger from it. Stilted height and skinny scarf overload be damned.
