I don’t watch Gilmore Girls. Never have. You probably don’t even know what I’m talking about. It’s a fairly pithy American TV show from the early 2000s which follows the lives and loves of a mother and daughter.
The show gained a reputation for fast-paced and witty dialogue, and ran for a total of seven seasons. I can confirm that the dialogue is fast – so much so, it often sounds like a chipmunk’s tea party. From a distance of course – I don’t watch it. The humour is predictably American; you can sense the punchline coming from so far away that by the time it arrives you’ve already moved on.
You might be starting to think I don’t like the programme. Well, it’s not for me but it must have something; my wife and daughter have just finished watching all 17,000 thousand episodes from start to finish. For the second time.
Vive la difference, and I’ll stick to English whodunnits and The Oxford Union debates on YouTube.
Having said all that, one of my favourite lines ever was uttered by Lorelai Gilmore’s mother Emily: “What I do want is even the most perfunctory level of competence from the people with whom I am compelled to interact”. Brava! Nailed it.
Who hasn’t languished in a far corner of a restaurant suffering Saharan levels of dehydration while a gaggle of wait staff discuss nail colour, boyfriends, girlfriends, and other such gravitas at the bar? Or been stuck in the clutches of the only salesperson in the computer store who has never used a Mac, and who has never knowingly released a smothered customer into the hands of a colleague who has?
Another favourite line of mine came from the delightfully clever and twisted character Alice Morgan in the series Luther in which, incidentally, Idris Elba turns in a first-rate performance as the eponymous protagonist. Alice, who is both nemesis and friend of Luther, said “One of the problems with people is that they continue to believe the future will be better than the evidence of the present can possibly suggest”.
How true that is – and just as well too. The indefatigable optimism of humans is very often the only thing that gets them through the hardest of times. One can only marvel at the levels of fortitude, courage, and hope exhibited by the residents of Ukraine.
On the other hand, I could scarcely believe the temerity and audacity of Vladimir Putin seeking to compare Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the fight against Nazi Germany. “It’s unbelievable but true,” he said. “We are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks”. Well here’s a tip: don’t invade your neighbour.
It’s easy to ignore some of the more adverse circumstances in which people struggle to survive, all the while hoping for better times to come, living as we do in Cambridge New Zealand. I guess it’s a bit like Stars Hollow where Gilmore Girls is set. I can’t imagine how I know that – because I don’t watch it.
