#literati

https://letterboxd.com/atwoodsmariano/list/movies-that-jess-and-rory-from-gilmore-girls/

I can’t remember if I shared this list on here before but this is a list that I have on my letterboxd and I would love to add some more films since I only have 19 films on it currently

And Jess being the only one to stop and actually call her out and see what was going on! Ask why she was doing this! WHAT'S GOING ON WITH YOU?!?!?!?! I don't think anyone asked her that!

Another unbelievably specific Literati parallel is that they both have scenes where their only responsible parental figure, who has since rejected them, shows up when they're trying to work and kicks them when they're down. The disparaging remarks about their jobs and (completely opposite) homes are so alike.

The obvious sources of pain for everyone involved are left unsaid, but what is talked about is each kid's mother's upcoming wedding. Jess tries to resist being dragged into yet another ceremony, so Luke guilt-trips him, and Rory is hurt by being excluded from her mom's first wedding, so Lorelai throws it back on her, but Rory and Jess have to shove their feelings aside and get back to work. They've both forced themselves to accept their new lives despite clear signs of despondency, and it's even mentioned they've both changed their phone numbers during this time. They won't be accepted by their parental figures until they make the first move by doing something they want, but neither Luke nor Lorelai's decisions yield the intended results. Jess never goes back on what Luke rejected him for; he presumably doesn't finish traditional high school and continues to focus on work instead, and his life only gets better after Luke takes a kinder approach with him. Rory ultimately wants to go back to Yale for herself and thrives there, but she decides that without any involvement from Lorelai.

There's even a cross-section of how Luke and Lorelai talk to each other's kids. Lorelai went out of her way to scold Jess over Luke's feelings in S4, while Luke knows how hurt Lorelai is in S6 but chooses to be kind to Rory. This season he is also open-minded and sincere when he visits Jess at Truncheon, even though he doesn't understand it and quite possibly would've mocked him for working there just a couple of years earlier, which is perhaps a mindset shift he gained from developing a relationship with April.

I've talked before about how I feel that the ways Rory matures over the years would be just as important for a successful relationship in the future as the ways Jess matures, but it especially seems like this Rory, who had to attend a disciplinary meeting immediately after starting community service, who hoped for a placement at the zoo despite not loving the idea because it offered double shifts to help accumulate more hours, and who was mocked by her mom while cleaning up the side of a highway, would be a lot more inclined to approach Jess getting caught up with work over a weekend or having a day that ends in "I'm not ready to talk about it yet" from a place of equal partnership instead of jumping to the worst conclusion provided he can do the same. It's more than likely there's plenty of those days ahead in her career, too.