MAGAZINE

at fifteen years old, Rory knows what she wants to do. “I
want to go the Harvard, and study journalism and political
science” (Gilmore Girls, S1E2). Here, Rory is a slight vision of
a cub journalist with big aspirations.
Headmaster Charleston questions the seriousness of her
aspirations. Along with that, he is thinking Rory is in it for
the fame at first. He is then surprised. This is an example
of a dominant male questioning the female. Such a theme
is recurring throughout journalism in popular culture.
Charleston then talks about how this higher education
will help her achieve her goals, giving way to the modern
journalism idea that having an education equates to being a
better journalist. This ideal conflicts with the other ideal that
being a good journalist mean getting experience and getting
your hands dirty.
As discussed earlier, reporters and editors often come to
verbal blows. We see the first editor-reporter conflict in a
season with Rory and fellow classmate Paris Geller. Paris
stakes her claim on the newspaper.
“The school is my domain. And the franklin is my domain. Don’t you ever forget that”
(Gilmore Girls, S1E2).
Paris reaffirms this sentiment later in episode twenty-one.
Rory goes on the next year to join The Franklin, the high school’s newspaper. It is not until college that a
large portion the representation of journalism comes through. Rory ended up going to Yale, which has a
better journalism school. Through Rory continuing her education in journalism, she challenges the oldschool
approach to journalism. This is seen as a persistant theme in seasons five through seven.
Because of Yale, she meets previously profiled heir of a newspaper Logan Huntzberger. This publishing
heir opens Rory up to a whole
new world and bring her out of
her shell. Because of Logan,
she becomes a better journalist
and publishs one of her first big
stories about the Life and Death
Gilmore
FICTION May 2018 15