Season 1, episode 4: “The Deer Hunters”
Original air date: 26 October 2000
Directed by: Alan Myerson
Written by: Jed Seidel
Summary: Rory struggles to adjust to her new school and receives her first ever bad grade. Lorelai helps her prepare for a big test – if only she can make it to school in time to take it.
Note: My timestamps are based on the series DVDs, which include a “previously on Gilmore Girls” montage at the beginning of some episodes. Netflix timestamps may be a minute or so behind my own.
On this page: All References in Chronological Order | References Sorted by Category | Frequent References | Image Credits | Indigenous Land Acknowledgment
All References in Chronological Order
00:00 – 🎥 reference
Episode title: “The Deer Hunters”
- The Deer Hunter (1978, dir. Michael Cimino) is an epic drama film about the effect of the Vietnam War on the lives of three steelworkers, played by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage. The film features John Cazale in his final role and Meryl Streep in a supporting role, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1996.
00:55 – 🏷️ mention
RORY: I need legal pads. … Some number two pencils, three highlighters, an eraser, a staple remover, and a Pee-Chee folder.
- The Pee-Chee All Season Portfolio, or Pee-Chee folder, is a stationery item for storing loose-leaf papers, most commonly used by US students in the second half of the 20th century. The traditional Pee-Chee is a peachy yellow color and features illustrations (done by US artist Francis Golden in 1964) of student athletes. Students often doodle on the folders and modify the existing illustrations (Smithsonian Magazine). Originally produced by the Western Tablet and Stationery Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan, they were later sold by the Mead Corporation in a variety of colors.
- Number two pencils are a standard US school supply and are generally required for use in standardized testing. “Number two” is a grade indicating the relative hardness of the graphite; it is similar to an HB pencil in other countries (Mental Floss).
01:50 – 🏷️ mention
LORELAI: We’re gonna stage an intervention with the neon Post-its and make them give up their wacky, crazy ways.
- Post-it is a US brand of sticky notes produced by the 3M Company. The original Post-it was a small, pale yellow square, but they have since been produced in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, including neon. Post-it was previously mentioned in the last episode.
- In US English, the term “Post-it” has become a generic trademark, or proprietary eponym: “a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become a generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or services” (Wikipedia). Legally, “Post-it” is a registered trademark, but it is often used to refer to any sticky note, regardless of brand.
03:50 – 📖 reference
MR. MEDINA: Look at the large, red circles around various parts of your paper as friendly reminders that to err is human.
- The phrase “to err is human” appeared originally in Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Criticism, Part II (1711) in the following context. “Ah ne’er so dire a Thirst of Glory boast, / Nor in the Critick let the Man be lost! / Good-Nature and Good-Sense must ever join; / To err is Humane; to Forgive, Divine.” The last of these four lines has been absorbed into the English lexicon, expressing the sentiment that “while anyone can make a mistake, we should aspire to do as God does, that is, show mercy and forgive sinners” (Phrase Finder).
04:05 – 📖 feature
MR. MEDINA: Shakespeare! The man we’ve been droning on about for the last three weeks finally comes back to haunt us on Friday.
As he speaks, Mr. Medina gestures to a poster of Shakespeare on the wall of the classroom.
26:05
LORELAI: Ooh, a test! Great.
RORY: On Shakespeare.
LORELAI: The Bard with a beard. Love it!
- William Shakespeare (baptized 1564, died 1616) was an English poet and playwright “widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist” (Wikipedia). He is sometimes referred to as the Bard, “bard” being a historical term for a poet. He was also mentioned in episode two.
04:45 – 🏷️ reference
PARIS: A D, however… That would be cause for concern.
LOUISE: A cry for help.
PARIS: A job application at McDonald’s.
LOUISE: Would you like fries with that?
- The McDonald’s Corporation is a US multinational chain of fast-food restaurants specializing in hamburgers, french fries (British English: chips), and milkshakes. With a presence in over 100 countries, the company has become a symbol of US globalization. It employs 1.7 million people worldwide, making it the second-largest private employer after Walmart (Wikipedia).
- McDonald’s employees are trained to ask customers if they would like to add french fries to an order, an upselling tactic. The question has become a catchphrase all its own, usually used to evoke the low pay and low status of fast-food workers. While most of us recognize the classist implications today, it was a relatively common taunt at the time of this episode.
05:50 – ⭐ reference
MICHEL: Ah! You imbecile!
DRELLA: Back off, Chevalier.
- Drella is probably referring to French actor and cabaret singer Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972), who put on a heavy French stage accent when performing in English. He is known for his performance in the 1958 musical film Gigi, the source of two of his signature sings: “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” and “I Remember It Well.”
- “Chevalier” (English: horseman) is a French honorary title given to knights and later to nobility (Encyclopaedia Britannica). It also applies to members of some modern orders such as the Légion d’honneur (English: Legion of Honor).
06:05 – 🏷️ mention
DRELLA: What a baby!
MICHEL: These are $300 Italian loafers.
DRELLA: I wonder if Versace makes a pacifier.
- Gianni Versace S.r.l. is an Italian luxury fashion brand founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. “The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as well as haute couture under its Atelier Versace brand” (Wikipedia).
06:50 – 🎥 reference
LORELAI: Behold, in theaters now, The Thing That Reads a Lot!
- Rory stumbles in laden with book bags, resembling “an amoeboidal creature from a different planet” like the one in 1958 science-fiction horror B-move The Blob (Wikipedia). Lorelai references the title of The Thing from Another World (1951), and mimics the style of old science-fiction horror movie trailers more generally.
08:25 – 🎥 feature
NEWS ANCHOR (on television): And the “Person of the Week” segment.
- “ABC Person of the Week” is a segment of the ABC World News Tonight broadcast. Since 1986, it has provided “a short biography or story of an interesting person, at the end of the Friday night broadcast” (Wikipedia). Canadian-born journalist Peter Jennings was sole anchor of ABC World News Tonight from 1983 to 2005, so he would have hosted the segment at the time this episode aired.
13:25 – 🪶 reference
RORY: Marco!
LANE: Polo!
- Marco Polo is a call-and-response game typically played in swimming pools. In the game, one player closes their eyes and shouts, “Marco!” and tries to locate other players based on their responses of, “Polo!”
- The game shares its name with 13th-century Italian adventurer Marco Polo (1254-1324), though it is unclear whether it was named for him. “According to one whimsical explanation [on the now-defunct Retroland], ‘legend has it that the famed explorer didn’t really have a clue as to where he was going'” (Wikipedia), like the main player in the game.
13:40 – 🏷️ feature
RORY: What’s that?
LANE: Twelve calories.
RORY: Here.
LANE: Oh my god, bless you.
14:35
MRS. KIM: That is chocolate-covered death.
RORY: With a creamy caramel surprise.
- Lane is eating a rice cake, and Rory offers her a Snickers bar as an alternative. Snickers is a brand of candy bar produced by US confectionery company Mars Inc. It consists of peanuts, caramel, and nougat in a milk chocolate coating.
15:15 – 🎧 feature + 🎧 mention
LORELAI: No Black Sabbath.
DRELLA: No one is listening.
LORELAI: No Black Sabbath, no Steely Dan, no Boston, and no Queen.
Drella is playing a rendition of “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath on the harp when Lorelai interjects.
- “Iron Man” comes from the 1970 album Paranoid.
- Black Sabbath, Steely Dan, Boston, and Queen are all rock bands that rose to prominence in the 1970s. Steely Dan and Boston originated in the United States, Black Sabbath and Queen in the United Kingdom.
15:30 – 🎧 reference
LORELAI: We like that Mozart.
DRELLA: I am the Artie Shaw of harpists.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, 1756-1791) “was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period” (Wikipedia). He was born in Salzburg in present-day Austria (then the Holy Roman Empire). His 600+ compositions include some of the best-known works in Western music.
- Artie Shaw (born Arthur Arshawsky, 1910-2004) was a US clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. “Throughout his career, Shaw had a habit of forming bands, developing them according to his immediate aspirations, making a quick series of records, and then disbanding. He generally did not stick around long enough to reap his bands’ successes” (Wikipedia). Drella may be alluding to her own musical restlessness, or to Lorelai’s underappreciation of her musical endeavor.
15:40 – 🪶 reference
LORELAI: Sookie, I need coffee to go.
SOOKIE: There’s fresh over there.
LORELAI: …Fresh in my first lifetime as Joan of Arc.
- Joan of Arc (modern French: Jeanne d’Arc, born circa 1412, died 1431) is a canonized Catholic saint and patron saint of France, honored for her role as a military leader during the Hundred Years’ War. She is one of the most enduring cultural figures of the Middle Ages, known for her religious visions, masculine military attire (for which she was criminally charged with cross-dressing), and martyrdom after being burned at the stake.
18:05 – 🪶 mention + 📖 mention
MR. MEDINA: We are gonna be focusing on Elizabethan literature: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Bacon, Ben Jonson, John Webster.
- William Shakespeare (also mentioned at 04:05 and 26:05), Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Ben Jonson (born Benjamin Jonson c. 1572, died c. 1637), and John Webster (born c. 1578, died c. 1632) were all writers, mostly playwrights and poets, who lived during the 1558-1603 reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
18:20 – 🎓 mention
CHILTON PARENT: Yes, but will [Marlowe] be included on the Advanced Placement test?
…
CHILTON PARENT: How do we find out [what’s on the AP test]?
MR. MEDINA: You could bribe somebody on the AP committee.
- “Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by [US non-profit] the College Board. … Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere may grant placement and course credit to students who obtain qualifying scores on the [AP] examinations” (Wikipedia).
- Though Mr. Medina is joking about bribing testing officials, such scandals have come to light in the years since this episode aired. In 2019, the results of an investigation code-named Operation Varsity Blues, “which found many wealthy parents illegally intervening to raise their children’s standardized test scores” (Wikipedia), became public.
19:15 – 🕊️ mention
LORELAI: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the camel! … This is really bad coffee.
- “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” is an exclamation, often used by Catholics, to express shock, surprise, or frustration. It refers to Jesus’ earthly parents, Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary (previously mentioned in episode two). Lorelai also includes the camel popularly depicted in nativity scenes.
20:50 – 🎓 reference
MR. MEDINA: I apologize for the behavior of some of our guests tonight. It’s a tense time for some people.
LORELAI: The SAT season?
MR. MEDINA: The waking hours.
- The SAT is a standardized test created and owned by US non-profit organization the College Board, and administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). It was originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, but is now simply SAT. SAT scores are commonly used by US colleges and universities as admissions criteria.
- The College Board has been accused by educational and consumer-rights organizations of underestimating the aptitude of Black students, maintaining a monopoly on its class of products, and “violating its non-profit status through excessive profits and exorbitant executive compensation” (Wikipedia).
- Early in her career, Lauren Graham was cast in a television spot made by the Princeton Review, an education services company that prepares students for standardized tests, including the SAT.
21:45 – 🎧 feature
MR. MEDINA: So, are you a B-52s girl?
- This question is prompted by the fact that Lorelai is wearing a B-52s t-shirt. The B-52s are a US new wave band that released a number of hit songs in the 1970s and ’80s. Their name comes from a Southern slang term for a particular beehive hairstyle resembling the nose of a B-52 aircraft.
24:40 – 🎥 reference
RORY: It was too humiliating.
LORELAI: Oh, honey. You once told me you loved Saved By the Bell. What could be more humiliating than that?
- Saved By the Bell is a US teen sitcom that aired on Saturday mornings from 1989 to 1993. It is known for its period aesthetic, featuring bold, geometric designs in pastel and neon colors, as well as its cheesy and occasionally moralizing tone.
26:30 – 📖 feature
PARIS: “Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments. Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove. / O no! It is an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken; / It is the star to every wand’ring bark, / Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.”
- Paris attempts to intimidate Rory by reciting part of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 (Poetry Foundation). First published in 1609, “its structure and form are a typical example of the Shakespearean sonnet” (Wikipedia). It is one of the most famous in his sequence of sonnets.
27:15 – 🏷️ mention + 🎥 reference
LORELAI: Sookie! What’s with all the risotto? Have we gone theme now? Ooh, is it gonna be like the Scotch Tape store?
- Scotch Tape is a US brand of pressure-sensitive adhesive tape (comparable to Sellotape used in several other countries) produced by the 3M Company. Just as “Post-it” (mentioned at 01:50 and in episode three) is often used as a generic term for sticky notes, “Scotch tape” is sometimes used as a generic term for adhesive tape, despite being a registered trademark.
- Season four, episode two of Saturday Night Live includes a sketch about a mall store, The Scotch Boutique, that sells only Scotch Tape. The episode aired in 1978 and features Fred Willard as host and Devo as musical guest. Though one still image is available, the sketch does not seem to be available in its entirety unless you access the full episode.
28:10 – 📖 mention
LORELAI: The Comedy of Errors. Written?
RORY: 1590.
LORELAI: Published?
RORY: 1698.
LORELAI: Ooh, 1623. Close.
- The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s early plays, and the shortest in the Shakespearean canon. It is also “one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play” (Wikipedia). It is uncertain in what precise year the play was written.
- The play’s title has become a phrase in the English lexicon, used to describe to a sequence of events made ridiculous by a series of errors committed throughout.
28:30 – 📖 mention + 📖 feature
LORELAI: Okay. Richard III.
RORY: 1591.
- Richard III is a play by William Shakespeare. Alternatively considered a history or a tragedy, it chronicles “the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England. It is the second longest play in the Shakespearean canon” (Wikipedia). Again, it is uncertain in what year the play was written. The earliest known performance took place in 1633.
- When Rory sits down, a copy of Who’s Who & What’s What in Shakespeare, a reference guide by Evangeline M. O’Connor, is visible resting open and face down on the arm of her chair.
28:50 – 📖 mention
RORY: The sonnets are 154 poems of 14 lines.
LORELAI: Except?
RORY: Except for 126, which is 12 lines.
LORELAI: Good.
RORY: They’re written in iambic pentameter.
LORELAI: Except?
RORY: Except for 145, which is in tetrameter.
- William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets that were published together in 1609. When someone refers to “Shakespeare’s sonnets,” it is almost always this collection of 154 that is being discussed.
- A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines written according to a formal rhyme scheme. Iambic pentameter and tetrameter both refer “to the pattern or rhythm of a line of poetry or verse and has to do with the number of syllables in the line and the emphasis placed on those syllables” (Your Dictionary).
29:35 – 📖 feature
Rory leaves the living room to study in the kitchen, and Lorelai flips open a copy of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by US chef Anthony Bourdain. It is visible again at 46:15 lying face down over the back of the couch.
- “Released in 2000 to wide acclaim, the book is both a professional memoir and an unfiltered look at the less glamorous aspects of high-end restaurant kitchens” (Wikipedia).
30:00 – 🎧 feature
“My Darling” by Wilco plays when Rory finds Lorelai asleep on the couch and covers her with a blanket. Later, Lorelai wakes up and finds Rory asleep at the kitchen table. She joins her, covers them both with a blanket, and goes back to sleep. A new day dawns, and the song ends.
- This song comes from the 1999 album Summerteeth.
30:55 – 🏷️ feature
A Rolo wrapper is clearly visible on the kitchen table among Rory’s study materials.
- Rolo (stylized ROLO) is a brand of “truncated cone-shaped…chocolates with a caramel inside” (Wikipedia) that originated in the United Kingdom. They are produced by Nestlé, except in the United States, where production is licensed to The Hershey Company.
32:10 – 🎧 feature
Rory makes a frantic phone call to Lane as she (Rory) is driving to school. Lane is sitting in her closet, which she has fashioned into a music den, listening to “Wendy” by Wesley Yang and Gavin McNett.
- This song does not seem to have ever been released commercially, but rather licensed for use in film and television.
35:00 – 🎧 mention
DRELLA: Hey, what do you think of Pat Benatar?
LORELAI: Great idea. Can she play the harp?
- Pat Benatar (born Patricia Mae Andrzejewski, 1953) is a US singer-songwriter known for hit songs like “Heartbreaker” (1979), “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” (1980), “Love Is a Battlefield” (1983), and “We Belong” (1984). She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
- Though she is known professionally as Pat Benatar (her married name from her first marriage), she has been married to Neil Giraldo since 1982.
38:35 – ⚖️ reference
LORELAI: We have stretched ourselves as thin as humanly possible without going completely postal.
- “Going postal” is a slang phrase in US English “referring to becoming extremely and uncontrollably angry, often to the point of violence, and usually in a workplace environment. The expression derives from a series of incidents from 1986 onward in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, police officers and members of the general public in acts of mass murder” (Wikipedia).
- The incidents were widely referenced in popular culture, including in a 1993 episode of Seinfeld and a 1999 episode of The Simpsons.
39:15 – 🪶 reference
MR. MEDINA: I didn’t call this place a rat hole.
LORELAI: Oh, no, that’s true. I added that. Wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with Il Duce, here.
45:10
RORY: You called him Il Duce.
LORELAI: Which means “kind sir” in Cantonese.
- Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was founder and Duce (English: Leader) of Italy’s National Fascist Party. He was the dictatorial Prime Minister of Italy “from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 1943” (Wikipedia). He was executed in 1945. Mussolini’s Italy was one of the three Axis powers, along with Germany and Japan, during World War II.
39:20 – 🎥 reference
LORELAI: I thought this place was gonna be so great, and now I guess this goes on the “boy, was I wrong” list, right below gauchos, and just above the Flashdance phase.
- Flashdance (1983) is a US “romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne… [It stars] Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina” (Wikipedia) while working by day at a Pittsburgh steel mill. Its soundtrack, music-video-style dance sequences, and wardrobe (Beals famously wears leg warmers and an off-the-shoulder sweatshirt) make it a quintessentially ’80s film.
- Gauchos are a style of flowing, wide-leg, cropped pants that became popular in the 1970s.
42:20 – 🪶 reference
RORY: Well, stay in the car.
LORELAI: It’s dangerous in the car with all the kamikaze deer running around.
- Kamikaze pilots (officially Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, 神風特別攻撃隊) were part of the Japanese “Divine Wind” Special Attack Units “who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to destroy warships more effectively than with conventional air attacks” (Wikipedia).
42:30 – 🏷️ mention
LORELAI: So, what does the deer look like? Does he have any distinguishing marks? Besides the word Jeep imprinted on his forehead.
- Jeep is a US brand of automobile, and the model Lorelai owns is a 2000 Jeep Wrangler. Lorelai’s Jeep is seen many times throughout the series (beginning in the pilot episode), but this is the first time it’s mentioned by name. The vehicle used in the show was auctioned off to the public in 2011, and in 2016, a writer for Autotrader tracked it down to the small town of Deep River, Connecticut.
- Jeep also has long-standing military associations in the US. While the term “jeep” had prior use in military slang, “the World War II ‘jeep’ that went into production in 1941 specifically tied the name to this light military 4×4” (Wikipedia).
44:55 – 🪶 reference
RORY: I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind.
LORELAI: It’s your prerogative as long as you remain a woman.
- There is an obscure English-language idiom that, historically, referred to a woman’s privilege to call off an engagement. “From at least the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, many jurisdictions regarded a man’s promise of engagement to marry a woman as a legally binding contract. … The converse of that was seldom true. The concept that ‘it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind’ had at least some basis in law (though a woman might pay a high social price for exercising this privilege)” (Wikipedia).
- In 1946, jazz singer Mildred Bailey recorded a song called “It’s a Woman’s Prerogative.”
42:50 – 📖 feature
Lorelai cleans up in the living room while listening to a voicemail from Max. A copy of Shakespeare by Ivor Brown is visible on top of the stack.
- Shakespeare (1949) is one of several books about Shakespeare’s life and work published by Ivor Brown, a journalist for whom Shakespeare was of special interest.
References Sorted by Category
Jump to category: Academia | Brand Names | Famous Figures | Film, Television & Theater | History | Literature | Music | Religion | True Crime
🎓 Academia
🏷️ Brand Names
- 00:55 – Pee-Chee (stationery)
- 01:50 – Post-it (sticky note)
- 04:45 – McDonald’s (fast food)
- 06:05 – Versace (fashion)
- 13:40, 14:35 – Snickers (candy bar)
- 27:15 – Scotch Tape (adhesive tape)
- 30:55 – Rolo (chocolate candy)
- 42:30 – Jeep (automobile)
⭐ Famous Figures
- 05:50 – Maurice Chevalier (actor)
🎥 Film, Television & Theater
- 00:00 – The Deer Hunter (1978 film)
- 06:50 – The Thing from Another World (1951 film)
- 08:25 – “ABC Person of the Week” (television news segment)
- 24:40 – Saved By the Bell (television show)
- 27:15 – Saturday Night Live (television show), “The Scotch Boutique” (comedy sketch)
- 39:20 – Flashdance (1983 film)
🪶 History
- 13:25 – Marco Polo (adventurer and merchant)
- 15:40 – Joan of Arc (military and religious leader)
- 18:05 – Queen Elizabeth I (monarch)
- 39:15, 45:10 – Benito Mussolini (dictator)
- 42:20 – Kamikaze (Japanese special attack aviators in WWII)
- 44:55 – “It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.” (idiom pertaining to breach of contract)
📖 Literature
- 03:50 – “To err is human.” (Alexander Pope quotation)
- 04:05, 26:05 – William Shakespeare (playwright and poet)
- 18:05 – Christopher Marlowe (playwright and poet)
- 18:05 – Francis Bacon (philosopher and statesman)
- 18:05 – Ben Jonson (playwright and poet)
- 18:05 – John Webster (playwright)
- 28:30 – Who’s Who & What’s What in Shakespeare by Evangeline M. O’Connor (book)
- 29:35 – Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain (book)
- 42:50 – Shakespeare by Ivor Brown (book)
🎧 Music
- 15:15 – “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath (song)
- 15:15 – Steely Dan (band)
- 15:15 – Boston (band)
- 15:15 – Queen (band)
- 15:30 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (composer)
- 15:30 – Artie Shaw (clarinetist and bandleader)
- 21:45 – B-52s (band)
- 30:00 – “My Darling” by Wilco (song)
- 32:10 – “Wendy” by Wesley Yang and Gavin McNett (song)
- 35:00 – Pat Benatar (artist)
🕊️ Religion
- 19:15 – “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.” (idiom)
⚖️ True Crime
- 38:35 – “Going postal.” (idiom referring to USPS workplace shootings)
Frequent References
A few things come up so routinely in the show, I am not going to include an entry for them every time they do. I wrote about the following people, places, and things when they first appeared or were mentioned.
- Hartford, Connecticut (US city)
- Harvard University (academic institution)
- Herman Beeftink (piano and string composer)
- Independence Inn (named for the American War of Independence)
- Jeep (automotive brand)
- Sam Phillips (series composer)
- “Travel to Historic Brazil” (poster in Rory’s bedroom)
- “Where You Lead” by Carole King and Louise Goffin (series theme)
Image Credits
Image [4]: The following edition appears to be the one Lorelai is holding. Book citation: Brown, Ivor. Shakespeare. Time Inc., 1962.
Images [1], [2], and [3], and the image behind the book cover in image [4], are stills taken from this episode. Episode citation: “The Deer Hunters.” Gilmore Girls, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, cinematography by Teresa Medina, season 1, episode 4, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, Hofflund/Polone, Warner Bros. Television, 2000.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgment
In beginning my work on this guide, I’ve come to realize just how many references (however subtle) the show contains to the Revolutionary War and the colonial history of the United States. It is important and necessary to acknowledge the people whose lands were usurped when these events took place, though this is not a simple matter. Please visit my land acknowledgment page to view the results of my research.
Posted 19 January 2021 (updated 19 April 2024)