Season One, Episode Nineteen: “Emily in Wonderland”

Season 1, episode 19: “Emily in Wonderland”
Original air date: 26 April 2001
Directed by: Perry Lang
Written by: John Stephens, Linda Loiselle Guzik

Summary: Rory gives Emily a walking tour of Stars Hollow. Emily becomes upset when she sees the conditions in which Lorelai lived after running away from Hartford with baby Rory.

On this page: All References in Chronological Order | References Sorted by Category | Frequent References | Indigenous Land Acknowledgment

All References in Chronological Order

00:00 – 📖 reference
Episode title: “Emily in Wonderland”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 children’s novel by English author and poet Lewis Carroll (referenced previously in episode fourteen). The story follows a young girl named Alice who discovers a fantastic and illogical world after falling down a rabbit hole. The novel is considered a work of literary nonsense, Carroll’s trademark genre, and is one of the best-known works of the Victorian Era. It has been adapted to film numerous times since the silent era, often under its abbreviated title, Alice in Wonderland, including a well known animated Disney version released in 1951.
In the 1871 sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, Alice explores another strange world, this time by passing through a mirror into its reflection.

00:55 – 🗺️ mention
EMILY: I got them from a dealer up in Maine last summer.

Maine is the northernmost state in the contiguous United States and the largest state in the New England region. It is sparsely populated outside of urban centers and is considered the most rural state in the US. The state occupies the ancestral territory of several Algonquian-speaking nations, including the Abenaki, Mi’kmaq, Wolastoquiyik, Passamaquoddy (Peskotomuhkati), and Penobscot peoples, referred to collectively as the Wabanaki Confederacy.
Maine is the home state of famed horror author Stephen King, and its landscape and atmosphere feature frequently in his works.

01:20 – 📖 reference
LORELAI: Peg Mossley. Evil, evil woman.
RORY: What did Peg Mossley do?
LORELAI: She lured these two German children to her house, and then she tried to eat them.

“Hansel and Gretel” (German: Hänsel und Gretel) “is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Grimms’ Fairy Tales” (Wikipedia). In the story, a witch lures two siblings, Hansel and Gretel, to her house made of sweets, intending to fatten and eat them. The children ultimately escape after the sister, Gretel, pushes the witch into her own oven.
Other fairy tales related by the Brothers Grimm, including “Cinderella,” “Rapunzel,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Sleeping Beauty”, have been referenced in previous episodes.

01:35 – 🪶 mention
EMILY: You can’t find a decent Biedermeier hutch in all of Connecticut.

Biedermeier is a design style that evolved in Central Europe in the first half of the 19th century. Biedermeier furniture marked a departure from the dark, cumbersome Empire furniture that preceded it; it is characterized by slim lines and curved shapes (echoed in later styles like Art Nouveau and Art Deco) and is often made from local woods like cherry, pear, and walnut. The style is named for Gottlieb Biedermeier (originally Biedermaier), a fictional poet and caricature of a middle-class German. The name was applied derogatorily by the upper classes, in mockery of the emerging middle class with whom the style had become popular. Despite the style’s populist origins, Biedermeier pieces fall more within Emily’s price range today.
Another design style, Georgian, was mentioned previously in episode six.

05:30 – 🏷️ reference
RACHEL: See, I might consider doing the whole mom thing if I could be guaranteed that I could get one just like her.
LORELAI: Oh, you can. You just have to go to Sears.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a US department store chain founded in 1892. It originally operated as a mail ordering catalog company before opening its first retail location in Chicago in 1925. It was the largest US retail company through the 1980s before being surpassed by Walmart in 1990. Profits declined over the following decades, with only 10 Sears locations remaining as of 2024.

07:40 – 📖 feature
Rune is looking at The Big Book of Flower Gardening: A Guide to Growing Beautiful Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Roses.

This is a Time-Life book, edited by Janet Cave and published in 1996, covering garden design and maintenance. At one point, Rune turns the book to look at it sideways, like a Playboy centerfold.

08:05 – 🎥/⭐ reference
LORELAI: I thought he was only here for a weekend.
SOOKIE: Yes, the lost weekend.
LORELAI: Okay, explain, Yoko.

The Lost Weekend (1945) is a US film noir drama directed by Billy Wilder and based on Charles R. Jackson’s 1944 novel of the same name. The story tracks the desperate, addiction-fueled behavior of Don Birnam, a writer and alcoholic, over the course of a five-day binge. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 2011.
Yoko Ono (artist, singer-songwriter, and activist) and John Lennon (Beatles vocalist and rhythm guitarist) met in 1966 and married in 1969. They underwent an 18-month separation beginning in 1973, a period Lennon would later describe as his “lost weekend,” in reference to the 1945 film. During this time, Lennon began a relationship with his and Ono’s personal assistant, May Pang, drank heavily, and made headlines for his outlandish public behavior. Lennon and Ono later reconciled, and they remained married until Lennon’s death in 1980. A documentary about Lennon and Pang’s relationship, titled The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, was released in 2022.

10:30 – 📖/🎥 reference
LORELAI: I don’t want Boo Radley touching my rosebud wallpaper.

Arthur “Boo” Radley is a character in Harper Lee’s 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird and its 1962 film adaptation, directed by Robert Mulligan. A recluse, Boo is unseen for the majority of the story, but his presence is consistently felt in his local community – adults gossip about him, and he is regarded by the story’s young protagonists as a kind of boogeyman. When he finally appears at the end of the story, he proves to be a kind and misunderstood character; he intervenes to protect the children from danger, and they come to recognize their prejudices against him and understand him with empathy.
Boo is portrayed in the film by Robert Duvall, whose role in The Great Santini (1979) was referenced in episode twelve. To Kill a Mockingbird was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1995.

11:35 – 📖/🎥 reference
EMILY: Oh, my God! There’s nothing in here.
RORY: I know, it’s a little sparse.
EMILY: It’s The Grapes of Wrath.

The Grapes of Wrath is a 1939 novel by US author John Steinbeck. Set during the Great Depression, it follows a family of Oklahoma tenant farmers as they migrate west, driven from their home by the conditions of the Dust Bowl. A film adaptation directed by John Ford was released in 1940; it was among the inaugural group of films selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry when the Registry was established in 1989.
The Dust Bowl was an ecological phenomenon, involving severe dust storms and drought, that caused mass homelessness and poverty in the central United States in the 1930s. About 3.5 million people migrated out of the region in that decade, with more than 86,000 migrating to California in just over one year (Wikipedia).

11:50 – 🎥 reference
EMILY: There are women in bikinis on them.
RORY: The original Charlie’s Angels. It took us years to get a complete set. You can find the Kate Jacksons and the Shelley Hacks pretty easily, even the Cheryl Ladds, but the Farrah Fawcetts and the Jacklyn Smiths are a little harder to come by. But still accessible. The real trick, however, is to find the Tanya Roberts.

Charlie’s Angels is a US crime drama television series that aired from 1976 to 1981. “The show follows the crime-fighting adventures of three women working at a private detective agency in Los Angeles, California, and originally starred Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett (billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors), and Jaclyn Smith… [with] John Forsythe providing the voice of their boss, the unseen Charlie Townsend” (Wikipedia). The series went through several casting changes over the course of its five seasons, with Cheryl Ladd replacing Fawcett, Shelley Hack replacing Jackson, and Tanya Roberts replacing Hack. As each character departed, another was written in to maintain a group of three leads.
Though dismissed by some as “jiggle television” (a trashy entertainment exploiting the sex appeal of its leads), the show earned high ratings and amassed a cult following over time. A reboot directed by McG and starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as the three agents was released in 2000, about six months before this episode aired.
Farrah Fawcett was mentioned previously, in the context of her famous hairstyle, in episode six.

13:40 – 🏷️ mention
LORELAI: I was still dreaming of owning a red Camaro when Rory appeared on the scene.

The Camaro (mentioned previously in episode ten) is a mid-size automobile manufactured by US company Chevrolet. It is usually described as a pony car, a US “car classification for affordable, compact, highly stylized coupés or convertibles with a ‘sporty’ or performance-oriented image” (Wikipedia). The Camaro was designed in 1966 as a competitor to the Ford Mustang.
When Lorelai says this, she and Rachel are in front of the run-down Dragonfly Inn. The set originally served as the family home on US television series The Waltons, referenced in episode six.

15:50 – 🏷️ reference
LANE: I’d take a Whopper over kimchi in a heartbeat.

Burger King Corporation (abbreviated: BK) is a US chain of fast-food restaurants specializing in hamburgers, french fries (British English: chips), and milkshakes. The brand was founded in Florida in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, and the Whopper hamburger, launched in 1957, has since become its signature product. As large multinational corporations, Burger King and its main competitor, McDonald’s, have come to symbolize US globalization. When Lane contrasts the Whopper with kimchi (Korean: 김치), a traditional Korean side dish consisting of fermented vegetables, she is emphasizing her Americanization in contrast with her parents.

16:55 – ⚽ reference
LANE: It’s like watching the Williams sisters.

Venus Williams (born 1980) and Serena Williams (born 1981) are two sisters and professional US tennis players who have won seven and 23 Gram Slam singles titles, respectively. Though they remain close, “there was a noted professional rivalry between the sisters in singles — between the 2001 US Open and the 2017 Australian Open, they contested nine major finals” (Wikipedia). Venus and Serena competed against each other in the final women’s singles match of the 2001 US Open, with Venus ultimately defending her existing title. The match took place on 8 September, about four months after this episode aired.

17:30 – 🏷️ reference
MICHEL: Are you sure you are in the right place? Perhaps you want the YMCA, or the local bus station?

YMCA (sometimes referred to as “the Y”) is a global youth organization based in Switzerland. Founded in London in 1844 as the Young Men’s Christian Association, “the organization aims to put Christian values into practice by developing a healthy body, mind, and spirit. … Until the late 1950s, YMCAs in the United States were built with hotel-like rooms called residences or dormitories. The rooms became…known as an inexpensive and safe place for a visitor to stay in an unfamiliar city” (Wikipedia). YMCA has given rise to similar organizations catering to different demographics, such as the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA).

18:05 – 🗺️ reference
RUNE: Go build us another statue.

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal, copper statue depicting a classically draped female figure holding a torch above her head. Located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, the statue measures 305 feet (93 meters) from ground level, including the pedestal, the statue itself measuring 151 feet (46 meters). The statue was a gift to the United States from the nation of France, dedicated in 1886 in commemoration of the 1876 centennial of the founding of the US. It is a national and New York City landmark, and is considered a symbol of freedom.

18:45 – 🪶 reference
RORY: You have to see the dining room. They got the chandeliers from one of Martha Washington’s houses.

Martha Washington (born Martha Dandridge, 1731-1802) was the wife of George Washington and the inaugural first lady of the United States. George and Martha famously resided at Mount Vernon, an estate and plantation located in Fairfax County, Virginia. George inherited the estate, which had been in his family since the Washingtons acquired the land in 1674. Today, it is a designated National Historic Landmark and is open to the public.

19:55 – 🎥 reference
LORELAI: I can’t picture you at Teriyaki Joe’s… Or in jogging shoes. What’s up, working girl?

Working Girl is a 1988 US romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols. Melanie Griffith stars as Tess McGill, an ambitious secretary who takes advantage of her boss’s absence from the office by assuming the boss’s executive role. In the film’s opening sequence, Tess wears a pair of beat-up tennis shoes on her morning commute from Staten Island, only to change into pumps when she arrives at her office in Manhattan.

24:35 – 🎧 feature
RORY: I like this song. It makes me gloomy.

Lane and Rory are hanging out in Rory’s room listening to “Child Psychology” by Black Box Recorder.

This is the debut single by English rock band Black Box Recorder, released on their 1998 album England Made Me. The song features moody and sardonic lyrics, mostly delivered via spoken word; its sung chorus, “Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it,” proved particularly controversial on the song’s release, with MTV and some UK radio stations refusing to play it. The song later appeared on the 2002 soundtrack Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls.

24:45 – 🎧 reference
LANE: Like, Joy Division gloomy? Nick Cave gloomy? Robert Smith gloomy?
RORY: Johnny Cash gloomy.
LANE: So, kind of like a San Quentin-y, “it’s a long road home, and my horse just got shot, but I still got my girl by my side” gloomy?

Joy Division was an English post-punk band formed in 1976. Though the band was short-lived, concluding with the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis in 1980, it is remembered for its melancholic influence on the largely anger-driven punk scene. The band is known, stylistically, for Curtis’s baritone vocals and for his lyrics, which “often referenced ‘coldness, pressure, darkness, crisis, failure, collapse, loss of control'” (Wikipedia).
Nick Cave (born Nicholas Cave, 1957) is an Australian musician “known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds… Cave’s music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love, and violence” (Wikipedia). The band formed in 1983 and is variously described as alternative rock, gothic rock, and post-punk.
Robert Smith (born 1959) is the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of English rock band the Cure (featured previously in episode eight). Formed in 1978, the band’s music and Smith’s personal style had a major influence on the emerging gothic rock subgenre and on the goth subculture as a whole. The band has often spurned the label, however, and their music may also be identified as new wave or post-punk.
Johnny Cash (born J. R. Cash, 1932-2003) was a US singer-songwriter and a preeminent figure in country music. “Most of Cash’s music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption… He was known for his deep, calm, bass-baritone voice” (Wikipedia) and his all-black wardrobe, for which he was dubbed the “Man in Black.” “Cash cultivated a romantic outlaw image,” (Wikipedia) and though he never served a prison sentence, he became known for his free performances for inmates. One of these concerts, held at California’s San Quentin State Prison in 1958, was recorded and released as a successful album, Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969).

25:00 – 🎧 reference
LANE: I’m deep in a Charlie Parker gloomy.

Charlie Parker (born Charles Parker, Jr., 1920-1955) was a US “jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop… An icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, [he forged the image of] the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer” (Wikipedia). Parker led a troubled life, plagued by mental health problems and alcohol and opioid addiction (heroin being in common use in the jazz scene at this time), and died at just 34.

25:45 – 🗺️ reference
LANE: For all I know, he thought he was calling the hot blonde he met at a hopped-up night at Balthazar’s.

Balthazar is a French brasserie restaurant established in Manhattan, New York City in 1997. It has been ranked among the best brasseries in the city and is known for its celebrity clientele.

26:15 – 🎧 reference
LANE: Now I’m a Lou Reed gloomy.

Lou Reed (born Lewis Reed, 1942-2013) was a US musician known for his “distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar” (Wikipedia). He served as lead vocalist, guitarist, and principal songwriter for The Velvet Underground (mentioned previously in episode twelve) until 1970, when he embarked on a 50-year solo career. His music, with and without the band, often touched on gritty themes of sex, drug use, and urban life.

26:45 – 🎧 feature
EMILY: NSYNC or 98 Degrees?
…
RORY: I don’t think I could choose.
EMILY: Well, what about that other group, the Backside Boys?
RORY: You mean Backstreet Boys?

NSYNC and 98 Degrees posters hang on the walls of Rory’s newly decorated bedroom at 34:40.

The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and 98 Degrees are all boy bands that experienced massive popularity during the boy band era of the late ’90s and early 2000s. Unlike other bands featuring all-male lineups, boy bands are vocal groups, specifically; they do not play instruments and instead perform choreographed dances. Their members are usually young, in their teens and 20s, and they are known for singing love songs marketed toward a young, female audience.
NSYNC (stylized *NSYNC) is a US vocal group formed in 1995. Their first two studio albums were both certified Diamond and featured hit singles like “Bye Bye Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me,” both released in 2000. The band’s name incorporates the last letter of each founding member’s first name, though one of the Ns (original bass singer Jason Galasso) was later replaced by Lance Bass. Justin Timberlake, the youngest member of the group and one of the lead singers, went on to have a successful solo career.
98 Degrees (stylized 98°) is a US pop and R&B vocal group. “Unlike most boy bands, they [formed independently and] were later picked up by a record label, rather than being assembled by a label or a producer” (Wikipedia). Nick Lachey, the band’s lead singer, would later be known for his marriage to pop singer Jessica Simpson, and for their MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica (2003-2005).
The Backstreet Boys (abbreviated BSB) are a US vocal group formed in 1993. They are known for songs like “As Long As You Love Me” and “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” from their 1996 self-titled debut album, and “I Want It That Way” and “Larger Than Life,” from their 1999 album Millennium. Both albums were certified Diamond, with the latter becoming the best-selling album of the year. The Backstreet Boys are the best-selling boy band of all time.

27:20 – 🏷️ reference
RORY: What was that?
LANE: Sounded like some sick take on the Gallup survey.

“Gallup, Inc. is [a US] multinational analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide” (Wikipedia).

30:00 – 🎥 reference
LORELAI: I don’t know exactly what’s going on in Rachel’s head because I’m not a Vulcan.

Vulcans are a humanoid species, within the Star Trek universe, primarily known for their “strict adherence to logic and reason” and “their remarkable stoicism” (Memory Alpha). They are also able to establish telepathic links with other individuals via a technique known as the Vulcan mind meld, essentially allowing two consciousnesses to merge.
Vulcans were referenced previously in episode six, and Star Trek was mentioned in episodes eight and thirteen. Musical releases by William Shatner (who starred in the series as Captain Kirk) were mentioned in episode fourteen.

30:30 – 🎥 reference
LORELAI: She seems sincere.
LUKE: How do you know?
LORELAI: Her nose didn’t grow.

The Adventures of Pinocchio (Italian: Le avventure di Pinocchio) is an 1883 children’s fantasy novel by Italian writer Carlo Collodi. Its title character is a wooden marionette whose nose grows longer when he lies, and who dreams of becoming a real, human boy. The story has been adapted to film several times, including an animated musical Disney version, called simply Pinocchio, released in 1940.

31:45 – 🎥 feature
A sign outside the Black & White & Read Bookstore advertises a showing of Queen of Outer Space. The film’s title card and some of its opening credits are shown on screen at 33:10.

Queen of Outer Space is a 1959 US science fiction film directed by Edward Bernds. Set in the “future” year of 1985, the film follows a group of astronauts who crash land on Venus to find it is under the dictatorship of an evil queen; she “has most men killed, keeping only male mathematicians and scientists on a prison colony moon orbiting Venus” (Wikipedia). Zsa Zsa Gabor (referenced previously in the pilot episode) appears as a palace courtier who, together with her female friends, teams up with the space travelers to overthrow the queen.

32:00 – 🎧 reference
LORELAI: I sat her down to listen to a Prince song once, and she looked like she was having a stroke.

Prince (born Prince Nelson, 1958-2016) was a US singer-songwriter widely “regarded as one of the world’s greatest musicians. He was known for his flamboyant, androgynous persona; his wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams; and his skill as a multi-instrumentalist” (Wikipedia). One can only imagine Emily’s reaction to songs like “Let’s Go Crazy” (1984) and “Kiss” (1986).
Prince was referenced previously in episode ten.

34:50 – 📖 mention
LORELAI: You bought her CosmoGirl.

CosmoGirl (stylized CosmoGIRL!) was a US fashion and entertainment magazine published by Hearst Corporation from 1999 to 2008. It was created as a youth-oriented counterpart to the more mature Cosmopolitan magazine.

34:55 – 🏷️ mention
LORELAI: You bought boy band posters and Hello Kitty notepads.

Hello Kitty (Japanese: ハロー・キティ) is a fictional character created in 1974 by Japanese designer Yuko Shimizu and owned by Japanese entertainment company Sanrio. The image of Hello Kitty, an “anthropomorphized white cat with a red bow” (Wikipedia), exploded in popularity in the 1990s. By 2008, there were over 50,000 types of Hello Kitty branded merchandise, and by 2010, the character was valued at $5 billion per year.

37:45 – ⭐ reference
RORY: Can I ask you a question?
LORELAI: Yes, I would date Steven Tyler.
RORY: Can I ask you a question whose answer wouldn’t horrify me?

Steven Tallarico (born 1948, known professionally as Steven Tyler) is a US musician best known as the lead singer of rock band Aerosmith. “He has been called the ‘Demon of Screamin” due to his high screams and his powerful wide vocal range. He is also known for his on-stage acrobatics” (Wikipedia) and androgynous personal style.
In 2022, Julia Misley (formerly known as Julia Holcomb) filed suit against Tyler, who had pursued a drug-fueled sexual relationship with her when she was a minor and under his legal guardianship in the 1970s. Lorelai’s admission would be more horrifying had she made it in the 2020s with this information in mind.

38:05 – 🎥 reference
LORELAI: It would be like the first fifteen minutes of Saving Private Ryan, but at least those guys got to be in France.

Saving Private Ryan (1998) is a US epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg, who sought to portray the experience of World War II soldiers unflinchingly throughout the film. Its famously harrowing opening sequence (this video shows only a fraction of it, but even that is very graphic) depicts the landing of the United States Army at Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy. The remainder of the film follows a group of soldiers as they travel across Nazi-occupied France on a mission to locate Private James Francis Ryan – the only surviving man out of a group of four brothers, all US soldiers, whom the Department of War is sending home out of mercy for his family.
France (officially the French Republic) “is a country located primarily in Western Europe” (Wikipedia). The Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 “began the liberation of France” (Wikipedia), which had been occupied by Nazi Germany since 1940, “and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.” France was mentioned previously in episode five.

38:15 – 📖 reference
LORELAI: My mother and I, we speak a different language. I talk, I think I’m being clear, and all she hears is “blah, blah, blah, Ginger.”

The Far Side is a single-panel comic written and drawn by US cartoonist Gary Larson from 1979 to 1995. “Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world, logical fallacies, impending bizarre disasters, (often twisted) references to proverbs, or the search for meaning in life” (Wikipedia). In one comic, a man scolds his dog, Ginger, for getting into the garbage, but all the dog hears is “blah, blah, blah,” punctuated occasionally by her own name.

References Sorted by Category

🏷️ Brand Names

05:30 – Sears (retail)
13:40 – Chevrolet Camaro (automobile)
15:50 – Burger King (fast food), Whopper (product)
17:30 – YMCA (youth organization)
27:20 – Gallup, Inc. (opinion polling and analytics)
34:55 – Hello Kitty (character)

⭐ Famous Figures

08:05 – Yoko Ono (artist), “the lost weekend” (period of separation from John Lennon)
37:45 – Steven Tyler (musical artist)

🎥 Film, Television & Theater

08:05 – The Lost Weekend (1945 film)
10:30 – To Kill a Mockingbird (1962 film), Arthur “Boo” Radley (character)
11:35 – The Grapes of Wrath (1940 film)
11:50 – Charlie’s Angels (television show)
- Kate Jackson (actor)
- Shelley Hack (actor)
- Cheryl Ladd (actor)
- Farrah Fawcett (actor)
- Jacklyn Smith (actor)
- Tanya Roberts (actor)
19:55 – Working Girl (1988 film)
30:00 – Star Trek (television show), Vulcans (fictional species)
30:30 – Pinocchio (1940 film)
31:45 – Queen of Outer Space
38:05 – Saving Private Ryan (1998 film)

🗺️ Geography & Politics

00:55 – Maine (US state)
18:05 – Statue of Liberty (landmark and symbol)
25:45 – Balthazar (restaurant)
38:05 – France (European country)

🪶 History

01:35 – Biedermeier (design style)
18:45 – Martha Washington (first lady)

📖 Literature

00:00 – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (book), Alice in Wonderland (also known as)
01:20 – “Hansel and Gretel” (fairy tale)
07:40 – The Big Book of Flower Gardening: A Guide to Growing Beautiful Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Roses, edited by Janet Cave (book)
10:30 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (book), Arthur “Boo” Radley (character)
11:35 – The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (book)
30:30 – The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (book)
34:50 – CosmoGirl (magazine)
38:15 – The Far Side by Gary Larson (comic)

🎧 Music

24:35 – “Child Psychology” by Black Box Recorder (song)
24:45 – Joy Division (band)
24:45 – Nick Cave (artist)
24:45 – Robert Smith (artist)
24:45 – Johnny Cash (artist)
25:00 – Charlie Parker (artist)
26:15 – Lou Reed (artist)
26:45 – NSYNC (boy band)
26:45 – 98 Degrees (boy band)
26:45 – Backstreet Boys (boy band)
32:00 – Prince (artist)

⚽ Sports

16:55 – Venus Williams (tennis player), Serena Williams (tennis player)

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.

Christmas, Easter, Halloween (holidays)
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)
New York, New York (US city)
Sam Phillips (series composer)
“Travel to Historic Brazil” (poster in Rory’s bedroom)
“Where You Lead” by Carole King and Louise Goffin (series theme)

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.

Episode citation: “Emily in Wonderland.” Gilmore Girls, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, season 1, episode 19, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, Hofflund/Polone, Warner Bros. Television, 2001.

Posted 10 September 2024