TV is making us smarter, so says Steven Johnson who lays down the foundations of proof for intelligent television in his book Everything Bad Is Good For You. Johnson is arguing that popular media such as videogames, television, and the internet are becoming more complex with time because as we watch and participate in these media we become smarter. Johnson thinks that watching television with complex intersecting plotlines and characters is teaching us to be better at reading emotional cues of our social groups in real life. He attributes the rise of IQ scores to problem solving skills needed to play videogames and multiple threading involved in television viewing. “Where pure problem solving is concerned, we’re getting smarter” (144).
As we become smarter from watching television, television must increase in complexity to keep us interested and entertained. “You have to focus to follow the plot, and in focusing you’re exercising the part of your brain that maps social networks” (Johnson, p. 115). Johnson labels the idea that we may not yet be advanced or observant enough to understand how important and good for us television really is as the “Sleeper Curve”. I think Johnson is hoping to lead the way with the idea that although TV has been totally integrated into our daily lives we simply don’t appreciate its benefits yet. Where once we misunderstood the effects of TV now we can recognize it for all its potential reward This may be true with intricate shows like 24 and Arrested Development that force you to follow many plot threads and multiple character interactions, but I do not believe this is true with a show like Gilmore Girls. Quirky, funny, and heartwarming though the show may be, Gilmore Girls has offered little complexity to analyze.
The show is centered on two main characters, Lorelai Gilmore and her teenage daughter Rory Gilmore. The pair are best friends and very much alike in their quirky personalities. They share all of the same interests, from punk rock to old movies, and a endless love of coffee. The main conflict in the show comes from the dysfunctional relationship between Lorelai and her parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore. Lorelai and her mother rarely get along, and though her parents are rich, she refuses to take more from her parents than is absolutely necessary. This demonstrates Lorelai’s independent nature. There are several minor characters who provide comedic value, the most entertaining being Michel, the snarky French front desk man.
The television of a modern audience contains “densely interwoven plotlines” that require the viewer to “fill in crucial elements” referred to by Johnson as multiple threading. “Multiple threading is the most acclaimed structural convention of modern television programming” (65). Meaning, as we watch these narratives we become smarter and therefore appreciate new complexities in television as they arise. What may have seemed interesting to viewers ten years ago will no longer hold the audience’s attention because we have progressed and demand deeper complexity to hold our interests. Johnson, seems to think ten threads per episode is considered complex and uses the examples of Hill Street Blues and Sopranos to point out improved multiple threading (66-72). However, not all television is created equally, as proven by the lack of multiple threading in Gilmore Girls.
There was only one major plot line in Gilmore Girls: “Kiss and Tell”. Dean, the new dreamboat at Stars Hollow High, kisses Rory, Lorelai’s daughter, at the grocery store, where he works as a bag boy. The entire episode then revolves around this one event. Rory tells her best friend Lane about the kiss, but decides not to inform Lorelai. Lane’s mother over hears the pair talking about the kiss and tells Lorelai, who is hurt and surprised that her daughter, who she considers her best friend, did not tell her about the kiss. Comedic drama turmoil ensues when Lorelai invites Dean to watch a movie with her and Rory. This plot thread can be split into two, Rory’s reaction and Lorelai’s reaction to the kiss; however, I am considering it one thread, because both reactions merge during the movie. Clearly this does not demonstrate the complexity on the level that Johnson would consider intelligent.
One way our social intelligence is increased is by watching complex TV programs, which require the viewer to keep track of various characters, their relationships with each other, and role the characters play in multiple threads of the story (Johnson 109-113). This “social networking” comes into play when we track interpersonal relationships that surround us in our real lives and in the lives of fictional characters (106-115). This is important because “the ability to analyze and recall the full range of social relationships in a large group is just as reliable a predictor of professional success as your SAT scores or your college grades” (109).
Gilmore Girls, “Love & War & Snow” opens with Lorelai excited about a message left on her answering machine by Rory’s teacher, Max Medina, whom she once had to cancel a date with. Lorelai is also excited because it is going to snow and she thinks good things always happen to her when it snows. This turns out to be true, because Max has car trouble while passing through Stars Hollow and they end up having an unplanned, but wonderful date. The date ends with Max being invited to spend the night with Lorelai, who makes him sleep on the couch because Lane, Rory’s best friend, is also spending the night (not knowing that Rory is with her grandparents).
All of the characters in Gilmore Girls are directly connected to either Lorelai, Rory or both. None of the characters seem to have independent lives or threads or interact with anyone except the Gilmore girls. In “Love & War & Snow” we are finally introduced to the idea that there may be plots happening outside of Rory and Lorelai only to be disappointed when the two show up every time these separate threads are active. Max, who has not been seen or discussed for a few episodes, is given an introduction that leaves no doubt in the viewers mind as to his role in this episode, further diminishing the social intricacies of this show. This show truly focuses on the mother daughter duo, or trio if you include Emily Gilmore as a protagonist.
A counter indicator of a shows complexity is a “flashing arrow.” These arrows point out to the audience what is important, taking out any guess work or mystery as to what is going to happen next (Johnson 73-74). A flashing arrow moment: when Lorelai is listening to Max’s message on the answering machine, she then has a seemingly unrelated conversation with Rory about how good things always happen to her when it snows, then she returns to listening to the message. At this point she has no idea that Max will be in town when the snow hits, but of course the viewers have no doubt about what is in store.
Though Johnson does comment briefly on the detrimental impact that violence and sex in popular media may be having on society he chooses to over look its impact and focus instead on the cognitive value of media (11-14). Jennifer S. Martin while reviewing Johnsons idea of multiple threading says “he ducks contentious issues related to content”(16). “Perhaps we really do want to believe that video games, and television, films and the internet are having a positive effect on our society despite, all too often, the apparent absence of redeeming social values” (Martin 17). Multiple threading and social networks are easy ways to identify advancements in television. Perhaps the appeal of Gilmore Girls is not its complexity as Johnson would define it, but rather its simplicity in a world of 24 and Sopranos.
The value of this show is its simplistic relationship between a mother and daughter living in a seeming perfect small town. A place with the appeal of every one knowing your name and your history, yet still valuing you as a member of their community, accepting you in a familial type of relationship not present in the real world. This represents a craving we all harbor of a harmonious place to live and be accepted for who we are. “Gilmore Girls established itself as a dramedy that indulges in an idealized world, a fictional utopia knows as Stars Hollow. The show, known for its excessive displays of both food and knowledge, is a witty juxtaposition of popular culture and high brow education” (Johns and Smith 23). Brenda Boyle and Olivia Combe describes their relationship with the show by saying “In becoming fans we longed for the reality of those lives, unconsciously recreating the (simulacra of the) warmth of their friendships and family as we sat together in front on the television set. No, we didn’t want them to be real – we wanted their lives to be our own” (159). Beyond and doubts of multiple threading or flashing arrows therein lies the ultimate appeal of the Gilmore Girls.
Works Cited
Boyle, Brenda, and Olivia Combe. "Gender Lies in Stars Hollow." Gilmore Girls and the Politics
of Identity. Ed. Rich Calvin. North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2008. 23-34.
Johns, Erin K., and Kristen L. Smith. "Welcome to Stars Hollow: Gilmore Girls, Utopia, and the Hyperreal." Gilmore Girls and the Politics of Identity. Ed. Rich Calvin. North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2008. 23-34.
Jennifer S. Martin. “Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.” Women Lawyers Journal Winter 2006: 15-17.
"Kiss and Tell."Gilmore Girls: The Complete First Season. Writ. Amy Sherman and Jenji
Kohan. Dir. Rodman Flender. WB. 16 Nov. 2000. DVD.
Warner Brothers, 2004.
"Love & War & Snow."Gilmore Girls: The Complete First Season. Writ. Amy Sherman and Joan Binder Weiss. Dir. Alan Myerson. WB. 14 Dec. 2000. DVD.
Warner Brothers, 2004.
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