Writers Have Responsibilities!

First, let's take a look at the way things were meant to be:

This is what happened the last time they had a fight, then Luke came to apologize. This was back when Lorelai was being written as a real person, not a plot device. Oops, did I type that?!

I'm going to try to keep this positive, instead of just ranting about Gilmore, yet again.

What I'd like to talk about is the responsibility that writers have toward their readers. The goal of a writer is to create a character that lives and breathes in the readers mind, that sucks them into the fictional wall, obscures the 4th wall, and engages the suspension of disbelief.

If you've succeded in doing this as a writer, then, I believe, you need to take very seriously the state of the reader. I'm not saying you can only have a happy ending. My favorite books don't have happy endings (Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby, The Age of Innocence), but, they do set up rules for the world they've created, then they create their characters to play within that world. The characters need to remain true to themselves, and true to the world. It's like throwing a racquetball (very appropriate metaphor if you've seen Gilmore this season) in a court. It has to bounce off the walls according to the laws of physics, but you can throw it any direction you want.

Here is where Gilmore is failing miserably this season. Whether or not you think Luke and Lorelai should be together is beside the point (gulp), but the show needs to make the characters act like themselves, or it isn't a story anymore. So right now, Lorelai is rejecting Luke in a way that's completely unlike her, and Rory is responding in a way completely unlike Rory, to serve the interests of the plot. You can't do that!!! If you need the plot to go a particular way, you have to find a way to make that happen while being true to the characters.

For example, if the writers really want L&L broken up (gulp), they could have had Lorelai be a brat and give Luke an ultimatum like she did (very true to character), then had her be stupid with Christopher (a stretch, but still believable). But.. rather than have Luke come apologize and offer to whisk her away to Maryland which is all she wanted *yesterday*, they should have had Luke be mad at her for being a selfish brat (which she sometimes is) and let her go.

As an aspiring writer, I see this as a cautionary tale. It's a wonderful thing to make readers believe your characters, and also a big responsibility.

And one more happy thought: