The roll of fat around the bra strap.

[CynicKill]

I've read quite a few scathing reviews, but it seems to me that Rory's
review of the ballet was relentless. The support from Emily and Richard
was a little more surprising then the support from her editor, because I
can see an editor liking such salacious material. But c'mon, that review
was just too harsh.

[Sharpe Fan]

Post by CynicKill
I've read quite a few scathing reviews, but it seems to me that Rory's
review of the ballet was relentless. The support from Emily and Richard
was a little more surprising then the support from her editor, because I
can see an editor liking such salacious material. But c'mon, that review
was just too harsh.

I agree. I am willing to grant the performance was bad, but the article was
too personal about the dancer rather than the performance.

I can understand E&R liking the review because their granddaughter wrote it,
and they can be cruel when the mood strikes.

Sharpe Fan

[T.J. (formerly Dallas Stars!)]

Post by CynicKill
I've read quite a few scathing reviews, but it seems to me that Rory's
review of the ballet was relentless....But c'mon, that review
was just too harsh.

...hence the well-deserved, "Die, jerk", especially considering Rory's
admitted lack of experience in ballet. In her defence, she was somewhat
under the gun to prove she belonged on the YDN so she may have taken Doyle's
advice to write what she thinks a little too much to heart.

~t

---------------------------

How 'bout them Condors!!

[Rob Jensen]

Post by CynicKill
I've read quite a few scathing reviews, but it seems to me that Rory's
review of the ballet was relentless. The support from Emily and Richard
was a little more surprising then the support from her editor, because I
can see an editor liking such salacious material. But c'mon, that review
was just too harsh.

ITA. That was part of the point of the episode -- Lorelai even called
her on it and when Lorelai calls you on something, you done wrong.
Sure, the quote originated with Lorelai -- but even Lorelai pointed out
that Rory shouldn't have used it in her review or, at least, that it's
something that Lorelai never would have intended to share with the
public in print. That Richard and Emily *approved* of Rory's hatchet
job was icing on the cake of how wrong Rory's lack of tact was.

I wasn't surprised that Richard and Emily approved of the review --
hatchet jobs are a spectator sport in east coast art circles. They were
cheering on Rory's aggressiveness because they see it as a source of
power and they're nothing if not desperate to see someone in their
family exercise any sort of power to lord judgment over anyone else.
Just so that they know that *someone* will maintain the Gilmore name the
way they want to see it maintained. But this is what separates Emily
and Richard from Lorelai and sets Rory firmly between them: Emily and
Richard hoard power and encourage the use of power for personal gain
(which would make them terrible witches in the Charmed universe, BID)
while Lorelai *abhors* the very thought and the increasingly troubled
Rory lacks a clear sense of the difference between the two -- so it's no
wonder that when she's on her own, away from Lorelai, her sense of tact
is one of the first things to go.

One year, the theater reviewer at my university hatcheted a couple of
shows that my department did -- not shows that I did (honest!), but we
*all* read all the reviews because no matter the size of the university,
our department was more of a family. It was particularly frustrating to
read the reviews -- not because they were hatchet jobs, but because the
reviewer sabotaged his legitimate complaints by drowning them underneath
personal attacks like Rory's. So instead of using a review as a
resource to back up whatever criticism you yourself might have of the
given show, we all had to spend time coaxing the people involved in the
reviewed shows down from the metaphorical trees they'd climbed in anger.

The thing is, usually, the people we had to talk down from the bad
reviews were the youngest, least experienced performers. But
whatserface in this ep had been taking dance since she was a toddler.
IMO, someone with the background the dancer had just described to Rory
about herself would have been *far* more blase about even Rory's hatchet
job -- because she should have seen *many* of this kind of bad (for the
reviewer) review, but she comes off more like the Paris Gellar of ballet.

-- Rob