One of my favorite TV shows of all times is The Gilmore Girls. The quick, witty dialogue, the story of a single mother who pulls off a great life for her and her kid, the town of Stars Hallow with all of it’s quirky inhabitants…the show had dynamics and talent in a combination I haven’t seen anywhere else on television. It is one that our whole family will sit down and relax to (especially since The Guy got me the complete box set-Barbie-esque case for X-mas two years ago!).
There are so many characters to love, for me most obviously Lorelai, Luke, and Emily Gilmore. But hands down my favorite personality on the show has to be Sookie. Sookie is charming, witty, and goofy. She is a talented chef, a loving and dear friend who will mix you a margarita when you are bummed or drive you home if you are in need or let you crash on her couch when your world has fallen to pieces. She will make you muffin bottom pie and listen to all your troubles, even if you have to do it in the ER, after she has tripped and fallen in the kitchen (something that I can relate to…The Guy will tell you that my amazing cooking skills are equal to my clumsiness in the kitchen).
She is also ridiculously beautiful despite not conforming to the normal Hollywood ideals of beauty standards. And that might be one thing that endears Sookie (and by proxy, Melissa McCarthy) to me. In seven seasons of the show, never once has Sookie’s size or weight ever been mentioned, brought up, or joked about. It has never figured into a plot or story arc. All of Sookie’s stories have been about her, the person, the human, the best friend of Lorelai. She was never scripted to talk about or criticize her weight or appearance, as is usually the case when we have an actress over size four on television anymore. If a person who happens to fall outside of Hollywood weight standards is cast, hir weight is usually not only a topic, but usually the topic of hir appearing, if for no other reason than to be commented on by the other characters. But not Sookie. And that is something rare, and refreshing. She was never the butt of a joke or the poster girl for the lazy or unhealthy stereotypes or the moral message about the faux epidemic of obesity. Sookie was accepted and looked at as a woman, a person, and nothing more or less.
Even rarer still is that Sookie is portrayed having relationships. She has an active and healthy sex life. Jackson, her produce supplier-turned boyfriend-turned husband is over the moon about her. They have a happy, wonderful, sometimes odd, marriage, beautiful happy children, and full lives. I can not think of a woman over size twelve on television, not even Roseanne, who is or was portrayed as such, where there is never once commentary or joking about her size or weight. And that so damned refreshing.
Melissa McCarthy has gone on to do more acting since Gilmore Girls sadly ended. I noticed she is on the ABC show Samantha Who, which I haven’t watched. I haven’t seen her in anything else, so I couldn’t testify as to how her characters are treated in other realms…but I would hope that the precedent set by McCarthy on Gilmore Girls followed her into her current career.
Come to think of it… there are quite a few women on Gilmore Girls who fall outside of that narrow standard, and their weight is also never an issue or topic or joke. That says an awful lot about the beauty and quality of programming that was Gilmore Girls. Sookie was, however, more central a character than the others, and that is why this post is about her.
