Wednesday, Paris, and the Morbid Realities of Life, Part II
Paris in her element from Season 6, Episode 10, "He's Slippin' 'Em Bread...Dig?"
Welcome to part II, where we begin to talk about Paris Geller. She and Wednesday Addams are very different characters, but both are extremely driven and motivated, much more so than the average person.
There are very few things that upset Paris enough to send her panicking and fretting. When she didn’t get into Harvard, she fell into a slump and stopped caring, and caring is one of her main character traits!
In this case, I am defining the “morbid realities of life” as issues happening in the world, like the environmental crisis, the education system, consumer culture, religion (specifically the church and state, which are impossible to separate), just to name a few. Paris does not necessarily talk about all of these issues, but these are the types of things I mean when I say “morbid realities,” rather than murder and death in Wednesday’s case.
Paris Geller is phased by the morbid realities of life, but they encourage her to work harder, specifically in the political realm. Unlike Wednesday, Paris constantly works on things bigger than herself, and even though we don’t get a very in-depth view of her character in Gilmore Girls, I would like to think she plans to make the world a better place through getting involved in politics and medicine (because why not do both if you’re as smart as Paris?)
That’s not to say Paris doesn’t focus on herself, as part of growing up is looking inward and seeing the injustices done to you as well as the injustices you do to others. Paris does her fair share of self-pitying even though she has a lot going for her. She does not, however, give in to those injustices; she keeps moving forward, bettering herself along the way.
I think there is a great deal to be learned from Paris, even though most of the people she deals with are afraid of her. She gets work done and does it well, which makes her intimidating to many, but she simply does not choose to focus her energy on the things most teenagers focus on, like going out to social events (if it weren’t for her mother and her life coach, she would not be a social character at all). Paris, though a rich private-school girl, is very in tune to the morbid realities of life. She is not your typical rich party girl (like Madeline and Louise are), and her parents go through a pretty nasty divorce when she is still in high school.
Even though she desperately wishes to fit in, she doens’t put much work into doing so because there are other things that are much more important to her, like getting into Harvard and becoming a doctor and a lawyer. When Paris points out the existence of these morbid realities, other characters often take a step back and wonder what is wrong with her. Why would she be talking about these depressing things? Because they happen.
Paris is able to set goals for herself based on these realities in order to help people. She often does this in an intimidating or menacing way, but she gets things done. Other aspects of life, like romance and friendships, fall into place along the way. She meets Rory, who does not have the same outlook on life as her, but has similar goals. Then she meets Jamie, and later Doyle, who are charmed by her drive and motivation (which again, nobody is motivated quite like Paris Geller).
Most of all, I feel I can relate to Paris more so than Rory. I too was the brainy girl in high school who was used to being top of the class. I too wanted to fit in but didn’t do much to fit in because I didn’t know the first thing about fitting in. Then when I went to college, things opened up for me and I was able to spend time with people who had similar interests to me and join the clubs I wanted to.
I don’t believe I’m alone in thinking Paris is a more relatable character either. Many of us know what it’s like to pour your heart and soul into something and ultimately fail. Paris is a seasoned veteran in this kind of situation, too. I admit, she can be so blinded by ambition and determination that she loses sight of, say, how to deal with fellow students working on the school newspaper or student government.
So, hopefully Paris Geller has taught us that the morbid realities of life are not cause enough to give up on trying to make the world a better place, even when we have to face these realities head-on.
I am providing the link to Paris Geller’s Wikipedia page (yes I know Wikipedia’s stigma about being unreputable, but this particular page gives a pretty in-depth description of Paris’ appearances in each season and how she was received by Gilmore Girls fans.