Person-centered Ethnography: Stephanie as Lorelai

My sister and best friend, Stephanie Haas, is a 21-year-old, soon-to-be-graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park. She will conclude her educational career a semester early, on December 18th—a date she knows well and highly anticipates—with a bachelor’s degree in Communications and a minor in Spanish, not to mention a 4.0 GPA. She considers her intelligence to be among her best qualities, along with her initiative, decision-making skills, and laid-back personality. “I can have fun doing anything,” she told me. “Even this interview is rather enjoyable!” Stephanie predicts others might describe her as smart and funny (perhaps, opinionated and loud, at times) but a generally enjoyable person to be around. “I think I would be friends with myself,” she laughed.

Where did such a socially adept and highly accomplished young woman get her inspiration? From the one person she admires most: her mother. Stephanie is grateful for her support over the years (in school and sports, especially), lucky to have inherited at least some of what she considers to be her mom’s best qualities (her decisiveness and sense of humor), and envious of her ability to “do 10 million things at one time.” She describes her mom as “a woman of the 70s. She kept her name, and she thinks girls can do anything”—a belief which Stephanie, too, holds dear.

Stephanie claims that TV plays a “huge” role in her everyday life, but not just any channel or program; there are certain shows that she is very attached to (typically realistic ones with characters around her age) and others that she is quite averse to (those that are action-packed or involving the supernatural). “The shows I like, I watch regularly,” she told me. “I look forward to them and I carve out time for them.” Stephanie will, for the sake of being able to watch without interruption, two of her favorites—The Hills and The Real World, both on MTV—be sure to finish her homework by 10 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday nights when they come on. She has even been known to decline offers of social engagements on these and other evenings for fear of missing her beloved line-up of shows.

Indeed the most intriguing of Stephanie’s relationships with TV is that which she has with a certain CW show, Gilmore Girls, a “dramedy” (part drama, part comedy) about a single-mother, Lorelai, and daughter, Rory, living in a small town where everyone knows their business. She owns the first six seasons on DVD and has asked her boyfriend to get her the seventh as a gift for their two-year anniversary. She watches an episode before bed each night and lets the DVD play all the way through as she sleeps. “[Lorelai and Rory’s] lives are just real enough that I feel like I could be like them, but just exciting enough that I would want to be like them,” Stephanie said.

And she is like the featured Gilmores—witty Lorelai and studious Rory. Stephanie likes that Lorelai is independent (that she “can hold her own”), that she can have fun just watching movies and eating pizza on a Saturday night, and that she is “always one step ahead while everyone else is trying to catch up.” Stephanie continually finds herself thinking about what Lorelai would do or say if placed in similar situations to hers, and often acts accordingly. As for Rory, Stephanie has always been able to relate to her conservative and somewhat bookish ways and good decision-making, not to mention the fact that Rory’s character is just one year older than Stephanie and went through the stress of applying to college at about the same time. So has Stephanie always been so quick-witted and scholarly, or has her regular exposure to Gilmore Girls shaped who she is today? Based upon 19 years of shared experiences, as well as what I gathered from the interview, I would say the answer is somewhere in between.

Person-Centered Ethnography Questions

1.) What events have shaped your life thus far? Can you name some influential people? Do they have any qualities you greatly admire?

2.) How would you describe yourself? How would others describe you? Which qualities do you take the most pride in? Which qualities are you not so proud of? Is there anything you would change about yourself?

3.) What role does TV play in your everyday life? Do you enjoy watching TV? How many hours would you say you spend watching TV per week? At what time of the day do you generally watch TV? Do you ever download TV shows online or buy them in DVD form?

4.) Do you have a favorite channel? What shows do you watch regularly? What genre of shows and/or movies are you typically drawn to?

5.) Which character on Gilmore Girls do you relate to the most? Does he/she posses any qualities you wish you possessed, as well? When you’re watching the show, do you ever put yourself in his/her shoes? Do you ever think about this character when you’re not watching the show? Do you, perhaps, act in certain ways because this character would if placed in a similar situation?

A Picture of Me

Geppi's Entertainment Museum

At Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, a good time was had by all, and by “all” I am referring to my friend, Steve, and me, who were the only visitors at 5:00 p.m. (just one hour before close) on a Thursday night (game night for the O’s). As the hostess handed us our pamphlets, badges, and Treasure Hunt tickets, she said, “It’s all yours,” a light-hearted crack at the attendance. We explored the “A Story in Four Colors” exhibit first, as suggested, which featured comics from as far back as the late 1800s. In all honesty, I have never had much of an appreciation for comics, but a quote by Will Eisner, who, as I discovered upon further research, has been called the “Godfather of American Comics” (http://lambiek.net/artists/e/eisner.htm), brought things into perspective for me: “In the beginning, God made comics, and we drew on the walls of caves trying to tell everybody how we captured a mastodon that afternoon.” Just seconds later, Steve exclaimed, “The first Superman comic ever!” and I approached with genuine interest.

Naturally, since this was a class assignment, I searched for the answers to the suggested questions first. “Are there objects you think are controversial?” (Yes—the Sassofras Jones ventriloquist dummy (circa 1860s) from the “Pioneer Spirit” room, for its painted black face, disproportionately large nose, and bright red lips.) I soon found myself, however, more intrigued by Steve’s reactions and those of the few other guests. Steve spent the majority of the hour entranced by the Treasure Hunt. “Of course, Dino! He can’t ride on Bamm-Bamm!” he scoffed jokingly at the computer in reference to a question about some Fred Flintstone battery-powered top. He was interested in the toys, but more so concerned with successfully completing the game so that he could win the prize at the end.

There were also two women walking around together. One was obviously a veteran of the museum and had returned with a friend this time so that they could reminisce together. In one of the rooms, she nearly trampled me as she rushed to the glass case that held a BOB-A-LOOP toy, meanwhile yelling to her friend to join her. She looked up at me and said, “I’m sorry, this is just really exciting for us.” At that point, it was clear to me that Geppi’s Entertainment Museum was not created for my generation’s enjoyment. Sure, I recognized a few things that have since been recreated—Underdog, Fantastic Four, and Little Orphan Annie—but Steve and I were, in general, out-of-the-loop (pun intended).