The television character of Lorelai Gilmore is bright, pretty, funny, entrepreneurial, and a man-magnet. So why might the average girl viewer—perhaps already a fan of Beyoncé or Gwen Stefani—shy away from Lorelai Gilmore as a positive role model? Maybe it’s because she does everything backwards, like the denizens of Bizarro World, Superman’s loopy alternate universe. The whole premise of Lorelai’s saga is that (like Bizarro Lois Lane) Lorelai does the opposite of what more conventional or prudent modern women would do. And yet she survives and thrives on the decidedly mixed results.

Lorelai has unprotected sex when she shouldn’t; gets pregnant then decides neither to marry nor get rid of the child; abandons a background of wealth for blue-collar poverty; and postpones college for subsistence toil and single parenthood. Not the most practical or glamorous life choices in the world. But what makes Lorelai worth respecting as an unconventional heroine is her refusal to let questionable choices defeat or define her. As surreal as a fish on a bicycle, Lorelai serves as an object lesson for distaff America on how to triumph over bad luck (since she can’t seem to avoid it). You can almost hear her Bizarro war cry: “Freedom and privilege? Lorelai hate freedom and privilege. Me rather prove me am tough and independent by trading youth for more hard work and responsibility than me can handle! Lorelai not spoiled, me am liberated!” and by the standards of her own internal logic, this contrarian suffragette is absolutely right.  …