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In ‘The Nanny and the Professor‘, Rory keeps catching Paris kissing Asher Fleming, a professor who is 60 years old! Paris is hiding this from Rory, lying and saying she’s still with Jamie, but Lorelai suggests to Rory that probably Paris & Asher are doing “older man things” aside from just kissing.
I want to know what you think about this relationship… is Paris simply in awe of a man so smart, thereby thinking him attractive despite his age? Is she being taken advantage of? Does she truly not care about his age? If so, why try to hide it all from Rory?
And later, when it seems like Paris wants to ooh and ahh about it to Rory, saying dreamily “I smell like pip tobacco,” she seems to be head over heels for Asher… or maybe just the concept of him, or his attention for her. Maybe she feels more special because someone “important” is paying attention to her?
Here is a Paris & Asher fan video:
Watch this episode of Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.
Image: TheWB.com
249 days ago
So weird that we have to allude to what their relationship was, but maybe that’s more of the anxiety. I had a crush on a professor or two … not 60, but in their 40s when I was 20, it’s not the authority figure thing, it was just that they were hot and smart, a pretty compelling combination when a lot of other sexy people your own age come off like idiots around you (especially as freshmen when they’re getting all the stupid things out of their system that they couldn’t do at home).
I think the student-teacher relationship / scandal is why Paris is trying to keep it quiet. No professor wants to be laughed at and rumored about by the students unless their ego is so huge they just don’t care or think it makes them look hotter. It undercuts their authority, and I would imagine open them up to a lot of allegations. All a student would have to do is allege that a professor came on to him or her, and if the prof has that history….
But if you look at people as people, not by their age, this shouldn’t matter. Paris is definitely not “young” when it comes to her attitude. It’s not hard to see that she’d have a hard time relating to other young people. And if Asher had the stamina for other things, why not? I could see a lot of people being attracted to him — it’s hard to find people sometimes who are really into the range of things you are. (Gilmore Girls and Shakespeare and Bergman films? Anybody?)
It almost seems condescending to have to say that “older people” are attractive. Isn’t Lena Olin still one of the sexiest women on the planet? (She’s almost 55). Clooney’s pushing 50. And look at all the fans of Scott Patterson (51), Lauren Graham (almost 43) and David Sutcliffe (41) — all older than a lot of Gilmore fans who are turned on by them, no?
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248 days ago
@Josh
Well said.
The whole Paris/Asher storyline was one of the more interesting subplots throughout the entire series. Not that it was a shock by any means since Paris was essentially 35 years old from the day she was born [and Michael York is not your typical 60 year old], but in how instructive it was to watch the reactions of the people around her to the relationship. From Rory’s initial “OMG…how could they” reaction to her final full appreciation of why the relationship was important to Paris, to M&L’s complete misunderstanding that the relationship could be for something other than money, to Doyle’s admiration for how discrete and well hidden this relationship had been, this storyline was a delightful dance to watch and appreciate. And even the tragic ending for Asher was modulated since ASP had Doyle waiting in the wings as Paris’ next man.
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