Liya Abil- Week 7- FRIENDS
With the recent passing of Matthew Perry, the man that played the beloved character of Chandler Bing in Friends, I have been reminded of the show and characters through social media.
Apart from being a humorous comedy and a feel good T.V show, the characters and themes in the show are able to represent American ideals perfectly.
Rachel Green ran away from her perfect but boring life as a rich, spoiled girl and started over on her own. She built herself from the ground up from working as a waitress to doing what she loves by working in the fashion industry. Her story shows resilience and how anyone can succeed in America through hard work and effort.
Monica and Ross Geller represent family and sibling bonds. Despite having quarrels as any siblings do, the two get along and support each other. The power of siblings and the importance of maintaining these relationships is highlighted with these two characters, as they are able to come to each other with good news, bad news, and almost anything about life.
Phoebe Buffay is the most eccentric character on the show with her unconventional songs, outfits, ideas, and outbursts. She is able to embrace her “weird” characteristics and all her friends love her more for it. She represents the unique qualities of people and how everyone is different and should love themselves for who they are.
Joey Tribianni is seen as the unintelligent character on the show but makes up for it through lovable personality. Just like when he covered up the fact that Chandler and Monica were dating, Joey is the most loyal and caring to his friends. He constantly protects and puts them as his top priority.
Chandler Bing has a good job, makes a sufficient amount of money, and has great friends. However, he is an insecure individual, most likely from his parents’ divorce and uses humor to cover it up. Chandler represents the complexities of life and that nobody is perfect or the ideal American. Everyone has some imperfections that help to build their personality and character.
Hard work, family, friendship, uniqueness, and imperfections all make up a family, a community, a country. Together, all of the friends represent American ideologies.
Hi Liya! Although I’m not familiar with Friends, your blog resonated with me as it was a show my mother adored just coming to the US. It’s interesting how all of these characters have unique traits that seem simple on the surface but also give depth to the show. This reflection of the primarily American audience has a lot to do with its massive success, as consumers like to relate with or be acknowledged in the show. At first, I was going to assume that the traits shown in Friends would reflect any generic ideals, but you have shown how it truly is tailored for the US. For instance, Joey’s “unintelligent character” is something I feel that most other countries would look down on, as more authoritative countries would have characters with ideal traits. In the same way, not only are Phoebe’s “unconventional” interests exhibited in the show, but they are also embraced by the other characters. This welcoming and diverse atmosphere vividly captures a uniquely American ideal. Compared to shows designed to glorify their countries, Friends performs a better job because entertainment is its main focus. The underlying theme that does adore America is presented more subtly and naturally, and embracing imperfections over ideal traits creates a much more relatable and powerful effect on the American audience.
ReplyDeleteHi Liya! Your blog was really interesting because of how you connected American ideals to TV show characters. Although I’ve never watched Friends before, your description was thorough enough to help describe how the characters in Friends demonstrate American ideals such as hard work, individuality, and compassion. I think these ideals are what made the TV show so popular, since its largely American audience would have been able to relate and resonate with characters who share similar American values to them. Although these characters may not seem unique on paper, your blog shows how Americans feel more connected to characters they can relate with compared to characters that are too unique. This also made me think of movies and shows I’ve watched that have characters that display American values. One show I can think of is “The Queen’s Gambit” which is about a prodigious orphan who rises to fame because of her exceptional skill of playing chess. The show is about how even a poor orphan can rise to fame in America thorough individualism and hard work, which allowed the audience to resonate with the show, leading to its popularity.
ReplyDeleteHey Liya! When I saw the show "Friends" mentioned, I immediately clicked on your blog post. I vividly remember that one of my friends back in the sixth grade would groan and attack anyone who mentioned or talked about the show friends. I never really understood why he hated the show because I never watched it myself; However, after reading your blog post, I am starting to think that maybe my friend was crazy. The plot doesn’t even seem half bad, and looking at the descriptions of the characters, it might even be a positive thing for a child to watch a couple episodes of this show. This show clearly shows that there are very different people with very different personalities in very different situations. I think the character that seems the most interesting is probably Rachel Green. The main idea that she likely emits is that through hard work, anyone can succeed in America. This idea is one of the ideas that America is founded on, and the fact that someone can learn that through watching a funny show is great.
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