gracecmeyers

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So... Why Did I Choose Friends?

I am sure some people pondered why I was choosing Friends for my cultural object blog when I initially mentioned it in the beginning of the semester. I have always felt a strong connection to this television show--everyone has that one show they put on when they’re home alone or trying to fall asleep, right? The more that I learned about television, filming and acting as a whole, I felt as if I developed a better connection with the characters both on and off the screen. When I read into the background of the lives of all the actors, it helped me feel more connected to the fact that they were severely impacted by the fame. It’s intriguing to learn about the lives of celebrities outside of the television screen, which is also why my final research project is about celebrity culture and why we are so infatuated with it, despite the known risks and harm that comes along with it. I think it can be really easy to forget that celebrities are people too, and that their lives can be equally as hectic when they are not on screen. I developed a better understanding of this through creating this blog and gaining more insight on how our fascination with celebrities is a mere reflection of the shallowness and “fantasy-like” world that our society so badly wants to live within. I feel that this show is one example that touches upon the “follow-your-dreams,” move to New York post-college type of feel, which is something that I am sure all of us have dreamed of at one point or another. This show always made me ponder how it will feel to be going into my thirties with my close friends and see how many life changes we go through between now and then. Friends portrays countless real life problems--divorce, marriage, breakups, having children, dating both older and younger partners, matters of infertility, adoption, surrogacy, learning things like how to ride a bike, prioritizing friends over romantic encounters, and so much more! I think that is just one of the many things that has always drawn me in about this show. Despite the fact that it’s not necessarily an accurate portrayal of real life, they absolutely do include a variety of events that all young adults are likely to go through within their life. I am relieved that I chose this topic as well because it certainly sparked some inspiration for me moving forward with my research project!

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Rachel Green has had an endless line of boyfriends and dates throughout the ten seasons of the show. However, if you take the time to reflect on the appearance of the men, there are things they have in common that cannot be ignored... every single man that Rachel Green goes out with is a white man. As a matter of fact, Warner Bros has even admitted that they denied having a more diverse cast and wanted to keep the girls dating white men in order to avoid “racial controversy.”

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S2E4 - Here is a photo of Phoebe and her gay husband, Duncan, who she married in order to provide him with a green card since he was from Canada.

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Is F.R.I.E.N.D.S. a racist television program?

Sometimes, you have to take a step back and look at your favorite television program from a new perspective. Television throughout the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s most definitely evolved into a more “inclusive” space as we got into the 2000′s. However, has that stopped a majority of shows and movies from casting a primarily white cast? Not necessarily! This is something that is discussed when approaching the filming of Friends. According to one online survey, when asked, approximately 60% of viewers said that the show strikes them as racist, and the other 40% disagree. There are a few reasons listed for believing that it may be deemed as racist. Some viewers feel as if the producers only casting the female characters (Monica, Rachel and Phoebe) with white men throughout the ENTIRE series speaks volumes about how there was worried involved of these white women being portrayed with a black man or somebody outside of their own race. I can’t say that I never previously noticed this, however, it got more interesting for me as I read through the comment thread. It has been pointed out that both Joey and Ross go out with women outside of their own race at some point in the show--a black women and a Chinese woman. Some viewers have been lead to believe that it is more “desirable” to viewers to pair the white men with someone outside of their own race. However, if you do the same for the lead white women, there is discussion that this was not the “norm” back when the show was filmed. I feel like this is incredibly strange to come to terms with, because to think of how this show began being filmed in 1994 and biracial couples were not necessarily a common occurrence throughout the late 90′s and early 2000′s. I was amazed when I now reflect upon how television looks now, seeing how common it is to see both men and women of nearly all races being represented more frequently (however, still not nearly enough!). 

It also intrigues me to reflect upon the primarily white cast and worries about pairing certain characters with certain partners... and then I had the realization that they heavily discuss Chandler’s father being a transgender man throughout the ENTIRE series, with no hesitation. There are even jokes made about his father being a drag queen, having sexual relations with the houseboy when Chandler was growing up (hence his humor used as a defense mechanism as a result of poor childhood conditions), making jokes about his father wearing jewelry to Monica and Chandler’s wedding and so much more! This particularly striked me as odd because from my understanding, television programs did not frequently discuss trans individuals and they were very rarely represented. I find it to be alarming to some extent how Chandler’s transgender father was talked about and shown more throughout the series than even the thought of any of the three female characters being apart of a biracial relationship. By no means am I saying that I disagree with the representation of Chandler’s trans father, I support that in full, however, it is seriously insane to look back and see how far we have come in terms of representation! 

I understand that this show was made and produced throughout the 90′s, however, there absolutely could have been more representation from the racial aspect. I honestly feel like in terms of gender and sexuality, the producers did a pretty good job representing that throughout the show! There are several occasions where gay men are brought up, such as when Phoebe was married to a gay man from Canada in order to give him his green card. There has been episodes where Ross and Chandler kiss one another, Chandler and Joey kiss one another, etc. Although these particular examples don’t necessarily mean the characters are gay by any means, I think it’s interesting to see that the producers had no shame in telling their cast members to kiss one another on camera. I think there may be some correlation between the fact that the producer, David Krane, is a gay man himself, so perhaps he wanted to keep it mainly inclusive in terms of his own community.

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Struggles that the Friends Faced

Friends was co-created by David Crane, Marta Kauffman and Kevin Bright. Crane and Kauffman were lifelong friends who came together to create the iconic sit-com that is still well known in today’s television culture. The original name that was pitched for the show was Insomnia Café, and it actually went through several title changes before the idea of “Friends” came to be.  It was filmed over the course of a decade, premiering on television from 1994 to 2004, and dominating the business during its ten years of filming. This is seen through record breaking numbers of viewers on episodes such as the season finale, with a total of 52.5 million viewers, making it the most watched episode of US television in the 2000’s, as well as the fifth most watched season finale of any show in history. However, despite all of this success, there most certainly was drama and scandals behind the scenes of it all.

Matthew Perry, who we all know of as the jokester Chandler Bing, struggled immensely with a battle against drug and alcohol addiction during the peak of the success of the show. He admitted during an interview on BBC Radio that he does not recall filming three entire seasons as a result of being under the influence. He openly talks about how between the years 1996 and 1999 he could not control or hide his addiction from people in his life. His addiction to pills primarily stemmed from getting into a jet ski accident in 1997 and being prescribed Vicodin for the pain, which when mixed with alcohol resulted in him forgetting years of his life. Luckily, he has since gotten sober and is now an anti-addiction advocate and helps others find their path to sobriety. On a less intense note, Jennifer Aniston, of course, became one of the most famous, successful and well-known women in Hollywood, not only due to the show but due to her marriage to Brad Pitt as well. When the two divorced amid rumors involving Angelina Jolie and Pitt becoming romantically involved, the drama that followed for Aniston has still not come to an end. People in the media are still taking the time to discuss the divorce and “Brangelina,” even 15 years later.

           Joey Tribbiani, played by Matt LeBlanc, is of course one of the most loved characters on the show for so many reasons. However, he struggled with both personal and family issues that I had not known about before. LeBlanc felt so burnt out from the filming of the show that he felt as if he was becoming a hermit and couldn’t even leave the house. It was a really dark time for him mentally due to a combination of stress. He had a daughter, Marina, in 2004 with then wife Melissa McKnight, however Marina was diagnosed with a severe health problem at a very young age. LeBlanc felt like he could not be there enough for his daughter due to his time spent in the spotlight and felt as if he was being a bad father. He blamed himself at first, however, in 2006 he decided to move in a less-settled part of California in order to spend more time with Marina during her childhood and says it is one of the best decisions he ever made.

           David Schwimmer, who we know as Ross Geller the paleontologist and long-time lover of Rachel Green, felt similar conflict to what Matt LeBlanc went through. He says that it was beyond overwhelming becoming such a well-known celebrity so quickly and found himself incredibly frustrated at the fact that he could no longer just go places and live his life like a regular person. It also became a problem for him going forward when trying to approach acting in general.

           Lisa Kudrow, who played the ditzy, guitar playing Phoebe Buffay faced some legal conflict following the show. In 2008, her ex-manager from the time that Friends was filmed, sued her for owing him residuals from when he was her manager, meaning he was not being paid the proper amount for all of the reruns of Friends that have played since the show originally aired. He originally filed his suit in 2008 and it was not settled until 2014 and she had to pay him a total of 1.6 million dollars. This of course is a huge chunk of money, however, Kudrow got paid approximately that amount for each episode of friends during the final season in 2004.

           Courteney Cox, who portrayed the obsessive perfectionist Monica Geller, talks about how she was self-conscious about her appearance for a long time. She felt growing up that appearance was the most important thing to her. This led to her getting countless cosmetic surgeries that essentially made her face look like a completely different person. She talks about how she became obsessive over the procedures and eventually had to make herself stop and got all of the fillers dissolved.

           I feel that discussing all of the problems that the actors experienced off screen during the time the show was made is really important to look into. The pressure that actors go through despite their insane success is not always talked about. I honestly learned a lot of things while researching the issues that all six of the cast members went through that I had never heard about before, which is surprising because this is my most favorite television show of all time. I definitely want to take the time to look into the background of the filming itself as well, how the producers worked together and the overall creation of the show throughout the ten years.

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Some iconic Friend’s photos from the 90′s.

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Getting to Know “Friends”