Hey, I realize I'm a little late to the party, but I just started to go through all the seasons of "Friends" a little while ago (I'm in season 6 now), after only ever seeing a handful of episodes in re-runs.
First off, I must confess that I'm a trans person, and I haven't been out long, so I may be a little sensitive to this kind of thing. That said, "Friends", while having its funny moment(s) (pretty much just Ross' teeth whitening), is some problematic garbage.
1: All-out transphobia: When Ross has to apply Rachel's makeup due to an injury, he goes a little overboard. Think of the makeup shotgun from the Simpsons. After she sees herself in the mirror, she says something like "This looks FINE, I'll just be sitting in the back of the room with the TRANSSEXUAL!" Laugh track goes NUTS. Chandler's "dad" is a TRANS WOMAN, with a woman's name, living as a woman, but is CONSTANTLY being dead named and misgendered, up to and including jokes like "Don't you have a bit too much penis to wear a dress like that?" Hilarious!
2: Homophobia: Heaven forbid any of the guys accidentally touch each other or have to open up about feelings. I'm surprised they don't all yell "NO HOMO!" After making eye contact. There's a running joke about Chandler's sexuality - he may be gay because Monica and him make potpourri sachets! It KILLS Ross that his son Ben may like to play with Barbie dolls. Ross having married a lesbian - and the lesbian couple themselves - are played for the cheapest sad-sack laughs.
3. Toxic masculinity: All of the above kind of fits in this spot, but there's more. Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe are allowed to entertain thought experiments like "Which of the other women in the group would I date?" When the men are asked the same thing about them, everyone refuses to answer except for - you guessed it! Chandler says "Joey!" and the other two back up because they don't want to catch his queerness. And the way the show plays off the objectification of women for laughs is completely messed up. There are a few "Hey, women aren't objects… JUST KIDDING!!" jokes, and they're all terrible.
But one of the worst to me —
4. PLAYING OFF FEMALE-TO-MALE DOMESTIC ABUSE FOR LAUGHS. Joey dates a girl played by Punk Brewster, and her thing is that she is constantly "playfully" punching Joey as hard as she can. When Joey expresses this to the group, EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. Lines up to gaslight him and tell him to "man up". This isn't funny now and I can't even believe it was "funny" then.
I know that I've left out so many examples, and I want to hear them. Before anyone asks why I'm still watching it, well, I often have it on in the background, and at this point I'm pretty much doing it to see how fucking terrible it gets. I can't believe anyone genuinely, un-ironically loved this show - FOR TEN SEASONS. Is the fact that it's terrible, problematic garbage pretty much the accepted feeling about it? I'll give you the answer - it's not, and I'm super disappointed.
EDIT: I don't know if "it was a different time/things were acceptable then" when the show is still in HUGE DEMAND in re-runs and streaming. People are still loving this show.
First off, I must confess that I'm a trans person, and I haven't been out long, so I may be a little sensitive to this kind of thing. That said, "Friends", while having its funny moment(s) (pretty much just Ross' teeth whitening), is some problematic garbage.
1: All-out transphobia: When Ross has to apply Rachel's makeup due to an injury, he goes a little overboard. Think of the makeup shotgun from the Simpsons. After she sees herself in the mirror, she says something like "This looks FINE, I'll just be sitting in the back of the room with the TRANSSEXUAL!" Laugh track goes NUTS. Chandler's "dad" is a TRANS WOMAN, with a woman's name, living as a woman, but is CONSTANTLY being dead named and misgendered, up to and including jokes like "Don't you have a bit too much penis to wear a dress like that?" Hilarious!
2: Homophobia: Heaven forbid any of the guys accidentally touch each other or have to open up about feelings. I'm surprised they don't all yell "NO HOMO!" After making eye contact. There's a running joke about Chandler's sexuality - he may be gay because Monica and him make potpourri sachets! It KILLS Ross that his son Ben may like to play with Barbie dolls. Ross having married a lesbian - and the lesbian couple themselves - are played for the cheapest sad-sack laughs.
3. Toxic masculinity: All of the above kind of fits in this spot, but there's more. Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe are allowed to entertain thought experiments like "Which of the other women in the group would I date?" When the men are asked the same thing about them, everyone refuses to answer except for - you guessed it! Chandler says "Joey!" and the other two back up because they don't want to catch his queerness. And the way the show plays off the objectification of women for laughs is completely messed up. There are a few "Hey, women aren't objects… JUST KIDDING!!" jokes, and they're all terrible.
But one of the worst to me —
4. PLAYING OFF FEMALE-TO-MALE DOMESTIC ABUSE FOR LAUGHS. Joey dates a girl played by Punk Brewster, and her thing is that she is constantly "playfully" punching Joey as hard as she can. When Joey expresses this to the group, EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. Lines up to gaslight him and tell him to "man up". This isn't funny now and I can't even believe it was "funny" then.
I know that I've left out so many examples, and I want to hear them. Before anyone asks why I'm still watching it, well, I often have it on in the background, and at this point I'm pretty much doing it to see how fucking terrible it gets. I can't believe anyone genuinely, un-ironically loved this show - FOR TEN SEASONS. Is the fact that it's terrible, problematic garbage pretty much the accepted feeling about it? I'll give you the answer - it's not, and I'm super disappointed.
EDIT: I don't know if "it was a different time/things were acceptable then" when the show is still in HUGE DEMAND in re-runs and streaming. People are still loving this show.
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