Sitcom
A sitcom, also known as situational comedy, is a TV series that includes a continuous cast of characters that reappear each episode and deal with a series of comedic circumstances.
Friends
‘Friends’ often had themes of friendship, love, jobs and money struggles which a lot of people, especially fans in their early to mind 20s could relate to. It deals with things such as cutting ties with family, shown by Rachel cutting up the credit cards paid for her by her father in the pilot episode, as well as abandoned marriages and divorce, being without adults because they’re adults now. They were just six friends that counted on each other, something that the audience could relate to.
Each character has their own struggles which are brought to light by the show. This includes Chandler’s parents divorcing when Chandler was only 9 years old. This is very common amongst younger kids, and when ‘Friends’ first aired in the 90s, divorce rates had peaked. This meant that most of the fan base entering their 20s came from a broken home. As well as divorce rates peaking, the average age for marriage began to get higher. The show showed this perfectly, with the six friends struggling to find commitment and either being obsessed with it or fearing it. This wasn’t the only broken home struggles reflected in the show, Monica and Ross’ parents are much more fond of Ross and his achievements than they are of Monica’s, making her try so hard for them to be proud of her without being seen. As well as this, Joey finds out that his father is cheating on his mother. These were all situation that the fan base, when it first aired, and now over 10 years after it finished could relate too, which means the show brings some comfort to them knowing that difficult situations happen to everyone.
While ‘Friends’ covered many issues that were considered more common, they also tackled many tough storylines such infernality and adoption, something that wasn’t talked about, but many people struggled with. They also included the LGBTQ+ community by having a same-sex marriage in the second season between Ross’ ex wife, Carol, and her girlfriend, Susan. This was one of the first same-sex marriages in a US sitcom. They also introduced one of the first transgender characters through Chandler’s father who transitioned to a women. Though these seem like good storylines for the show as the LGBTQ+ community was becoming more and more talked about, they were often used just for the jokes that followed which is something fans have noticed and voiced their opinion about. One of the creators of the show has spoken on this matter and Kauffman has mentioned that ‘the shows transphobic jokes made about Helena is something she would like to go back and change.’
Controversy’s
While ‘Friends’ was very popular in the time it was running, there is a lot of controversial language and jokes that we made. Some of these situations may not have seemed like such an issue when the first aired as things like homophobia and racism were a lot more common. However if the show had aired more recently, these situations would be very criticized and complained about by fans, just how many storylines and jokes are looked down on now by fans of the show, leading ‘Friends’ to be less popular now. A storyline that is looked down on is one where Ross didn’t like the idea of Rachel hiring a male nanny named Sandy. The story mocked the more feminine presenting men, as well as the LGBTQ+ community as Ross felt that Sandy was too sensitive as he had a job as a nanny. Another time they mocked the community was when the show were trying to include more LGBTQ+ characters into the show, such as Carol and Susan, but were making homophobic and transphobic comments about Chandlers father who had transitioned to a women by the name of Helena, The mocking is shown by Chandler being ashamed of Helena and not wanting to invite her to his wedding. Helena was one the first transgender characters in a prominent show, and while the show was praised for this, fans gave negative feedback as Helena was made a target for offensive and homophobic language. This further emphasizes that while the show may include people of different backgrounds, it still includes offensive material, making viewers less likely to watch.
A Major issue in older television and film is the lack of diversity shown, which is also an issue in ‘Friends’. It is noticeable that the cast rarely includes a variety of different nationalities. There is a few characters, like Julie, a character Ross dates in the early seasons. While Julie’s character is of Asian descent, she only plays a minor role, similarly to all the other characters from different nationalities.
The show was meant to be about six best friends facing their problems together, but the show had originally called for Joey and Phoebe being secondary characters, there for comic relief. Luckily, however, when the show aired, the two characters quickly became fan favourites.
Other questionable storylines include one where Ross dated one of his students, which even in the time the show was aired, was seen as extremely inappropriate as well as the on going fatphobic jokes made about Monica as she was overweight in her teen years. The jokes, often made by Chandler and Ross, are extremely insensitive.