Looking at It From The Other Side

As I've said before, I love the show Friends. I can quote practically every episode by heart. It’s actually pretty sad the obsession that I have with it. However, as evident in David Gauntlett’s Media, Gender, and Identity, Friends was truly a groundbreaking show in many ways, one of which was its representation of gender. The show examined relationships not only between genders but across them as well. In doing this, it changed the way men and women look at each other.

The closeness between Joey and Chandler was unlike that of any other guys on television. It showed the sensitivity that men could have without not being considered masculine, to put it bluntly.

Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe showed women’s strength and resilience when life didn’t give you the husband and kids right out of college. They worked hard to provide an independent life of their own without needing men at all times. Ross, was well Ross, and, in my opinion, was kind of a girl, but he showed that guys didn’t always need to be super macho with no emotions. He really cared for women, his career, and what he was doing, even if he did have some feminine tendencies.

Regardless, the show gave presented viewers the concept of gender in a completely different way. It showed men how women look at issues. It showed women how men look at issues. Most importantly, it showed the viewers how society looked at gender roles. Episode after episode shows how the series examined the idea of gender in such a brilliant way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptLWQ340r7c

Here, Joey thinks about getting his eyebrows waxed for his upcoming headshots and has to deal with the fact that getting one’s eyebrows waxed is generally a female’s activity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTk_h_DJHiE

In this episode, Joey decides to get a man bag as seen in some Ralph Lauren catalogs. While Joey thinks his man bag is suave and prepares him for an upcoming part, he is endlessly picked on for carrying a purse, something only a woman would have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrXeh0_jdHA

Chandler is discovering the finer points of taking a bath from his wife Monica. Typically something a woman would do, Monica has to buy a boat in order to make the bath more masculine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A772mKUD6Go

In this episode, Chandler has to get over his ex-girlfriend Kathy, but none of his guys are around. The girls don’t understand the “phases” that a man has to go through in order to get over someone and Chandler isn’t too keen about going through the phases with women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szwqkXsaMaU

This early episode shows the women trying to learn poker from the men. Here they are trying to show them how to play the “manly” game of poker.