“I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me” #VirginiaWoolf. The emotional connect associated with finding one’s identity is not only primordial but extremely powerful. Which is why countless romances over the last two decades have sprung up with couples asking each other which #Friends character they are. Just knowing that the apple of your eye thinks of you as Monica or Joey makes you feel aglow in love and gives you a sense of identity that you find perfectly acceptable. No wonder then that the names Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Chandler, Ross and Joey are so popular household names that we watch their stories over and over again; the mindless grins are worth a gazillion dollars!
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews #FriendsReunion, launched on May 27th and streaming on #Zee5, #HBOmax and #OSN, depending on which geography you are tuning in from. Whether the reunion special episode is worth your time or not is one matter; any rumination on this iconic show need to dwell on what the secret sauce to this is. When #DavidCrane and #MartaKauffman pitched this show, they just drew from their days as youngsters in New York and felt that there was enough juice there to construct a sitcom. And after 10 seasons and 236 Episodes spanning 1994 to 2004, and watched a mind-boggling 100 billion times this show is not just iconic; it is a cultural phenomenon.
First, some thoughts on the Reunion episode itself. For a one hour 45 minutes, unscripted episode, it is a strange mix of clips, interviews, celebrity talking heads, nostalgia around episodes and the sets, bloopers, behind-the-scenes clips and even a random fashion show. The show is held together around an interview with all the six stars by #JamesCorden in front of that iconic white fountain, against which the opening lyrics are framed. The episode also has Ross taking on the others in a quiz about their characters and episodes. Also revealed is the crush that #DavidSchwimmer and #JenniferAniston had for each other.
Things started falling apart for me when #JamesCorden asks of the six stars “Who had the loudest laugh?” and thats when I realized that apart from true blue nostalgia, there is not much on offer here. I am not sure what #JustinBieber was doing on the ramp, prancing around dressed up as a potato. #TomSellek (Richard) and #JamesMichaelTyler (Gunther) come on for a few moments but do not really say anything of significance. #PaulRudd does not make an appearance. Nobel Prize winner #MalalaYousefzi makes an appearance but left me confused as to what her point of view on fandom was. Then there is #DavidBeckham in a blink-and-you-miss moment where he admits that he is Monica in real life. The one character who did delight me was the redoubtable #MaggieWheeler who plays Janice “Aww myyyy Gaawd” in the show.
Quite clearly, this reunion episode is meant for the hard core fans of #Friends. It does spur up a fair bit of nostalgia. Director #BenWinston gets all the six, #CourtneyCox, #JenniferAniston, #LisaKudrow, #DavidSchwimmer, #MathewPerry and #MattLeBlanc to sit around the table and read their lines from episodes and relive some really tender and funny moments. It is quite amazing to see the actors in their real selves and contrast them against the characters they played.
On a very different note though, I reflected on what i call “the curse of the perfect character”. When you are cast in that perfect role made for you, it is a cross that you will always bear. I cannot watch #DavidSchwimmer on screen in any other show and pretend that he is anyone other than the hangdog paleontologist Dr Ross Geller. And in that sense, these are life-altering roles. Yes I do know that Joey’s character was spun off as a separate show and that some of the actors notably #JeniferAniston went on to have a decent career, but i do think that the #Friends shadow is something that they will never be able to cast off. In that context, I did think that the 50-odd year old actors have aged too fast and do look weary and out-of-shape. I wonder whether that is a function of this cross!
But let's hark back to the show and reflect on why it remains so popular. Here are my thoughts:
#Friends was launched at a time when the Millennials where getting detached from their families and finding their feet in terms of careers, love and the meaning of life. In this period, their friends became more significant than anyone else and where in fact, their families. This core insight actually found resonance with countless young adults and people just loved to sit and watch the episodes.
If you look closely, the recurrent themes of the episodes reflected what was happening around people at that time - careers, finances, gay rights, romance, adoption, surrogacy, artificial insemination and easy friendships. The travails of the six friends mirrored the lives of their fans and this was a strong hook for fans.
Interspersing the episodes with celebrities like #ReeseWitherspoon, #JuliaRoberts and #BradPitt helped drive engagement scores
For many in my generation, the #Friends series actually helped hone a sense of humour and comic timing that was completely new in India at that time. On-screen comedy at that time was all about slapstick one liners and this new form of subtle, refined, charming sense of humour was something that made you stand apart!
Each character is balanced and yet flawed. And that's what makes them so relatable. You relate to a Monica and you know that she is competitive, obsessive and yet a woman with zest for life. And you say this is me. That connect comes from very sharp definitions of who your characters are, what they stand for and what they will never be caught doing!
#Friends has many episodes that have slapstick comedy. That one episode where Ross gets himself tanned six times over is just rip roaring funny. But it is the more subtle episodes that stay with you for long. To that extent, the show is sweet, sad and funny. And which is why it is so sticky.
And finally, back to the point on identity. In many ways, life is an eternal quest for one’s purpose. The search for one’s identity is integral to this quest and anything that aids this is bound to be a winner. I know that some years down the line, we may or may not relate to some of these characters but for the moment, just knowing that I am a ‘Joey’ makes me feel special. And hey, aren't you Pheobe? How YOUU doooing ?!!
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