The One Where I Notice the Issue with Friends

I have watched Friends more times than I am proud to admit. I remember first starting it when I was in middle school and Nick at Night would stream a couple of episodes every weekday night. I loved ending my day by having it on in the living room as I did my homework. Fast forward years later and it is still always on somewhere in my household (yay for Netflix.) However, I have noticed that with time, my perception and opinions on certain characters has changed. For example, as any sappy tween does, I fawned over the idea of Ross and Rachel being the cutest couple ever. The end of the series where Ross stopped Rachel from moving to pursue her dream career in Paris to be together… so romantic. Not really. Also, all of the jokes Chandler uses throughout the show, not all funny. I was only able to see the problems with the show’s lack of sensitivity toward gender, the LGBT community, and race after 4+ watches through the series. As Jenkins states in his piece it is because it takes some detachment from works in order to be able to take a more critical look at it. As time has gone by and I have moved past all of the quotable and relateable moments, I can start to point out all of the issues and aspects I don’t necessarily agree with. This does not stop me from being a hardcore fan of the show, but opens up to more discussion between my own friends and I.