"Friends was racist and sexist"

prinzeugen · 16-01-2018 01:04AM

I don't know about being racist or sexist but it was absolute **** then and still is.

Canned laughter at the end of every sentence, over the top acting and a crap story.

Only ever seen about 15 mins in total of it over several years thankfully.

The Office is another one. Crap.

_Dara_ · 16-01-2018 01:06AM

prinzeugen wrote: »

I don't know about being racist or sexist but it was absolute **** then and still is.

Canned laughter at the end of every sentence, over the top acting and a crap story.

Friends was filmed in front of an audience. Any laughter you hear is very much real.

the_pen_turner · 16-01-2018 01:06AM

_Dara_ wrote: »

I was reading a review of the episode where Chandler finds out that many people assume he is gay. The review site is one I really like but the writer in question seems to be quite sensitive to perceived homophobia. He said that Chandler's aversion to being thought of as gay amounted to "gay panic". To me, I read it that Chandler - as a straight male - was worried that the apparently common assumption he was gay was ruining his chances with women he meets and likes. A totally reasonable stance to me.

He also seemed to think that making Susan a bit of a wagon was casting a gay character as a villain. Whereas I think it was a ballsy move on the part of the show to make her pretty unlikable.

I would be fairly surprised if any straight person was ok with being thought of as guy. that's not homophobic . its basic concern about your image. are you giving out signals that align with your beliefs

Irish Guitarist · 16-01-2018 01:08AM

You can complain about lack of diversity on Twitter to someone in the entertainment business all you like and they'll probably apologise. If you give an honest opinion about gay characters or something it's a different story. Anyone that tells the producer of How To get Away With Murder that the gay scenes are too much and add nothing to the story (which is an opinion I share) are pretty much told they're a homophobe and to fuck off.

https://twitter.com/shondarhimes/status/523939765771436032?lang=en

If someone tweeted to a producer that there weren't enough gay characters on their series and the producer replied by telling them to stop watching it there would be uproar.

Snickers Man · 16-01-2018 01:10AM

anewme wrote: »

Each to their own but I’m not sure how many people rate it now, many of my friends who watched it back in the day would sleep through it now.

It has not stood the test of time.

Each to their own is indeed the first rule of appreciation of any art form.

I still enjoy it. Some of its best lines endure as classics, even if they might upset those sensitive to fat shaming.

Such as the one where they are looking at a video tape of Monica in her (considerably) overweight phase.

Monica: "Shut up! The camera adds five pounds."
Chandler: "How many cameras were on you?"

anewme · 16-01-2018 01:11AM

prinzeugen wrote: »

I don't know about being racist or sexist but it was absolute **** then and still is.

Canned laughter at the end of every sentence, over the top acting and a crap story.

Only ever seen about 15 mins in total of it over several years thankfully.

The Office is another one. Crap.

The office Is not bad as Friends.

Friends is simply unbearable.

anewme · 16-01-2018 01:13AM

Snickers Man wrote: »

Each to their own is indeed the first rule of appreciation of any art form.

I still enjoy it. Some of its best lines endure as classics, even if they might upset those sensitive to fat shaming.

Such as the one where they are looking at a video tape of Monica in her (considerably) overweight phase.

Monica: "Shut up! The camera adds five pounds."
Chandler: "How many cameras were on you?"

Was Monica not a skinny Minnie character.?

ArtSmart · 16-01-2018 01:18AM

re OP

Yes, but still funny. Even to this day.

No Seinfeld, but not too shabby.

the_pen_turner · 16-01-2018 01:20AM

anewme wrote: »

Was Monica not a skinny Minnie character.?

that's the joke. she was very over weight in her youth. but lost it all

gormdubhgorm · 16-01-2018 01:22AM

wes wrote: »

There really stretching who is and isn't a millennial with stuff like this.

Plenty of people who are millennials would have seen the show when it aired, so the whole "millennial" angle is bollox. Seriously the whole here is what the kids think thing is just silly. FFS, there are people in there 30s married with kids who count as millennials. Its a grouping of people born over a 20 year span.

Also, again trawling twitter, you will find kinds of **** said by various people. Its largely meaningless noise.

Yeah I was just thinking that. Because I heard the phrase millennial bandied about so often I looked it up.
I was shocked to find that it does not mean "annoying teenager- annoying early-twenty-something.
But an age group following on from generation x (not as catchy) it can be anyone born from the early 80s to the 00's.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/millennial-generation.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/millennial.

It is also called generation y much easier to type then millennial. But not as catchy...

My main worry is that the generation after the millennials generation there will be generation z.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/11002767/Gen-Z-Gen-Y-baby-boomers-a-guide-to-the-generations.html

But, there will be no letters left after that will that cause the end of the world?

Will they still be showing friends re-runs then?

Snickers Man · 16-01-2018 01:28AM

ArtSmart wrote: »

re OP

Yes, but still funny. Even to this day.

No Seinfeld, but not too shabby.

And according to the golden rule of "each to their own"...Seinfeld was CRAP!!

Whose idea was it to put that Godawful bass guitar riff between every scene? Sets my teeth on edge. Could never watch it.

bloodless_coup · 16-01-2018 01:38AM

I don't recall anything in Friends being even close to controversial, even by "today's standards"...whatever they are.

Anyway like has been said, a fraction of 1% of users on one website said something and the media create articles about it to create a stir and generate clicks for ad revenue.

prinzeugen · 16-01-2018 01:42AM

_Dara_ wrote: »

Friends was filmed in front of an audience. Any laughter you hear is very much real.

Watch 5 mins. Its canned. Starts and finishes too fast for a live audience. And did they get the same people in for the 100s of other shows? All sounds the same.

anewme · 16-01-2018 01:43AM

the_pen_turner wrote: »

that's the joke. she was very over weight in her youth. but lost it all

Vain skinny American wants to be skinnier.

Same as today.

Not exactly witty.

retro:electro · 16-01-2018 01:44AM

Friends was filmed live but they definitely modified the laughter, same with Fr Ted

anewme · 16-01-2018 01:45AM

prinzeugen wrote: »

Watch 5 mins. Its canned. Starts and finishes too fast for a live audience. And did they get the same people in for the 100s of other shows? All sounds the same.

I always assume it was canned as well.

Maybe it wasn’t.

anewme · 16-01-2018 01:49AM

anna080 wrote: »

Friends was filmed live but they definitely modified the laughter, same with Fr Ted

The Father Ted appeal was that it was supposed to be a piss take.

I’m still laughing at The boring priest talking to the cushion of Jesus” ahh tis yourself”

friends took itself too seriously with a gang of egotistical bad actors.

Feisar · 16-01-2018 01:50AM

But, there will be no letters left after that will that cause the end of the world?

Naw, it'll be like the Y2K Bug, we'll all get up in the morning and carry on as usual.

Feisar · 16-01-2018 01:52AM

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Yeah I was just thinking that. Because I heard the phrase millennial bandied about so often I looked it up.
I was shocked to find that it does not mean "annoying teenager- annoying early-twenty-something.
But an age group following on from generation x (not as catchy) it can be anyone born from the early 80s to the 00's.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/millennial-generation.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/millennial.

It is also called generation y much easier to type then millennial. But not as catchy...

My main worry is that the generation after the millennials generation there will be generation z.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/11002767/Gen-Z-Gen-Y-baby-boomers-a-guide-to-the-generations.html

But, there will be no letters left after that will that cause the end of the world?

Will they still be showing friends re-runs then?

Naw, it'll be like the Y2K Bug, we'll all just carry on.

ArtSmart · 16-01-2018 01:54AM

Snickers Man wrote: »

And according to the golden rule of "each to their own"...Seinfeld was CRAP!!

Whose idea was it to put that Godawful bass guitar riff between every scene? Sets my teeth on edge. Could never watch it.

Not a fan of the bass riff myself.

But seriously, give it another go. Start nice n gentle with series one.

One word, throughout: George, (aka Castanza).

Feisar · 16-01-2018 01:58AM

I was born in '84 so I suppose I'm a millennial. I'm getting married shortly, have a mortgage to pay, stressful job etc, I ain't got the time to be offended! Also none of my mates fall into that stereotype we call millennial. I do see it in my younger brother who is ten years younger than me.

The Legend Of Kira · 16-01-2018 02:17AM

Took time to watch the first two episodes from season 1 of ( Friends ) while it wouldn,t be a tv show Id be into- I fail to see as to how its " racist " in any shape or form; when some people use the phrase " political correctness gone made " this is one example of it; people crying wolf/crying " racist " about a sitcom comedy show .

bnt · 16-01-2018 08:23AM

Snickers Man wrote: »

And according to the golden rule of "each to their own"...Seinfeld was CRAP!!

Whose idea was it to put that Godawful bass guitar riff between every scene? Sets my teeth on edge. Could never watch it.

That's a synthesiser, not a real bass.

andekwarhola · 16-01-2018 08:43AM

Remember back when somebody saying something ridiculous was viewed as their opinion (and ignored, discounted or debated as such) and not a grand, generational statement.

Twenty years ago this would simply have been a heated discussion between two twats in a students union bar; now, because of no other reason than the reach of social media, its supposedly worthy of dissemination and discussion.

elefant · 16-01-2018 08:46AM

I don't have any black close friends. I don't know any black people personally beyond work.

I'm curious: is everyday life that different in the United States that the group of white-only friends in Friends would be that unrepresentative?

NI24 · 16-01-2018 09:23AM

elefant wrote: »

I don't have any black close friends. I don't know any black people personally beyond work.

I'm curious: is everyday life that different in the United States that the group of white-only friends in Friends would be that unrepresentative?

New York City has a black population of 25% so its unlikely that a group of white New Yorkers wouldn't know any blacks outside of work. However, that doesn't mean that they're friends with them.
I remember Michael Moore wrote in one his books along time ago about the criticism the show received for basically being Idaho with Skyscrapers. He defended it by saying that a group of whites would rarely be friends with blacks even in New York and I agree with him. Doesn't make it right necessarily, but realistic.

Atoms for Peace · 16-01-2018 09:26AM

Friends was only watchable when it had the monkey in it.

sbsquarepants · 16-01-2018 09:29AM

Friends at it's peak was one of the funniest shows ever to come out of America.
Not to mention it brought to the worlds attention, the majesty that is Jennifer Anistons permanently erect nipples, what's not to love

Dakota Dan · 16-01-2018 09:32AM

Ralf and Florian wrote: »

So say Millenials and SJWs.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/friends-netflix-sexist-racist-transphobic-problematic-millenials-watch-a8154626.html

https://twitter.com/samrboland/status/952957719757099008

Friends was a load of rubbish.

bnt · 16-01-2018 09:46AM

Dakota Dan wrote: »

Friends was a load of rubbish.

Gee, thanks, we never knew that! :rolleyes:

I thought it could be highly variable in quality: good some days, poor on others. It was never meant to portray something totally real and true to life. One major clue is the frame over the peephole on the apartment door:

peephole-picture-frame.nocrop.w610.h670.jpg

What does it mean to put a frame around something? The peephole is how these Friends looked out on to the world: as if it was a work of art.

"Friends was racist and sexist"

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