MovieChat Forums > Friends (1994) Discussion > Poor Monica...

Poor Monica...

posted 7 years ago by kodakjones
11 replies | jump to latest

Monica Geller, the younger and abused sibling...
I know that was supposed to be played for laughs, but it was downright cruel to see Judy treat her that way, while fawning all over Ross right in front of her. In the second episode where we meet Jack and Judy for the first, Jack was kind of a dick to her there too, bringing up bad memories of when she was chubby, alone, had no friends---then he put his hand on Ross and said "Ross has to reach for the stars with his papers being published---" ETC ETC

They were not being welcomed house guests and then Jack improves his relationship with her, while Judy just gets worst and worst, we learn the phrase "To Pull A Monica" telling her she'll never get married; if Ross dies she would be childless undermining Chandler to his face several times, once even at a restaurant telling her [Monica] "We Never Thought He'd Propose!" That actually undermined Monica and Chandler's whole relationship!

But she grew up with similar comments from both Jack and Judy her whole life which would explain why she gained 400lbs in high school. She had nothing to fall back on, see; if in the second episode Jack was portrayed as caring or told Judy to leave Monica alone--dial back the cruel, we'd know she'd had support somewhere and wouldn't develop an eating disorder, because she'd have her father's love...

Jack, Judy and Ross are all plain names with four letters. Plain and dull, yet Monica's name is exotic and pretty and has six letters..

Question: Why did they give her such a beautiful name when they treated her so terrible from the beginning?

[–] Phantasm01 7 years ago

Meds. Go take them.

[–] ppllkk 7 years ago

kodakjones wrote:

Question: Why did they give her such a beautiful name when they treated her so terrible from the beginning?

I agree about Monica's parents and how they treated her, but where the hell did that come from?

[–] Annie-351 7 years ago

I completely agree, I never found those scenes funny either. I did like her relationship with her dad, at least he showed her love, like when he came to cheer her up after her break up with Richard, that is my favorite scene with them. What's messed up too about her mother treating her that way is that's what really made Monica so obsessed with winning and being the best, having to be perfect, that is sad. But also if you think about it Chandler didn't have a good childhood either, his parents divorced at a very young age and by the way what kind of parents tell their young son they are divorcing on Thanksgiving?!?! Couldn't they have waited until after the holidays so he would emotionally be scarred and hate the holiday forever??!! It also felt like to me that maybe a nanny took care of him more then his parents did. He didn't have a good relationship with either parent, he wasn't even going to invite his dad to his wedding and never talked to him. It might be me overthinking it but it always felt like to me that after his dad came out he just left and wanted to do his own thing and didn't really try to contact him until much later in life. His mother was also so overbearing and I would have been mortified of her too. It wasn't until later seasons that he finally grew to have better relationships with them. That's one of the big reasons why Monica and Chandler were perfect together, they both had that in common. For me they complimented each other so well, if it wasn't for Monica he wouldn't have invited and developed a better relationship with his dad. Also has anyone noticed that in the later seasons after they got together he didn't hate Thanksgiving as much, in fact the very same holiday that changed his entire childhood ends up changing his entire life by finding out they were picked to adopt a baby.

[–] ppllkk 7 years ago

Annie-351 wrote:

I never found those scenes funny either.

There are a whole bunch of things in Friends that I do not find at all funny, and how her mother treats Monica is certainly one of them.There are people who argue that because it is a sitcom, none of it should be taken seriously, but I don't agree at all. I believe the strength of Friends is that it has considerably more real emotion than many sitcoms do, and I believe that was a major reason for its considerable success.It is not a black comedy, although it could've been turned into one, and I do not understand the reactions of people who do not respond emotionally to what we are shown just because it is labeled a sitcom.I don't think that Ross's nine years of unrequited love is funny at all although I got rather tired of Ross not even trying to get Rachel out of his mind. Still it is not funny.I believe that Rachel broke up with Ross because she wanted to break up with him, and she wanted to break up with him because she was just not ready to settle down. That's fine, but she's never honest with Ross about what is going on.I believe that Rachel leaves Ross some hope for seven years. She only wants him when he is involved with another woman and unavailable, and when he has dumped that woman, she doesn't want him anymore. Rachel won't get back with Ross, but she won't definitively end the relationship and let Ross get on with his life. I believe she does that because she thinks that she may well want Ross when she is ready to settle down.Friends can be very funny. There are many funny lines, but I don't find all that much that is funny in the relationships.The Monica-Chandler relationship is the best thing in the program. I agree that they complemented each other, and it was the only really good relationship in the show.Some people hate the relationship and complain that Chandler wasn't as funny after he got involved Monica, but the show would've been really grim without their relationship.

[–] Zaphenzo 7 years ago

The Monica-Chandler relationship is the best thing in the program. I agree that they complemented each other, and it was the only really good relationship in the show.

I disagree. I feel like Chandler was an amazing person and deserved someone that fully appreciated him. While Monica is really sweet to him in some scenes, for the most part, she acts like she's way out of his league and that he's lucky to be with her. And is sometimes just a straight up jerk to him.

[–] kodakjones 7 years ago

We were discussing how Monica's parents treated her as she was growing up ya nitwit, and then you totally changed the subject!
This was about Monica's relationship with her parents, not with her husband!

[–] Zaphenzo 7 years ago

I was responding to part of a post that was purely about her relationship with her husband.

[–] ppllkk 7 years ago

Zaphenzo wrote:

for the most part, she acts like she's way out of his league and that he's lucky to be with her. And is sometimes just a straight up jerk to him.

I have never seen that, and I don't believe it.I do know someone whose opinion I respect who sees it that way, and if you can document it by copying and pasting from the transcripts, I would be very interested.Even by referring to specific episodes and some clue about what it is in the episode that think shows that.

[–] perfect_lover2012 7 years ago

I think Rachel and Phoebe made it clear that they think Monica's way out of his league but I don't think Monica felt that way either.

"When life gives you lemons"
Jessica D: sleep with their fathers and have secret lemon children

[–] flowerchild-15037 7 years ago

Not only did I find treatment from her parents bad, but I didn't really like the constant fat jokes the friends made about Monica. I understand it was done for comedy reasons but some of jokes were pretty harsh, imo.

[–] 7 years ago

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