The article is trying to find offense.
First: it describes Susan as a "feminist man hating lesbian", but she never comes off that way. She doesn't really get along with Ross, but Susan and Carol were always portrayed as a loving couple. Ross usually came off looking worse compared to them. While the show takes a couple cheap shots at Chandler's dad, the whole storyline where we finally meet him, the point is that Chandler should get over it and stop pushing his father away. It's super positive and accepting.
The show wasn't very diverse for NYC. Sure. But that doesn't affect it as a show.
The show isn't sexist. There are six main characters. Three are men, three are women. There's an episode where Ross keeps trying to mansplain martial arts/ self-defense to Phoebe and Rachel, and they repeatedly kick his butt. Rachel's character is sexist? She starts off as a spoiled rich girl and progresses into a self-made woman. The article highlights a joke made by Jack Gellar about Steffi Graf, but the joke (as I understand it) is that Jack is coming off as ridiculous. The joke is at Jack's expense, not Graf's.
Next, the article doesn't think it's relatable anymore. Maybe that's true, maybe it doesn't mesh with the modern mindset, but that's okay. Shows won't always be eternally, universally relatable; not every work of art is Shakespeare. Some people relate to it, some people don't. The article writer also misses the fact that, for a generation, Friends *did* speak to them. It was one of the most relatable things in the 90s. Things being made today won't be relatable in twenty-five years, either. That doesn't affect the show's quality, only its longevity.
I'll end by pointing out that the article also claims the show is "shallow", but doesn't even drum up a straw man for that argument. The writer just throws it in there.
Bottom line? This is a poorly-written article, looking for offense, attacking a well-known, well-loved property for clicks. It's tripe.
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GreenLantern (183)
5 years ago
That reply, while I wouldn't give the article the respect of one, was perfect.
The all white thing is a stretch. There are groups of tight friends all over New York and the world who are all white, or all black, or all asian, etc (and then have diverse friends outside the core group . And there are also diverse core friendships. I have no idea why it was even relevant. In Family Matters for example, Eddie, Waldo, Steve, Laura and Maxine were all black. No complaints on that one from the author though. Weak complaint.
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