75PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES
PSychetightly we define the character’s
flaws, the more complex and unique
the character that explodes out of it.’
And we especially admire flawed
people who face up to them. Rachel
cutting up her credit cards and
getting a job at Central Perk is the
ultimate metaphor for adult life. And
she’s facing it head on. It’s whatTheNewYork Timesbestselling
author Brené Brown calls the difficult second act, inspired by
Pixar’sToy Storyand the classic three-act arc we find in fairy
tales and myths. Act one: the hero sets out on life (leave home,
start a career, move to NYC etc). Act three: resolution (one day
retire to the coast, marry Mr Big, have a baby with Ross etc). In
between is act two: try to figure shit out. This is the messy, hard
and vulnerable bit of life we muck our way through.
Daisy Buchanan, author ofSisterhoodand host of theYo u ’re
Bookedpodcast, believes Rachel’s visible vulnerability was the
key to what kept her in our lives. She says, ‘Unlike Monica or
Phoebe, who have resilience, we watch Rachel as she learns to
understand her own humility and vulnerability, and our hearts
break for her.’ Seeing theFriendscast try and fail at love, jobs
and life, or watching the women ofS ATCfind men, lose them,
face divorce or cancer, is what makes them our heroes.
And it turns out, it’s no accident that we can link 90s
sitcoms to the structures of myths and fairy tales. Storr
points to research by data scientist David Robinson, who
‘analysed 112,000 plot lines in books, movies, TV episodes
and video games. His algorithm found one common story
shape, which he described as: “Things get worse and worse
until, at the last minute, they get better”. The pattern
he detected revealed that many stories have a point, just
prior to their resolution, in which the hero endures some
deeply significant test... It’s a crucial moment in which they
have the chance to become someone new.’ As Storr puts it,
‘You don’t get the gold without the dragon.’ This basically
describes every episode ofFriendsandS ATC.
There are, of course, problematic things that do date
both these shows. Everyone is white, thin, heteronormativeDOYOU REMEMBERÉ
Friends inspired a raft of other TV shows that had us glued to our screens, but didn’t quite make it to cult statusand living a life in New York that
defies economic reality. Caroline
O’Donoghue, author of Promising
Young Women and the host of
Sentimental Garbage podcast,
however,takes issue with the often
gendered nature of the criticism. ‘It’s
interesting that there’s so much
hand-wringing over these shows and almost none over
whetherPeep ShoworCurb Your Enthusiasmare politically
incorrect or suspect in any way. All are heavily rewatched by
millennials, but no one’s biting their nails over whether it’s OK
towatch Robert Webb cook and eat a dog, or Larry David
invitea sex offender to Passover.’ O’Donoghue also points to
‘the chequered history shared byFriendsandS ATCin terms of
their representation of race, sexuality and money. There’s the
uncomfortablyhomophobic “gay panic” around Chandler in
the early seasons. And yet there was the intense lesbian
relationshipon TV between Carol and Susan. There is the
materialistic hedonism of theSex And The Citygirls, but it runs
alongside the brutal pragmatism of their real-life issues- miscarriage, single parenthood, breast cancer, infertility, to
name just a few. What’s genius about both shows is that they
gave you escapist fantasy with one hand and real life with the
other: for every $600 pair of shoes, there was a discussion of
whether or not a single woman with no children had the right
tospend so much on shoes.’
For Buchanan, the enduring appeal is about what these
characters reflect back at us: ‘It’s like looking at an old photo of
yourselfand laughing. We dismiss these shows because we
liketo think we’ve changed, but no one ever really changes,
andwatching them is like meeting the person you used to be.’
It’s the reason, perhaps, why any group of female friends
sittingaround a table, will, on some level, identify with the TV
shows.It’s also why the backdrop of 90s Manhattan is really
just a detail. What is important here is the celebration of
female companionship, and the unchanging truths at the
heart of life – the flaws and hurdles, and that unwavering
friendship that makes you get back up and try again.■
WILL& GRACE
Chroniclingthe lives of
neurotic interior designer
Grace, and her BFF lawyer
Will, as well as friends
Karen and Jack, this series
was a big success when it
first aired in 1998. However,
it was clear the UK public
had grown weary of the show
when it was revived in 2017.COUPLING
Althoughthis BBC sitcom
based around the lives of
six twentysomething friends
enjoyed significant success
and was regularly likened
toFriends, it fell short of
securing the same legacy,
as very little has been
spoken about it since it
last aired in 2004.THISLIFE
Followingthe debauched
lives of five young city
lawyers sharing a house in
London, this series burst on
to our TV screens in 1996.
Despite its status as a
slow-burning success, it
has been forgotten by the
generation that watched it
after a brief two-series stint.GIRLS
Manyof us believed that
Lena Dunham’s creation
about four friends living
in NYC might rivalS ATC.
A number of issues, including
the show’s lack of diversity
for the year it was released
(2012), led most of us
to the conclusion that it’s
not one that’ll endure.‘W E FA L L FORCH A R ACT ERS W HOMESS UP BUT KEEPG O I N G A N Y WAY- THAT’S LIFE’