What makes Friends so iconic?

Everybody knows Friends. Maybe some of us haven’t actually seen it, but most of us at least know the series and some of its main characters. So, how come they became such a big part of pop culture?

Well, first of all, Friends is a show that started a new trend. The sitcom (short for situation comedy) format already existed, it was born with TV in the 1940s. There were already sitcoms about friendships, like Seinfeld or Cheers. But Friends somehow built a show that was capable of representing a whole generation generation (twenty-something-year-olds in the 1990s) and their hardships facing the real, adult world. Just like Monica tells Rachel in the first episode, after she cut her daddy’s credit cards: “Welcome to the real world, it sucks, you’re gonna love it.” That is maybe the greatest achievement of the show: the being vulnerable, confused and lost in the real world, and yet, do it all in the most comforting and reassuring environment possible. The set of the apartment and the famous coffee house “Central Perk” are timeless safe havens for characters and viewers alike. Nothing can go wrong there, and your emotional breakdowns will always end up in laughter or hugs, or most likely both. There’s a reassuring simplicity in how the characters’ lives unfold and problems are resolved.

Then, there is the cast. Yes, the guys are witty, sexy, educated, cute, handsome or a pot-pourri of all of the above. And the gals are smart, creative, quirky, pretty, cute and more. Rachel Green’s wardrobe was and still is a trending topic and people are still debating whether Ross and Rachel were on a break or not. That’s how attractive the characters were. The actors have an incredible chemistry on screen, as they were also friends in real life and had a great time shooting the episodes together. Each personality brought authenticity to those larger-than-life New Yorkers and made them accessible, relatable and familiar. Because that’s the real impact of the cast: they were more than just friends. They were your friends. It didn’t even matter that there were way older than you were while watching it, we still feel we know those people. For real. That’s how comforting and indispensable that group of people could become.

There’s a before and after Friends, even if we have tons of good quality sitcoms from the 21st century to love and identify with. Friends always maintained a very neutral, WASP, middle-class, i-don’t-want-to-stir-up-anything narrative and stayed in the private sphere, focusing on relationships and individualities huddled up together, and on exploring depths of emotions, while avoiding depths of thoughts and use of intellect (Ross is always ridiculed when talking like an academic or a cultivated individual), goofiness being the top seller.

Nevertheless, the show left a mark and paved the way for other shows like How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls or even Brooklyn Nine-Nine (the Santiago siblings’ dance does seem like a direct homage to the Gellers’ routine). The good thing is we know that those six friends will always be there for us.

Thanks for reading, it’s been a pleasure.

-Unknown

"Welcome to the real world, it sucks, you’re gonna love it." Season 1,