It is really interesting that this is the topic of our blog post today. Over Thanksgiving break, I discovered that my mother had purchased seasons 6-10 of the television show Friends. This was my absolute favorite show growing up, and I was heartbroken when it ended. Thus, naturally I brought the seasons back with me to watch during my super busy ending of the semester (smart, right?). Anyways, I am currently on season 9, and my viewing of this television show has been quite different than it was when I was in high school. Literary Theory has RUINED Friends for me! I began after the break mindlessly watching the show, but found after the first couple of episodes that I have been watching it with a more theoretical eye. I found myself watching the episodes through the gender lens, and would walk away completely offended at some of the comments made.
I think that television episodes are a great way for students to get acclimated with reading texts through literary lenses. For example Deborah Appleman came and spoke to our class this past Tuesday and showed us this commercial:
At first, the class laughed...and she too admitted that she found it hilarious the first time she watched it. However, after viewing it a couple of more times she said that it started to trouble her and asked us to answer why we thought it troubled her. Points that were brought up in class were the the idea of infidelity being taken lightly, male baby represented as a wolf, female baby being portrayed as needy, the other being represented as simple-minded and promiscuous, to name a few.
I think that the television show Friends is a great show to introduce literary theory to high school students. First of all, it is accessible to them. It's funny, modern, and the themes explored are relatable to the students' lives. The Marxist (Social Class) Theory would be a great way to look at this television show. Some questions to ponder would: be how does this series distinguish class relations, and one that I often think of is how do the characters in this show afford the lifestyle they are living (in an affluent city in a nice apartment) when their jobs (which are rarely mentioned) may not allow for them to realistically do this? We can also talk about class and race relations within the television show that are portrayed to the society as attainable and normal.
We could also talk about this show in terms of the gender lens. There are many situations (that unfortunately Youtube does not have examples of) where questions of sexuality are brought up in the show. For example, Ross and Rachel are talking about how they are going to bring the newborn child into Rachel's work so that her coworkers can see the baby. Because the sex of their baby has been misperceived before, Rachel decides to put a pink bow on the baby to clear up any misconceptions. Right before they leave for the office, Ross makes some comment about the the fashion designer that Rachel works for, Ralph Lauren, and the new line of clothing that is coming out. He then says something a long the lines of, "Maybe I should be wearing a blue bow," of "I swear I am not gay." In this instance, they have gendered fashion to be a female interest, and that guys who are interested in or talk about fashion are considered to be gay. There are other scenes in the show where the male characters need to assert their masculinity by going to football games or watching sports and pornography.
I think it would be interesting to watch this show through different lenses to teach the students that there is not ONE correct way of looking at a text, and that one text can be read many ways that introduce new issues.
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