Chandler's homophobia sticks out much more with 10-20 years of distance. (One-sentence summary. I really thought there was going to be a second page. That felt just a couple gifs shy of Buzzfeed.) At the same time, most every sitcom character is an awful person when you really look at them. That was my issue with the Seinfeld finale- the idea was that those four were awful, self-absorbed people, and I couldn't help but think: "So is everyone else on TV."
I've been watching with my 11-year-old daughter (sheesh, I specifically remember comments on this blog in which I referred to her as my 4-year-old daughter), and we're about halfway through Season 2. I agree that the homophobia plays REALLY awkwardly today - in the very first episode I had to explain to her why the idea of Carol leaving Ross for a woman was (deemed) fodder for comedy. But pinning that all on Chandler is ridiculous. It's pretty pervasive, and a lot of it lands on Ross.
Chandler's homophobia sticks out much more with 10-20 years of distance. (One-sentence summary. I really thought there was going to be a second page. That felt just a couple gifs shy of Buzzfeed.)
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, most every sitcom character is an awful person when you really look at them. That was my issue with the Seinfeld finale- the idea was that those four were awful, self-absorbed people, and I couldn't help but think: "So is everyone else on TV."
I've been watching with my 11-year-old daughter (sheesh, I specifically remember comments on this blog in which I referred to her as my 4-year-old daughter), and we're about halfway through Season 2. I agree that the homophobia plays REALLY awkwardly today - in the very first episode I had to explain to her why the idea of Carol leaving Ross for a woman was (deemed) fodder for comedy. But pinning that all on Chandler is ridiculous. It's pretty pervasive, and a lot of it lands on Ross.
ReplyDeleteAnd a lot of that is leftover "Ross must not have been a real man" being read into it in the writing from back then.
ReplyDelete