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The "Friends" reunion program was officially launched, and to count it, 27 years have passed since the first season of "Friends" was broadcast in September 1994.
Today, the six leading actors in the play have passed the age of knowing the destiny and are about to enter the ranks of the middle-aged and elderly, and the fans who were crazy for "Friends" are no longer youthful. Over the past 27 years, the production, shooting, themes, and actors of American dramas have been updated one after another. On the other hand, thanks to globalization and the popularity of the Internet, Chinese audiences can see more than just foreign dramas. The sources are all over the continents, and the themes are endless, but even so, "Friends" is still an unmatched and unsurpassed TV series in the eyes of many Chinese audiences.
So, what is it that keeps us obsessed with "Friends" after 27 years?
Memories of the times
The first batch of viewers in China who came into contact with "Friends" mostly saw the show during college. Unlike today’s English education that began in kindergarten, after the millennium, the upsurge to learn English well, especially to improve oral English, is in full swing in major colleges and universities across the country.
At that time, in training institutions such as New Oriental and Weber English, in addition to foreign teachers' efforts to teach everyone the difference between American and British pronunciation, "Friends" was trained in English as a series that was able to practice listening and speaking at the same time. The degree of admiration by the organization is no less than that of the "Voice of America" (VOA) broadcast.
Compared to serious news broadcasts, the sitcom "Friends", which can be entertaining and entertaining, is of course more popular with students. I remember that the only motivation that supported me to take oral English classes with a high temperature of 38 degrees every day during the summer vacation was that the foreign church put a few episodes of "Friends" in the classroom.
Strictly speaking, "Friends" is not the best choice for learning spoken English, because sitcoms focus on gagging, and the English expression in them is relatively simple. Whether it is the richness of the words or the complexity of the grammar, it is actually not the best choice. It supports the requirements for high-score oral expression in TOEFL and IELTS, but this does not prevent "Friends" from taking the opportunity of learning English as an opportunity to become popular in many colleges and universities.
Later, other students who did not intend to improve their English level gradually became fans of "Friends". At that time, many colleges and universities could also see "Friends" in the local area network video library.
"Friends" has thus become a memory of an era.
TV series can still be filmed like this
The biggest impression that "Friends" left a generation of Chinese audiences is probably that the TV series can still be filmed like this.
In fact, before "Friends", there were also domestic sitcoms with high ratings, such as "The Story of the Editorial Department" (1992) and "I Love My Home" (1993), but they are different from domestic sitcoms with major family or work scenes. "Friends" focuses on the daily lives of urban young men and women, and six single young men and women.
From this perspective, "Friends" played far more than entertainment at the time, but vividly portrayed the lives of ordinary Americans and the cultural differences between China and the West to Chinese audiences.
I believe that many people understand the western "dating culture" from "Friends". The kind of making friends that are not for the purpose of marriage is most popular among young people in those days.
In addition, the various challenges faced by single young people we have seen in "Friends", such as paying off credit cards, finding shared rent, ordering takeaways, changing jobs, and then getting married, buying a house, having children, and even divorcing. Without exception, from "Friends" staged to myself.
Before "Friends", Chinese audiences rarely had the opportunity to see the daily life of single young people "Xiao Que" and "Xiao Que mourning" flying together, even in the way of sitcoms that laughed every few minutes. The truth reflected in "Friends" evokes people living in cities and cherishes the bits and pieces of ordinary life even more.
It's a character, not a person
Unlike the various character cultures that are popular on domestic screens today, there are no characters in "Friends", only characters.
Among the six protagonists, although there are both silly white sweet rich daughters, slum heroines, Casanova-style prodigal sons, and dull nerds, each of the characters does not fall into an established paradigm. , They are like everyone living around us, they have a fascinating and lovable side, and another side that is maddening and constantly causing trouble.
Such a character that is flesh and blood, and the closest to the real character, can make people think about it like an old friend many years later.
If you follow the routines of domestic web articles or film and television dramas, Rachel can only be a silly white sweet green tea. In the escaped marriage and the subsequent entanglement with Rose, it is estimated that he will be scolded on the hot search; Joey must be the one who puts on the pants. The sea king scumbag who doesn't admit it deserves to be a actor for ten years; Chandler, a successful career, needs to always remember that he is a domineering president, he can smash and kiss, but he can't just make outdated jokes. , Not to mention the wonderful ex-girlfriend of "OMG, walk the world" like Janice; and Monica, who wants to be 100% in control, is destined to be a successful woman and die alone.
But "Friends" is not like this. It gives each character a reason to be themselves, and it also gives each character a chance to break through and grow with the people around them.
In "Friends", a nerd who has been married three times and likes to show off can buy a pink bicycle for a girl who grows up in a slum and can't ride a bicycle, but it's not because of love; a sultry love scene master can be a Wearing maternity pants is just for the big stomach king who has eaten a whole turkey; adult women can fight with their ears, adult men can raise monkeys and chickens; there can be people killed because of childhood shadows but Thanksgiving, also Someone can pick up the guitar and sing only one song forever.
The stalks that are constantly exploding in "Friends" are not so much from the rich imagination of the screenwriter, but rather from the six vivid characters. Because of this kind of freshness that allows us to empathize without making any comments, "Friends" has survived in our memory to this day.
The temperature of friendship
Before and after "Friends", there were also many dramas focusing on friendship, such as "Sex and the City", "Desperate Housewives", "The Big Bang Theory", "Broken Sisters", "Silicon Valley", etc., but it seems difficult to find out. A series that can balance the friendship between the same sex and the opposite sex at the same time.
The six protagonists in "Friends", three men and three women, do not simply hug each other because of their gender. Similarly, although they have siblings, friends for many years, roommates who have become friends, and old classmates who have not been in contact for many years, the six characters have never formed a small group because of the inherent closeness of the characters. This point, even after Monica and Chandler became a couple, Rachel and Rose were close to each other, and they had not changed.
"Friends" always tells the story of "old friends".
Whether it’s Joey who loves eating vegetarian food for Phoebe who wants to eat meat during pregnancy, or Rose kissing Joey for auditioning for a kiss scene, whether it’s Monica and Rachel’s dating tips for Chandler, Still everyone is vying to play various roles in Phoebe's wedding. Any two, three, or four of the six protagonists...all the sincere friendships of mutual companionship and support are being staged all the time.
It is this kind of friendship that has nothing to do with gender and inherent closeness and estrangement that has warmed countless audiences in the busy urban life. "Friends" makes us believe that in addition to family and love, friendship, the most forgiving intimacy, can also give us a reason to love and be loved on the long road of life.
Personal public account: Guo Daxia's arena
View more about Friends: The Reunion reviews
