No matter where you live, you have definitely heard of the show Friends. Set in New York City, the show details the lives of a group of adults navigating relationships and jobs in their 20s and 30s. The show has been streamed more than a billion times and it continues to grow in popularity, even over two decades since its initial release.
Even though the show was filmed in the 90s in New York City, it managed to capture almost universal human experiences. It continues to be relevant because it managed to show the complicated dynamics of navigating life in your 20s; all the characters had their highs and lows, but they always seemed to find comfort in each other.
In my opinion, the biggest possible reason for the show’s success is the fact that it gives us something to hope for. Our 20s are portrayed as one of the most important periods of our lives; we’re expected to have it all together. We’re expected to have a stable job, a house, and a loving relationship. Our 20s are a time when we look like adults but we still feel like kids; we experience enormous anxiety and uncertainty about having our lives together. We start to miss the simple days of our childhood when we did not need to worry about making ends meet.
With new challenges, we experience a tremendous amount of stress when things don’t seem to fall in place. It feels more overwhelming when we see people around us achieve the goals we strive so hard for. It can feel extremely alienating and lonely. But watching Chandler struggle to find his passion after being stuck in a miserable job or Rachel climb her way up the corporate ladder makes us feel like we aren’t running out of time. For at least 22 minutes (the typical runtime of a show!), we aren’t alone.
Furthermore, there is so much that has changed in our understanding of our 20s. Before the era of Friends, people married younger. They chose stability in their careers and romantic lives. But nowadays, we see more and more people delay these milestones in order to have different life experiences, just like the characters in the sitcom. People switch careers, they choose to travel more, and they date more people before choosing to settle down. While this can be exciting, this can also result in confusion, with many of us struggling to find a career we’re passionate about. This change in lifestyle can be seen in the very first episode of Friends when Rachel chooses to leave a stable marriage with Barry; she chooses excitement and uncertainty in the hope of living a fulfilling life. Ross, on the other hand, wanted that stability with Carol, but found himself heartbroken when they got divorced. But we see him trying to move on, dating more people, and falling in love with Rachel. Every one of the characters had setbacks in the episodes that followed. However, their friendship was the one element of stability throughout the seasons.
Even though our 20s may be filled with excitement, the show also does a good job of portraying the anxiety and loneliness of not achieving these traditional milestones. We see Rachel becoming a waitress in order to make ends meet and Monica taking on every small job in order to become a chef one day. Ross is the only one who seems to have the most stable career over all the seasons, but his struggles to find a romantic partner is something everyone seems to relate to. Today, we have so many more options in terms of finding a partner or a career, and this can be a very lonely notion to grapple with. We want to ensure we are using our time wisely, but this makes it harder to choose one career. It is our friendships that help us deal with this unpredictability. The show reassures us that it is okay to feel lost during this tumultuous period of time. It helps us understand that we all can only do the best we can.
This, according to me, was the element that made the show a success; its relatability in the midst of the chaos and unpredictability that defines our 20s. When their romantic relationships failed or they faced a career setback, the characters always had their friends to rely on. Furthermore, in the age of social media, where people feel like they don’t have many people to truly trust, this show offers comfort. It motivates us to interact with other people in order to make genuine connections with them. People also begin to feel like the characters in the show are like their friends too; helping them get through their bad days. Friends has the power to make us laugh, especially when we really need it.