Assignment 1-2-2
September 3, 2012
Journal Article
Analysis
Saying
Goodbye to Friends: Fan Culture
as
Lived Experience
In
the article “Saying Goodbye to Friends: Fan Culture as Lived Experience” Anne
Marie Todd is referring to the characters of the show, audience members and fans.
She is explaining how was the most popular sitcom Friends portrayed during 10 years period, and what impact had on
the viewers. The Friends was a show
featuring six friends in their twenties (Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler
and Ross) whose lives were in center of attention as they lived across each
other’s apartments in Manhattan. It is a remarkable comedy which shows young
people living together and where friendship means everything. This show had
very intense media attention and made impact on millions of show’s fans,
especially for the last episode where everybody are saying goodbye to Friends. All together, the broadcast and
online media were surrounding the end of the Friends era as media event.
Television
plays a big role in the lives of people. In order to shape beliefs, attitudes
and values, television “has made entertainment itself the natural format for
representation of all experience” (Postman, 1985). Audience recognize themselves
by watching familiar television personalities who influence on their lifestyle.
Viewers are involved in television programs by talking with other fans about
the show which is characterized as form of textual production. This essay
provides the aspects of the finale’s influence on fans through media which
portrayed end of Friends show as the
end of an era in the life of fans and finale broadcast by one hour episode. Anne
Marie Todd uses different techniques in this essay, such as statistics, fans experiences
and personal opinions.
Statistics
as the first technique shows quantifiable information in the essay. By using
this technique Anne is giving support to this essay by numbers. Good statistic
example Anne uses when she talks about the last episode of Friends show that began
at 8:55 p.m. on May 6, 2004 which was according to Nielsen ratings (CNN)
followed by 52.5 million viewers. Second time she uses statistic example in
third paragraph of third text. In New York 3000 people were sitting on the
blankets and watching finale episode on the screen on Times Square (Lemire,
2004). This technique showed statistic view of information supported by
numbers. (p. 858)
Fans
experiences as second technique, author uses when she talks about fans experiences
during the 10 years period of watching the show. By watching Friends show, some fans were imitating
actors and coping their hair style, outfit, behavior, lifestyle, and even by
buying the same furniture that was used in the show. In that case they
recreated the Friends apartments in order to live like Monica and Rachel or
Joey and Chandler. The other example is mentioned in third text in first
paragraph when it’s said that in the last episode, fans were saying goodbye to Friends together with millions of other
viewers. Finale become spectacles intended to demonstrate a show’s place in
history and viewers lives.
The
third technique used in this essay was personal opinion. Anne supported her
essay according to actors’ opinions about the sitcom Friends and how big impact it had one their lives. Mathew Perry
said that ”it’s hard to sum up the last 10 years, but it’s basically like being
involved in some magical thing that’s bigger than you are” (NBC). And the other
example about show it’s said by actor Matt LeBlanc, “it’s been an education,
it’s been a love affair, it’s been a friendship, it’s been amazing” (NBC). (p.
865)
The
author’s main point is about the Friends
finale as media event, characters and fans.
As a media event, the finale reached the biggest ratings and impact on
popular media scape. Advertisers were paying $2 million dollars for a 30-second
commercial on the final "Friends." The characters were for fans more
than just ideas or actors, they were role models that fans identified with. Characters
were portrayed as they were real, which made the show popular as it is. Show
became fans’ lived experience as they construct fantasy relationships with
characters online. I’m sharing the same opinion with Anne about this show as a
“Must See TV Show”. Millions of people worldwide followed this sitcom which
became ritual in their lives. By watching this show through 10 years period, I experienced
as many other fans that Friends were
part of real life. I started to drink coffee in that time because of the café
place in the show which showed that drinking coffee is a pleasure. I even found
similar coffee place which was had the same characteristics as Central Perk. The
show was really smooth and easy to watch, which made viewers to follow up all
the episodes. Each character from the show is different in their own way, which
represents them as individuals with interesting profiles.
In
conclusion I can say that this show was a great journey through 10 years as
multimedia experience. Actors gave as through their characters the real image
of true friends. The Friends was
characterized as media artifact which had a big impact on viewers’ life and
their social world. I started watching this show when I was in my early
twenties, and it became part of my life. Now I even have all the seasons of
this show in my computer, which I gladly watch from time to time. Ann was
totally right in her last paragraph when she said that “fans do not watch
television, they experience it” (p. 868) The six actors, Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer
Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow,
maintained, changed and inspired future TV shows.
References:
Lemire,
C. (May 6, 2004) Friends No More-Ross,
Rachel together on series finale. Associated Press
Postman,
N. (1985) Amusing Ourselves in Death:
Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Penguin, 1985.
Todd,
A. M. (August 2011) Saying Goodbye to
Friends: Fan Culture as Lived Experience. The Journal of Popular Culture 44(4) p. 854-871 DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5931.2011.00866.x. ISSN:
0022-3840
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