F2F Class notes 5th September (Eddie)

wheelie = riding a bicycle or a motorcycle on one wheel (rear wheel)

to deduce = to make a determination, usually accurate, based on information we can corroborate

to corroborate = to support or confirm a statement, allegation, supposition

binge-watching = the act of watching a large number of episodes of a series consecutively

to descend = to lower oneself, to go from a higher to a lower location

egotism = the state of being egoistic

mishap = accident, mistake, problem

to embrace = to adopt, to welcome (figurative)

redundant = unnecessary, not needed

prime time = 7pm to 11pm in television, the most watched interval

bland = with no taste or unremarkable

sarcasm = a type of insincere humor

I want to discuss a popular TV show my wife and I have been binge-watching on Netflix. It’s the story of a family man, a man of science, a genius who fell in with the wrong crowd. He slowly descends into madness and desperation, lead by his own egotism. With one mishap after another, he becomes a monster. I’m talking, of course, about Friends and its tragic hero, Ross Geller.

You may see it as a comedy, but I cannot laugh with you. To me, Friends signals a harsh embrace of anti-intellectualism in America, where a gifted and intelligent man is persecuted by his idiot compatriots. And even if you see it from my point of view, it doesn’t matter. The constant barrage of laughter from the live studio audience will remind us that our own reactions are unnecessary, redundant.

[…]

Maybe I should unpack this, for the uninitiated. If you remember the 1990s and early 2000s, and you lived near a television set, then you remember Friends. Friends was the Thursday night primetime, “must-see-TV” event that featured the most likable ensemble ever assembled by a casting agent: all young, all middle class, all white, all straight, all attractive (but approachable), all morally and politically bland, and all equipped with easily digestible personas. Joey is the goofball. Chandler is the sarcastic one. Monica is obsessive-compulsive. Phoebe is the hippy. Rachel, hell, I don’t know, Rachel likes to shop. Then there was Ross. Ross was the intellectual and the romantic.

https://medium.com/@thatdavidhopkins/how-a-tv-sitcom-triggered-the-downfall-of-western-civilization-336e8ccf7dd0#.7o10e2wuf