Gender Stereotypes In Friends

This paper will be discussing on how gender stereotypes is portrayed in the well-known T.V. sitcom series, Friends, by the characters’ interaction with one another. Friends is about a group of friends in their late 20s living in Manhattan, New York who hang out together while going through their personal and professional daily lives. It models a social world in which portrays how men and women are to act in a typical American ideal life. Even though each character has their own unique personality, they all interact with one another and are loyal to be there for each other regardless of the circumstances. This T.V. sitcom series portrays in which society believes men and women are to act and behave in a certain way based on their sex showing …show more content…
In their social world, Ross, Chandler, and Joey are the main characters in the show. They model masculinity in their groups of friends to show how men are to behave. Their friendship together relies them to check on each other’s masculinity from time to time in order to not be viewed feminine. These stereotypical features throughout the series are ideal images of how men are to typically act in society. They are seen as providers in a relationship with women to rely on them either financially or emotionally, which is seen by their interactions with one another. They have the difficulty to confront with their personal emotions with someone and would rather keep it to themselves. This can be seen through Chandler in one of the episodes, which he tells his friends that he rarely cries. One episode is just about trying to make Chandler cry because it portrays how men do not show feminine emotions in front of others. The toughness of men is also important because it shows how masculine they are in the group. Not expressing their feelings and holding it symbolizes the toughness of themselves. This adds to men being stereotypically prideful of what they do. They think highly of themselves based on the profession they work in, which is seen as a high-paying job. Ross is a good example of having a prideful personality because he has a high-paying …show more content…
But as years go by, their friendship with one another changes to becoming lovers to building a family together. The show portrays gender stereotypes to represent how our society views men and women by how they interact and talk to one another. The show portrays gender stereotypes as an indirect comedy, while in reality it is an issue that many people do not find it as a light