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Homosexuality In 'The American Sitcom Friends'

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The popular sitcom Friends centers around six friends, three male and three female, who all live in the same apartment complex in New York’s Manhattan. In this paper, I am going to focus on the friendship between: Chandler Bing and Joey Tribiani. On the show, the two men live together in an apartment in Manhattan, where Chandler works as a data processor and Joey is an aspiring actor. The two men have a very genuine, close male relationship, however they struggle to define modes of acceptable interaction and communication in their strictly heterosexual context. In this paper, I will analyze how gender and sexuality is represented in Joey and Chandler’s relationship on the sitcom Friends.
The American sitcom Friends was one of the shows to …show more content…

The concept of homosociality refers to same-sex relationships that are not of a romantic nature or sexual nature, such as a friendship, mentorship, etc. (Wikipedia). The term homosociality can be used to explain how men, through their relations with other men, maintain hegemonic masculinity and patriarchy. On the show Friends, there are a few instances where homophobic jokes or comments are made about Joey and Chandler’s friendship that question their heterosexual identities. One example of this takes place in an episode where Ross is about to get married, and he and Monica start to argue in Joey and Chandler’s hotel room. While they are arguing, Ross and Joey sneak off to the bathroom to get away from all of the fighting. Ross and Monica finally finish fighting and leave the hotel room, and as Chandler and Joey exit the bathroom Chandler says: “That was pretty intense huh?” Joey responds: “Yeah… Hey, I hope Ross didn’t think that we just went in there because we were uncomfortable being out here!” Chandler then looks straight at him and says: “I hope he did!” (Episode 624) This joke falls into the stereotypical expectation that if two homosexual men enter a bathroom together, it is likely they are going to have sex. Therefore, Chandler makes the comment “I hope he did!” to clarify his to clarify his sexual stance and prevent ideas of homosexuality. Although Chandler

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