Semiotics and Friends

Semiotics is a tool used to analyze codes that are embedded within various texts. The signs often reflect dominant ideological codes within our society. Analyzing some of the signs in the popular sitcom Friends reveals many North American ideologies surrounding race, gender roles, behaviour, standards of attractiveness, and consumerism, amongst others. For a more detailed understanding of semiotic theory please visit the Semiotics Homepage.

The following analysis is divided into four categories: (1) Technical Aspects, (2) Appearance, and (3) Settings, since these most often provide the context for more specific signs. Section 4 at the bottom of this page attempts to answer academic scholar Stefan Herrmann's question: Are People Reading TV?

1. Technical Aspects - The technical aspects to Friends are important signs in themselves. They mainly help to situate the viewer and provide the desirable atmosphere for the transference of ideological ideas. In addition they reflect the conventions of the sitcom.

Friendship and the Fountain of Youth ~The Opening Credits and The Theme Song

The opening credits for Friends consist of a series of fast clips of older episodes intermixed with the gang dancing and splashing around in a huge fountain. These quick cuts could be interpreted as signifying the fast and busy life that the friends lead. These clips are also taken from older episodes which all hold connotations in themselves. The viewer...more

Lights, Camera, Action! ~The Framing of the Show

When introducing a new scene or setting, the convention in Friends is to show a quick clip of the place in question accompanied by music. For example, before there is a scene in an apartment or the coffee shop, the viewer is provided with a shot of the outside of that particular building. Not only does this work to situate the viewer but also to add to...more

2. Appearance - Appearance is an extremely important part of this television show. On a basic level it can help to reveal and complement the characters’ personalities, but on a deeper level one can see that it reinforces societal codes behind notions of beauty, gender roles, and race. (They say "Never judge a book by its' cover", but would you still be watching Friends if they all looked like this?)

Living In A Bubble ~ Race

The six main characters on the show are all caucasian. This could be considered a gross inconsistency since the sitcom takes place in one of the most multicultural cities in the entire world and is lacking representations of different ethnicities. The fact that Friends does not even bother to try to acknowledge the diversity of New York City indicates...more

Older and Wiser? ~ Age

Friends is intended to depict twentysomethings and their exploits in New York City. Yet, as the show has progressed the actors have aged, but the show has not changed to reflect any maturation. It still actively reflects the mid-twenties attitude from which it originated. This is not representative of reality and instead signifies a desire for eternal youth...more

"Honey, Do I Look Fat In This"? ~ Body Weight

The female body in Friends is depicted as what many would consider to be very thin. Both Monica and Rachel reflect this notion while Phoebe has a more realistic body type (although she is often dressed in baggy and what would be considered "unsexy" clothing). An interesting fact to point out is that both Monica and Rachel have gotten thinner as the years...more

Picture Perfect ~ The Clothes and The Hair

An obviously important part of the category of appearance is the clothes that the characters wear. Generally, and especially in regards to the women, the outfits worn are both trendy and stylish. Not only do they reflect popular fashion and beauty trends but the show also plays a part in dictating them. An example of this was when Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) had her hair...more

3. Settings - The settings in Friends are an extremely important part of the show since they depict a certain lifestyle but they also encourage the ideology of consumerism. Briefly, the show is set in New York City which is synonymous with everything that is hip, trendy, and cool. Simply by extension because they live there, the Friends characters are all of these things too.

The Coffee Shop ~ Central Perk

This is one of the main sets for the show. It is the place where the characters meet to talk and relax and signifies a type of hip existence in a trendy and cosmopolitan mecca like New York City. The patrons in the shop are all still youthful and therefore help to define it as a twentysomethings place to be. Now, despite the fact that it looks consistently busy...more

Shopping ~ Ralph Lauren and Pottery Barn

Ralph Lauren is the store that Rachel works at and has become a somewhat frequent setting on the show. People may argue that the injection of a setting that truly exists makes the show more realistic while others would argue that it is merely a blatant endorsement for Ralph Lauren and his products. As a sign in itself, the Ralph Lauren logo...more

Living The High Life ~ The Apartments

The friends gang all live in different places and although some of the living spaces have stayed consistent, the characters living within them have changed. Like their clothes, the apartments tend to reflect stereotypical aspects of their characters. For example, Joey’s apartment is very bare which connotes his status as a bachelor while Rachael’s...more

4. Are People Reading TV?

Lastly this analysis begs the question: Are people really reading television the way Hermann maintains? This is a complicated issue when looked at in regards to semiotics. Specifically this analysis has not revealed a concrete answer except that it is likely that most people watching television are reading it on some level in order to understand it. Yet, the key is that not everyone is on the same level of understanding since there can be different horizons of meaning. Not everyone is engaged in thinking about the show on an extensively critical level but this does not mean that people are not ingesting many of the meanings in the text (some might even maintain that this happens subconsciously). Therefore the interpretation of signs are present in the viewer as he or she watches television, but the level of interpretation could be considered relative.

Sources

1. Grossberg, Lawrence et al. "The Interpretation of Meaning" in Making Sense of The Media

2. Herrmann, Stefan. "Do we learn to 'read' television like a kind of 'language'?" http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/sfh9901.html. Online, 27 Nov. 2001

By: Lisa Alfano