Joey from Friends may have been gay, the script suggests. While the sitcom has faced criticism for its homophobia, the world is still waiting for its return years later
The Friends series became an absolute phenomenon during its run, which it still is to this day. Over the course of ten series filmed between 1994/2004, Friends collected a number of prestigious awards including Emmy, Golden Globe, etc. With the growing popularity of Friends, many celebrities began to appear in the episodes, for whom even a small role in the sitcom became a prestigious affair (Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, but also George Clooney, Bruce Willis and Danny DeVito).
Although from today's perspective, the show has faced criticism, especially in relation to its insensitive and stereotypical portrayal of LGBTQ characters, at the time it aired it was inherently very progressive - instead of family ties, it focused on friendship ties, where friends seemed to replace immediate family. While this, according to the creators, is also the reason why it is not possible to continue and build on the stories in the way that is currently happening, for example, with the creation of the new series of Sex and the City, the new special episode is a concession of sorts that will bring the whole six back together and also recapitulate the most famous scenes. Then there will be no shortage of famous guests and perhaps some interesting revelations.
How's it going, man?
So, while the whole world is already looking forward to next week (not to mention, the released trailer shows that the reunion of the most famous six p/Friends will definitely be worth it), many previously unknown information is also emerging. For example, the fact that the heartbreaker of women's hearts, Joey, might be gay. The possibility of a different sexual orientation in relation to the characters was most often discussed in connection with Chandler, who was also continuously made fun of and thematically alluded to because of his effeminacy. But as the original version of the script shows, things could have been different.
According to the British magazine Gracia, there is an original version of the script of the last episode of the fourth season (The One With Ross's Wedding) - and it was also published in a book about the series - in which everyone goes to London for Ross's wedding, only pregnant Phoebe and Rachel stay in New York. It is then that they have a dialogue with each other, at the end of which Rachel realises that she still loves Ross. "God, I still love him, don't I?" says Rachel, to which Phoebe responds, "Honey, you didn't know?" And then Rachel asks why no one told her if it's so obvious, and Phoebe replies, "we thought you knew. It was so obvious. Just like Monica loves order." And with that, the scene ends in the show. But the original draft of the script goes on to say "and that Joey is gay."
While it's admittedly hard to think that the writers actually wanted to make Joey gay - especially since Chandler would have been much more "appropriate" given his longstanding stereotyping candidate, and the same could ultimately be said of Ross, who in turn has not infrequently been quite homophobic and thus could hide his orientation - at the very least, it begs the question of why a similar claim was on the table in the first place and why it ultimately disappeared. Regardless of the many possible speculations, though, it may be quite nice to think that in some "parallel p/friend universe" there is a version of the story in which Joey asks his legendary "how's it going?" question of the men...
Homophobic Friends?
Meanwhile, Friends hasn't exactly been "doing well" with the LGBTQ community in general - especially in recent years, as questions about various forms of correctness continue to swirl, namely the show, the creative team, and the cast have faced increasing criticism for negative portrayals of LGBTQ characters, ranging from less-than-ideal treatment ofChandler's trans father, to the crude jokes about Ross's first wife Carol, a lesbian, to the many jokes about men who don't quite fit the classic idea of a man (just think of the male nanny, etc.According to some, this makes Friends a very homophobic sitcom. But the world, even the soap opera world, is not black and white or even rainbow.
Zdroj: Giphy
Thus, the storyline concerning Ross's lesbian ex-wife and her new relationship in particular is much discussed. Although there were a number of allusions to it that might now be described as "inappropriate", the truth is that the theme of lesbian love found its way into the show thanks to a real-life lesbian couple who were friends with Martha Kauffman and David Crane, the creators of Friends. As Marta Kauffman also admitted, one of them subsequently revealed to her that she was watching Friends with her daughter. And she, when (in 1996) she saw Carol, Susan and Ross' son Ben on the screen, just turned to her mother and uttered the phrase, "look, it's a family just like ours!" It was also the first time she had ever seen a "rainbow" family like that on TV. And by the way, the officiant at Carol and Susan's wedding was Candace Gingrich, an LGBT activist fighting for same-sex marriage. Even if, then, the whole lesbian wedding thing in Friends doesn't sound entirely ideal, at the very least it's appropriate to view the situation from that angle, which may even calm today's outrage a bit...
Of course, one could also find many examples of jokes on the edge, but although some moments are not really "perfect" from today's perspective, blaming a similar approach to a series that originated in1994 is similarly far-fetched as the current efforts to remove "unsuitable" characters from film or literature (i.e. characters whose existence from various perspectives may seem at least problematic, if not outright unacceptable, to some). Friends was a product of its time, and while there were sitcoms back then that may have handled LGBTQ themes better (Roseanne, for example), it was certainly not the rule.
And so - with the premiere of the unique p/Friends reunion coming up years later - it will undoubtedly be better to simply enjoy the great moments that were numerous in the ten series and have now become utterly humanized, rather than to agonize over whether the creators accidentally offended anyone. By the way, one of the special guests (guests, if you will) is supposed to be Lady Gaga. So maybe she'll help the "homophobic" Friends to repair their LGBTQ reputation a bit...
