Friends Reconsidered: Cultural Politics, Intergenerationality, and Afterlives

Neil Ewen; Shelley Cobb; Hannah Hamad

doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476418778426

Friends Reconsidered: Cultural Politics, Intergenerationality, and Afterlives

Neil Ewen, Shelley Cobb, Hannah Hamad

University of Winchester

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Abstract

With the passing in 2014 of the twentieth anniversary of its debut episode, the iconic millennial sitcom Friends retains a rare cultural currency and remains a crucial reference point for understanding the concerns of Generation X. This special issue, therefore, interrogates the contemporary and historical significance of Friends as a popular sitcom that reflected and obfuscated American fin de siècle anxieties at the time, and considers the lasting resonance of its cultural afterlife. Its abiding impact as millennial cultural touchstone can be seen in its persistent ability to find new generations of viewers and its manifest influence on myriad extratextual phenomena.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	683-691
Number of pages	9
Journal	Television and New Media
Volume	19
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476418778426
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2018

Keywords

Friends
television
Generation X
Millennials
generational identity
1990s

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Friends Reconsidered: Cultural Politics, Intergenerationality, and Afterlives

Abstract

Keywords

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