The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of her campus.
This article was written by a student writer from her campus chapter at the University of California, Boulder.
Friends was one of the most popular TV shows of the ’90s and early 2000s, and it’s proven to stand the test of time. The show continues to attract interest from different generations. I’d like to create a collection of articles about individual parts of the Friends characters’ lives that I think correlate very well with real-life adult learning experiences. Personally, Friends is my favorite show. It was one of the most influential TV shows from my childhood and continues to help my mental sanity. I recently rewatched this show for the first time (with a reasonable break in between rewatches), and I can officially declare once again that I completely understand why it’s my favorite show. can. Also, this is the first time I’ve seen this movie in my college life, and as a 22-year-old who is about to graduate next semester, it’s incredible how much of the characters’ situations I can relate to. .
Recently, my friends have helped me more than I would like to say. It’s simply because of the age of the characters as their lives change and the plot changes over the course of the season. I had no idea that most of the cast was between the ages of 24 and 26 at the start of the show. This shows how troublesome the beginning of adult life can be. I’m currently 22 years old, about to graduate, and I’m very nervous about what’s going to happen next. I feel a little anxious and unprepared for the future, but thanks to Friends, I have been able to put things into perspective. Also, as a side note, I’ve heard “TV isn’t reality” from parents in my life, and while that’s true, these facts about the show make me feel better. Whatever it is, I think Friends does an excellent job of representing the beginning stages of adulthood with relative accuracy.
Character age table:
Characters Season 1 Season 5 Season 10 Rachel 24 29 34 Monica 24 29 34 Ross 26 31 36 Chandler 26 31 36 Joey 26 31 36 Phoebe 27 32 37
career journey
What makes Friends so different from so many other shows is that each character took completely different paths to get to where they thought they were successful. I’d like to briefly explain each character’s career path and show how they can captivate a wide audience with relatable plotlines.
Rachel – The youngest of the group began her journey into adulthood in an interesting place: her engagement to her then-fiancé Barry. Between the traditional values that were projected onto her and the strict expectations of how a wife should be, she wasn’t given many options when it came to finding a career path. To everyone’s surprise, including herself, she left Barry at the altar at the beginning of season 1, betting on herself. Rachel finds herself in New York City. At first, she has no idea where she wants to go or what she is doing. Slowly, she realizes that she cannot rely on her family’s money for the rest of her life, and takes a transitional job as a waitress at the coffee shop downstairs. Suddenly, three seasons pass. And she realizes that she’s not doing what she wants to do with her life. She had always had some interest in fashion, so she started sending out as many resumes and cover letters as she could in hopes of landing an entry-level position. After a few episodes, she gets a job working as an assistant at a retail store, but she ends up hating the job because it doesn’t teach her anything new. She happened to network in the area, met someone, and was able to get a job as another assistant at a more prestigious fashion company (Bloomingdale’s). She works there for several seasons and is more enthusiastic than ever about a job she never thought she would like. Over the next few seasons, she continues to climb the ladder in other roles. Rachel is promoted to buyer at Ralph Lauren and eventually to executive position at the same company. At the age of 34, she finished season 10 and was finally offered her dream job (as an executive with high responsibility) working for Louis Vuitton in Paris. In my opinion, she is the most impressive person ever. Rachel grows up to be a very hard-working person and after 10 years of “thinking on her feet” she finds a passion for the career she wants to pursue.
Monica – Her career journey is a little more straightforward considering the fact that she has wanted to be a chef since the beginning of Season 1. Monica attended college and then culinary school. She then began her journey as a chef at a local New York restaurant where she learned many of the tricks that will take her to where she wants to go. Her passion for becoming a chef grew and she grew to love the profession. At the end of season 2, she unexpectedly lost her job and had a very hard time finding a new job of the same position. She ends up settling for a season’s worth of work at a diner to pay the rent, but is clearly dissatisfied with this stage of her life. She is considering starting a catering company with Phoebe and works as a food critic for several newspapers in New York. Through her job as a food critic, she was introduced to the owner of a restaurant called Alessandro’s, where she was offered a job as head chef, building a completely new system in the kitchen. Although she learns a lot in this role and ends up staying in the role until season 9, she has some challenges gaining respect and confidence as an authority in the kitchen. Her stellar reputation at New York’s upscale restaurant Jav lands her a great new job in season 9, where she gets a high-paying, high-responsibility role as head chef.
Ross – He has the simplest and simplest path of the entire cast. He knew from an early age that he loved dinosaurs, and naturally fell in love with the study of paleontology. After high school, it was obvious that he wanted to go to college, continuing his education until he earned a doctorate in paleontology. He briefly gets a job as a paleontologist after college, and from there his dinosaur research begins in season one. He continues on this path for most of the series, only actually changing paths during season 6, when he becomes a professor at New York University. Although he faced some challenges, including difficulties in his personal life, he eventually earned tenure at New York University and lived the life he wanted.
Chandler – His path was much like Ross’s, the difference being that he had no passion for what he spent most of his career doing. He enters university with no idea what to do, and ends up going into a field related to data analysis, but in reality it’s all about money and a steady 9-to-5 job. I’m just following my promise. He likes his personal life in New York so much that he has spent many seasons sacrificing his passion for work to pay the rent. He was a little confused when he went to see a career counselor midway through season 1 to find out what job he was supposed to be doing, but ultimately (and amusingly) realized that it was exactly what he was doing. It turned out to be a job of statistical analysis. He ended up getting back there with a few promotions and made quite a bit of money along the way. After a long and unfortunate journey, he turns 35 in season 9 and decides to make a pretty big career change, going from working in statistics to working in advertising. He started out as an intern alongside a bunch of other 20-year-olds coming out of college, but eventually his talented career got noticed and he was promoted to junior advertising copywriter in season 10. I did. He has followed a truly unique path. Most of his career was spent on one path that he was dissatisfied with, but then made the right changes and took risks to start something new.
Joey – He also has short stories. He continued to strive to become an actor in New York City, but it wasn’t easy. He spends much of the series auditioning, surrounding some of the more interesting castings with hilarious plot lines. If you look at all of Joey’s jobs over the 10 seasons of Friends, you’ll find him acting, cologne sampler, beginning fabricator, acting teacher, Christmas tree salesman, museum tour guide, waiter, barista, and the list goes on. I found it interesting. In addition to all these minor jobs, he has worked twice in the popular drama ‘Days of Our Lives’. The first time, he was fired and actively killed off the show for stealing writer’s credit. He works for a few years for little money and eventually returns to a regular job in season 7 of Days of Our Lives. He stays at the job for the rest of the series, finally being able to pay his own rent and dinners with friends.
Phoebe – The big thing about Phoebe is that she had a really tough upbringing and spent most of her childhood fending for herself on the streets of New York. We’ve known since the first season that she hates corporate America and has a bit of a quirky, fun side to the character dynamic. She plays the guitar as a hobby in coffee shops and worked hard to get her massage therapist license before the show started. The majority of the series depicts her working primarily as a freelancer, with brief stints at corporate spas to earn extra cash. She ends the series in a very similar career situation to the beginning, but is happy with her current situation as her personal life is thriving. She had no interest in having a career, but she knew she didn’t want to live on the streets again. Therefore, she decided to find a job that would pay her enough to maintain her lifestyle and focus on life outside of work.
The main concept I want to express through this article is that everyone has their own path and no one is necessarily bad. We all have ups and downs through our experiences, and I love how Friends perfectly captures the six main characters who take very different paths towards their career goals. They all took risks, moved on to new situations when dissatisfied, and ultimately grew to achieve what each considered success, no matter how long it took. I’m a very strict person and tend to have a lot of anxiety about my future plans, especially since I’m graduating in a semester. I was relieved to recently realize how my youngest character started out two years older than I am now. In my head, I can confuse a little more before they start to confuse like they did the first time. For me, it puts into perspective that my path is my own and there is no “right” direction for me to go.
