polyamory&friends

[polyamorynfriends]

s1e1p4 - in: the apartment

rachel's relationships: being the new girl in town, the show moves to a snowglobe to showcase what is going to be her new life. ross: continues to be an asshole, tears rachel down while she is actively having a very intense and emotional conversation with her father. as he will continue to, ross treats rachel as if she is a stupid little girl. pheobe: 'i helped!', the deep trust that develops between these two starts here, where rachel sees phoebe's good intent and handles it as kindly as she's capable of joey: he wants to fuck her, she isn't uninterested in joey as much as she's put off by his approach. chandler: the only interaction we get from them is chandler being 'very excited' /s about putting together ross' furniture. he jokes to rachel like nothing is wrong, rachel responds by ignoring him perfect monica: service oriented best friend, rachel relies without question on monica's willingness to maintain their relationship and pick off where they left is ie; their emotional closeness. [which probably speaks to the fact rachel has had no other real friends, sad ]. monica is happy to be the Martyr, the Hostess, even if she plays it as bitter resignation to the gang. and so, their relationship picks up where it left off, including rachel showing that she is less selfish than we may expect, urging her to leave rachel alone in her state to go out with the infamous and unremarkable Wine Guy

[polyamorynfriends]

s1e1p3 - enter: rachel

rachel: enters the scene in a wedding dress on the cue 'i want to be married again' conclusion: the monkey's paw curls introduction: rachel is set up to be a beautiful disaster, she has everything anyone could ever want and is unhappy with all of it. her friendship with Monica is probably one of the only independent choices she made in highschool, given the difference in their social status. rachel's role: entitled, naive, but not unkind or unintelligent, rachel is set up as an intersection between the members of the group as equally comfortable with conformity as non-conformity. and i guess also that applies to ross too but i hate him so whatever r&r note: the umbrella popping up stops a reunion hug. reinforcing rachel as socially gracious and ross as a lout. positioning: rachel being physically led over to the group and then taking ross' spot, moving her in as the newest stray monica is bringing in from the cold. very poignant and clear. characterization: the physical humour of this scene is incredible. rachel interrupting herself to request sugar from the waitress, who no one acknowledges, without a please or thank you. Her taking it over her shoulder, passing it to ross. rachel is so spoiled it barely even registers, ross' bratty attitude towards sweetening her coffee is what draws attention to it. but then ross leans into it, first offering a spoon, and then literally stirring rachel's coffee for her. he is submissive but resentful of it. she is dominant but ignorant of it. conclusion: reluctantly, I acknowledge that rachel and ross as also immediately set up to be narrative foils

[polyamorynfriends]

s1e1p2 - enter: ross

ross: is introduced as he continues to be - Miserable & Pathetic joey and pheobe are openly disparaging, but given they treated Monica similarly during the first scenes, it doesn't read as dislike. disclaimer: ross doesn't get to fuck, i want to beat him with a baseball bat until his insides are outside. but he's very vital to the show so analyze we shall positioning: ross greets the others while standing behind the couch. he is physically and emotionally separate from them. monica provides context on his misery, the others were not aware of the events of the day. conclusion: monica is ross' primary tie to the group, and acts as an 'interpreter' to help him better socialize with the others his terrible attitude is completely expected of him and the others show little sympathy, when phoebe tries to help, he is snippy towards her eccentricities. when joey tries to bond and offer connection, he only whines more. conclusion: ross is immediately set up to be The Heel; a Jilted Groom that everyone is sick of

[polyamorynfriends]

s1e1p1 - premise

scene note: the waitress pours them coffee. they do not acknowledge her. regulars, and well liked ones, but not ones who are friendly with the staff. establishes this group as very insular monica: first focus character, she dates undesirable men, a reference to her [well masked] cripplingly low self esteem despite the possibly stressful subject matter, monica's body language is aggressive and open, she is inviting this cross examination of her date. scene note: sitting arrangement changes, clothes do not. this allows for an easy shorthand for a timeskip, but also reflects chandler: second focus character, showing the emotional intimacy of the group, and chandler's willingness and even need to socially humiliate himself (sounds like a date to me), establishing his own low self esteem also, chandler's relationship to his mother is both deeply tied to his sexuality and his need to be socially safe, or so the details of the dream tell the audience chandler's body language is *very* similar to monicas, almost as if he is copying her. but his legs are crossed and is facing the group more defensively. he his even more insecure in both himself, and his position in the group

conclusion: chandler and monica set up as emotional foils s1e1 the others: despite being in the room the whole time, phoebe and joey get no focus, acting only as the quirky supporting cast. joey sits backwards in a chair in the first scene, phoebe sits on the floor in the second, this tells the audience they are in contrast to chandler and monica conclusion: phoebe and joey set up as parallels and 'less vital' narrative structure.