Tv legends: Was chandler on friends originally meant to be gay?

[j9ac9k]

I have one comment about this article - specifically the part where Chandler's falling out with his father was due to the fact that he ran a male burlesque show and that it was, as the author puts it, "gay panic." I disagree and think the author is being a bit too acute in his lensing of the situation. I think the show is actually more enlightened than he gives it credit for because the father's sexual preference wasn't the issue, it was the fact that he left his family. And just as important, is the fact that both of Chandler's parents were way too overtly sexual in front of Chandler from a young age. Chandler was on just as bad terms with his mother for her rampant sexuality and lack of boundaries before they smoothed things over. Is there a bit of "gay panic" in terms of some of the jokes? Yes, I will grant that, but how many hetero guys are 100% comfortable with homosexuality? (esp with having a trans father?) It was part of his anxiety about sexuality in general.

IMO.

[PaulBullion]

I have one comment about this article - specifically the part where Chandler's falling out with his father was due to the fact that he ran a male burlesque show and that it was, as the author puts it, "gay panic." I disagree and think the author is being a bit too acute in his lensing of the situation. I think the show is actually more enlightened than he gives it credit for because the father's sexual preference wasn't the issue, it was the fact that he left his family. And just as important, is the fact that both of Chandler's parents were way too overtly sexual in front of Chandler from a young age. Chandler was on just as bad terms with his mother for her rampant sexuality and lack of boundaries before they smoothed things over. Is there a bit of "gay panic" in terms of some of the jokes? Yes, I will grant that, but how many hetero guys are 100% comfortable with homosexuality? (esp with having a trans father?) It was part of his anxiety about sexuality in general.

IMO.

Is there a link?

[Jim Kelly]

TV Legends: Was Chandler on Friends Originally Meant To Be Gay?

Maybe I was ahead of my time because, as the show was airing, I was struck by the "gay panic" and didn't like it. Maybe some people thought it was progressive, but Ross's difficulty with his Lesbian ex played for laughs just was tone deaf. It wasn't funny, just sad.

I could see that Chandler might be put out by the change in his parents. But trans acceptance, even now, is not going over easy in middle America. So to have one of the main characters weirded out by his trans parent, just seemed to play to the vanilla phobias--rather than being a sensitive investigation of families accepting transition. We never really got much depth with Chandler--just him puliing faces and acting all manic.

The gay characters were always the side characters. And we were seeing them through the lens of the main characters. And the main characters were always being weird about LGBTQ people. Even when the starring women kissed, it was done in a weird way as if "oh aren't we so chic for being almost-Lesbian-curious."

The show seemed to confuse embarassment with funny. Every time a main character was in an embarassing situation, cue the audience laughter--no matter whether it was really funny or not.

I expected Phoebe to be the one to teach Ross and Chandler and Joey how to be authentic human beings. Because Phoebe seemed the only one who was ahead of the curve. And yet she was always dumbed down--undermining anything progresssive she had to say.

[jbmasta]

There was always an Old Married Couple vibe between him and Joey.