Hello Rachel, I FRIENDS You!
The world is changing! How? With its infrastructural support, increase in obese rate with every passing year, technological advancements, inventions and innovations across, social media taking over our lives and adaptation of modernization in cultures. I am a bit unconvinced about the last factor though, pretty much unconvinced! Before you all jump from the bandwagon of gender equality, I have dozens of supporting pointers to prove my statement but, in this piece, I would rather stick around Rachel from FRIENDS.
“I’ll be there for you” is acknowledged as a global anthem from 90’s until today, so I thought widespread FRIENDS fanatics might be able to relate better with my examples. Some (many) may wish to kill me; few may agree to my quotations to a certain extent and others may just love me for they simply empathize with Rachel. Before I start to write about it, I have three disclaimers to make:
- I am an Indian and I love my country like no other, a proud Indian basically. Since I know my country and its people the best, my opinions are purely based on them and sharing my perspectives keeping in mind talks and thoughts I have gathered from people around me watching Friends which saddens me to the fact that the world has not really changed much when it comes to modernization or making sexist comments when a female is involved.
- I am neither a Rachel fan nor I contribute to the global fanbase of the series. I only started watching it sometime back, like a few months ago
- I am not a feminist; I only believe in equality between humans and animals.
Without adding more boredom to who I am, let us throw some light who Rachel is.
Rachel is mean: Well, who is not? This statement comes across a zillion times because the lady dares to speak her mind. If she prefers A over B, she is upfront about it. Her problem is that she cares more for herself like everybody does but does not fake about it thinking “what others might feel”. Or may I just say that she is gutsy?
Rachel is a b*tch- That is a strong accusation! She is a human, has physical needs and if sleeping around with men with a fear of commitment makes her a b*tch, I wonder why nobody called Joey a dog? Ahem! Your attention needed, “Feminists”!
Rachel is arrogant- Sure she is- A rich daddy’s daughter, pampered and spoilt one. Not to forget, she is pretty with a great taste in fashion and guess what? She accepts the fact that she is low in Intelligence Quotient and logical reasoning. A whole bunch of other “FRIENDS” made fun of the fact that she has an awful general knowledge. Which she is cool with as she has got a glass of wine in her hand to whine over it.
Rachel is eccentric- After having raised in a secure environment the woman dared to step out of her own wedding and decided to stay in her friend’s apartment taking up her first job as a waitress. How many rich boys or girls out there can even think of doing this? Again, she does what she feels strongly about but also prepares herself to face its repercussions.
Rachel is not a true friend- I wonder what makes people think so? When Pheobe wanted her to leave Joey’s apartment and move back with her, she did that without having double minds even though staying with Joey was much of a feasible option. The lady who is tagged of taking impulsive decisions managed Chandler’s last-minute drama on marriage phobia and its consequences brilliantly on the day of his wedding by handling his over enthusiastic to-be wife Monica on the altar who learnt about her fiancé taking off on the day of the wedding.
Rachel is not a loyal girlfriend- Before we even make that statement, lets recollect a moment where she was not loyal in her relationship with Ross. The latter assumed getting cheated by the former and in his want to revenge against her, Ross slept with another woman. Technically, Rachel never cheated on Ross. Now we know who cheated who.
Clearly, we all judge a book by its cover and have a whole lot of interpretations to make about it. Perhaps, Rachel is labelled as the most disliked FRIENDS character, and on the other hand has established herself as a fashion diva worldwide who is also the most popular of all 6 beings able to bag big budget films and TV series till date.
Reconnecting on the topic to eradicate stereotypical thoughts by turning ourselves modern, not only in appearance but also mentally. We all are born with some flaws and so are headstrong, good looking, independent women are. So, if we accept the mistakes in us, let us be generous enough to accept the mistakes in the ones who perhaps are unrelatable to you- And that my friend is a closure😉
