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Friends - Ashley
Ashley Qiu
Created on November 27, 2023
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Transcript
Friends - Creating a Sense of Place in Official vs. Unofficial Fan Experiences Around the World
Welcome to the world of the TV show Friends, which has captivated a global audience for many years.
With this interactive map, explore the different Friends experiences - both official and unofficial - that have popped-up in various global destinations since the show's inception.
Official Experiences
Unofficial Experiences
Key questions:
- How do Friends experiences transport visitors to the storyworld of the show and the feeling/idea of being in New York City (or the U.S. more broadly)?
- To what extent does spatial (and cultural) proximity to the country of origin (United States) impact how fandom can be experienced in Friends experiences?
- How does the physical space of these Friends experiences communicate aspects of fan identity? What differs about the fan identity that is communicated in official Friends spaces vs. unofficial ones?
- What aspects of international life are brought into the fan experience in Friends experiences located outside of the U.S.?
The basic facts...
- Aired on NBC from 1994 to 2004
- Narrative follows 6 young adults living in New York City
- Filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California
- Had an average of 25 million views throughout the series
- Became available for streaming first on Netflix in 2015, then HBO Max in 2020
+ basic facts about the show
+ key questions to explore
Sources
Return
Home
Friends: Official Experiences
(Under the jurisdiction of Warner Bros Entertainment)
What motivates studios to create these official experiences and what's special about them?
The Friends Experience
- Commoditizes fandom
- Industry-created spaces can be seen as a place of "media parody"
- Heavily leans in on nostalgia
- Caters to pre-existing fans
2021 - Present
For extra exploration, check out:
+ read about the Friends fandom here
☕️ Central Perk Cafe ☕️
Return
Friends: Unofficial Experiences
Home
In addition to official locations, unofficial fan-created Friends experiences have also popped up across the world, mostly in Asian countries including China and India. These mostly take the form of cafes, restaurants, and hotels that are permanent.
Similarities to official experiences:
- Attention to detail
- Emphasis on place
- Loyalty to original source material (not a "subcultural" model like other unofficial fan experiences might be)
Differences from official experiences:
- Fans focus on building a sense of community rather than simply commodifying the show
Read about fandom in unofficial Friends spaces
Fandom in Unofficial Friends Spaces
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Home
Case study: Beijing Friends Cafe ☕️
Further Exploration:
Basic facts
What characterizes the fandom in Beijing Friends Cafe?
Connection to US / NYC Culture
Community > consumerism
Passionate Engagement
Return
The Friends Experience
Home
Philadelphia
New York
Return
The Friends Experience Branding Analysis
Home
Visual Infographic
Short Essay
(click for closer look)
Return
Sources
Home
https://www.npr.org/2013/01/23/170074762/friends-will-be-there-for-you-at-beijings-central-perk https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/world/what-in-the-world/china-beijing-friends-central-perk.html https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2015/05/87190/friends-obsessed-fan-opens-central-perk-china https://www.travelpulse.com/news/entertainment/meet-chinas-gunther-and-the-amazing-friends-central-perk-he-created https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g294212-d4357866-Reviews-Friends_Cafe_LaoYouJi_ZhuTi-Beijing.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RwDi1wtz7Y&ab_channel=i-D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fRLq2L8Iy8&ab_channel=TheTelegraph https://thehappydaystravels.com/friends-themed-hostel-friends-themed-cafe-in-kuala-lumpur/ https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/india-now-has-5-f-r-i-e-n-d-s-themed-cafes-but-there-s-a-catch-262485.html https://wanderlustwelshman.com/2019/01/16/central-perk-in-shenzhen/ https://secretdubai.co/friends-central-perk-in-dubai/ https://centralperk.com/pages/about https://www.friendstheexperience.com/ https://www.phillymag.com/things-to-do/2023/02/14/the-friends-experience/ https://time.com/4546154/friends-cafe-central-perk-singapore/ https://mothership.sg/2022/12/central-perk-cafe-friends-close/ https://eatbook.sg/friends-cafe/
Parmett, Helen Morgan. “It’s HBO: Passionate Engagement, TV Branding, and Tourism in the Postbroadcast Era.” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, vol. 13, no. 1, 2015, pp. 3–22, doi:10.1080/14791420.2015.1068431. Waysdorf, Abby S. “Friends and Corporate Places of Fandom.” Fan Sites: Film Tourism and Contemporary Fandom, University of Iowa Press, 2021, pp. 110–34. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv20dsbwg.9. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
The Friends Fandom (and what makes it unique)
as observed by Abby S. Waysdorf in "Friends and Corporate Places of Fandom"
Traditionally, Friends did not have the same sort of cult fandom as other media texts like Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. The sitcom format of the show made it highly accessible to all audiences, from casual viewers to loyal ones who tuned in for every episode, so you didn't have to be a super-fan to enjoy. Instead of finding communities with other Friends fans, most viewers became individually attached to specific aspects of the show: its characters, spaces (like Chandler and Joey's apartment and Central Perk), and memorable quotes which delivered a sense a nostalgia. Recognizing the power of fans, Warner Bros decided to create official fan experiences that emphasized these elements.
"While not being part of the cult media infrastructure, it nonetheless behaved much like a cult show textually, and its fans loved it in the same way" (Waysdorf 116)
The cafe as a space of cultural proximity
For international Chinese fans, Friends as a media text not only is a story about friendship, but also serves as a reference point to understanding American lifestyle and culture. Through participating in these fan-made spaces, Chinese fans seek to embody these preconceived American values and escape from their personal cultural realities.
“It suggests that the connection of a sense of place-based location and attachment to a particular place can be utilized as an affective register to reach audiences far beyond that particular place (Parmett 4)
Visitor testimonials: "Chinese television is kind of political, they are trying to teach people what our country wants us to know. We just don’t have TV series like Friends."
"The show is particularly popular for its use of colloquial language and as an introduction to American culture. It's also popular because of the laid-back, friendship-filled lifestyle it portrays, far from the stressful, competitive world that Chinese young people inhabit” (NPR)
Singapore
Central Perk Cafe
https://centralperk.com
Boston
(Only Friends-themed cafe LICENSED outside US)
Passionate engagement as indirect fan marketing
🤩
Even if Chinese fans like Du are not actively participating in the official consumer market of the Friends / Warner Bros. brand, their passionate engagement in the media text can be seen as an indirect form of advertising.
Examples in the Beijing Cafe:
The term is used by media companies and their marketing sectors to “ubiquitously ... characterize the desired behavior of its audience” (Parmett 7)
What is passionate engagement?
Unofficial
Official
Space for community
Consumerism-based
“Du says he had no idea how popular the cafes would be, but he's discovering that they serve as unofficial Friends fan clubs” (NPR)
(The Friends Experience)
Branding Analysis
- paid ticketing
- merchandise
- fans as co-creators of consumption
Du: "I wanted to find some place like Central Perk and build a “friendship building."
Du: "A lot of my Rachels met their boyfriends or right now their husbands in my coffee shop. Every year five or ten proposals happen. Just one place can bring people together."
Scholarly analysis by Waysdorf
“Having fans is now a way to continually generate attention to a media text and, through that attention, income and prominence”
“They were also social and community-oriented, with the structures of organized fandom—conventions, message boards, and so forth—providing an alternative social space for often marginalized people.” (113)
Commodification of Fandom
Beijing Friends Cafe
Address: Chaowai SOHO, 6 Chaoyangmenwai Dajie, Building A, Suite 0616
- located on the 6th floor of an apartment building
- started by Du Xin, avid Friends fan who calls himself "Gunther"
- features a recreated Central Perk cafe (fully functioning) with other fun memorabilia and props from show
High above Beijing’s financial district, on the sixth floor of a futuristic commercial complex, is a little slice of New York City. (New York Times)
The Friends Experience
Current Locations
2021 - Present
World-wide tour with pop-up locations
The basic facts...
From the website: Immerse yourself in the world of FRIENDS™ like never before with interactive set recreations, props and costumes, photo ops and exclusive merchandise. There’s no better place to be an unapologetic FRIENDS™ fan!
- costs around $64 per person
- open access immersive environment where visitors are allowed to roam freely (no time limit but one hour is recommended)
- includes rooms that look exactly like the set (Central Perk, Monica's apartment, etc.), recreations of costumes characters wore, props from set, archival elements like script drafts and set design sketches