Vindicating Chandler Bing, the most important character in 'Friends'
'I'm Chandler. I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable. ' With his chronic sarcasm and his transvestite father, he became the absolute protagonist of 'Friends'.
“Sometimes I would like to be a lesbian. Did I say that out loud? "Do you know what I dreamed last night? I was in Las Vegas and it was Liza Minelli ”. Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) said it in the pilot episode of Friends. In less than half an hour, that kid in a conversation came up with two phrases that we keep repeating 25 years after the premiere of the sitcom.
We didn't know it yet, but that was his gift, the super power that would make him a favorite character among viewers. Sarcastic, scathing, joking. Friends is inconceivable without Chandler ‘Muriel’ Bing's (or Miss Chanandler Bong) garrulous humor, often histrionic mannerisms, and poker faces. Or, for that matter, Matthew Perry's.
The actor was filming a series "horrible, set in the year 2197", when several of his friends began casting for the role of funny man in a project still without a name. Fortunately, Perry, who was helping them prepare for the audition, soon realized that this Chandler was him.
Initially, the scriptwriters had considered that he was gay, but the incorporation of Perry made them decide to rewrite the character with the actor in mind. Not only that, he would also be the only performer allowed to include homegrown jokes in the script.
The 90s sitcom par excellence is on its anniversary and from CINEMANIA we have decided to vindicate its protagonists. After Ross, Joey, Phoebe, Monica, and Rachel, it's acid irony's best friend's turn. We say it loud and clear: Chandler Bing IS the most important character in Friends.
Yes, we have been repeating the same of each and every one of the protagonists, but none of them was as essential as Bing. For something we have left it for the end ... Because there is no weapon of conquest more definitive (in all areas) than a sense of humor. And above all, he knows the erogenous zones of women by heart.
CHAN CHAN MAN
"I am Chandler. I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable. " And uncomfortable turned out to be his natural state. Not surprisingly, his was not an easy childhood: his parents divorced when his father had an affair with the pool boy, and to top it off he found out on Thanksgiving. Right after, her mother decided to dedicate herself to the noble profession of writing erotic novels, while Dad, now a transvestite, put on his own burlesque show: ¡Viva las Gaygas !.
Add to all this a third nipple and the fact that none of his friends remember what he does (he is definitely not a 'transposer') or that he was not wearing glasses before yesterday. It is not surprising that the sense of humor has become, rather than a defense mechanism, a large part of his personality.
But years go by, people mature (inevitably), and Chandler is no exception. In 10 years, the character transforms, he is an example of overcoming: he faces his fears and insecurities, including his fear of marriage, and creates his happy family with Monica (Courteney Cox).
In 10 years, we understand that what you have always wanted is the emotional stability that you did not have as a child. What some call affection (from romantic love to friendship) and that he fears above all things, but that he embraces throughout the series. After all, belonging to a family. Of course, in the process, he does not lose that Chandlerian irony that taught us that the funny boy is always a good match.
HUMOR, UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
Chandler had the best lines in the script, the most witty lines, the most repeated lines among fans. With him we learned that you have to wait until the right moment to tell the truth, "that's what death beds exist for"; or that a long time without sleeping with a woman can make your virginity grow again.
However, when his humor shone most it was in a group. He always had the deadliest answers for all kinds of conversations between friends. Here's a most banal example:
Such is the impact of this character in everything regarding the script, that he was in charge of putting the end to the series. Season 10, last episode of Friends. The friends say goodbye to Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Monica's flat and propose to have a coffee. "Where?" Asks Chandler ironically, for a moment unleashing that lump in his throat, easing the sadness caused by parting.
The unique and unrepeatable Bing is also present in your favorite scenes and episodes of the series: his traumas on Thanksgiving; the flashbacks with that impossible hairstyle; any sequence with Joey (Matt LeBlanc); or that couch trying to climb the stairs with Ross (David Schwimmer and his "Turn it, turn it, turn it ...") and Rachel. Friends is nothing more than Chandler in its purest form.
HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS EXIST
When it comes to Friends, this is an essential section to understand the importance of Chandler. Would Ross, jealous and unfaithful straight, and Joey, a pickup collector, carry their partner on their shoulders when his feet hurt from the boots he just bought? Chandler isn't just the funny guy stereotype. He also turns out to be a hopeless romantic, synonymous with fidelity and stability.
This sitcom wasn't always an example of healthy love affairs. The roller coaster that Rachel and Ross represented (apparently the main love story, but no less harmful), Ross with any of his ex or Joey and his long list of flirts often showed us the most macho and obsessive face of the life of two. However, Chandler, who began by saying "until I was 25, I thought the only response to an 'I love you' was' Damn!" In his skin as an insecure twentysomething, he showed that he “I have no hope. I'm weird and desperate for love ”was not so true.
He had his stumbles (the ubiquitous Janice -Maggie Wheeler- knows this well), but everything changed in a London hotel room, when he slept with her friend Monica. This was going to be a crazy night, just that, but the fans reacted so effusively to the unexpected couple that the writers decided that they were serious. And from then on, a time in Friends and in our lives when these two weren't together seemed impossible.
We met them as friends and watched as Chandler pissed on Monica after a jellyfish stung her. They ended up married, with a case in the suburbs and adoption of twins. But what was really important about this relationship was the message he sent as Ross and Rachel argued about whether they were taking time out.
They were friends before lovers, they never stopped being life partners, and there were no comings and goings, breakups and reconciliations between them. This emotional stability also brought the less ironic, more confident Chandler, capable of delivering the quintessential romantic proposition of the sitcom: “I thought it was important what I told you, or where I said it, but I have realized that the only thing What matters is that you make me happier than I ever dreamed of. And, if you allow me, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same. "
Inciso: In spite of everything, our favorite duo of the series will always be the one formed by Chandler and Joey. That really is good love.
GAVE US JANICE
Who is the most wonderfully fantastic supporting character on Friends? We were very like Úrsula, so much so that we preferred her over Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow); We were also touched by Gunther (James Michael Tyler), if only because he was always there in the background; we looked forward to the return of the Gellers to Monica's despair; Susan, Carol's partner, was Ross's worst nightmare, and that's why our best friend too.
But none of her interventions compares to the genuine joy that came over us when we heard Janice's shrill voice yelling “Oh… God… Mine!”, Accompanied by a loud laugh. Chandler's first girlfriend we met appeared in the most unlikely places. That Chandler and Monica were going to the hospital to see why she wasn't getting pregnant, there was Janice. That Ross and Rachel had Emma, reappeared with its characteristic frenzy.
The omnipresent ex was so charismatic and at the same time unbearable that we could not help but feel sorry for Chandler for having endured her 10 years of series. And, at the same time, thank him for giving us such an insufferable and unrepeatable character.
CHANDLER WE ARE ALL
It is easier to empathize with who we identify with. We understand it, we understand it, we cover our eyes with its uncomfortable moments and feel that slight almost personal satisfaction when it comes out with ingenuity from a compromising situation. That does not mean that the character we feel closest to in a series is our favorite (although in Chandler's case, it is), but there is an unintended connection that makes us look at him with good eyes.
In Friends, Rachel is the posh turned independent woman; Monica, the controller; Phoebe, the flamboyant hippy; Joey, the handsome goofball; Ross, an accumulation of errors inherited from the patriarchy; and Chandler, sarcasm made man, but also the mirror in which the viewer is reflected.
His whole life sounds like a joke: a transvestite father who works in Las Vegas, his middle name is 'Muriel', his future wife accidentally cuts off his little finger, he survives a relationship with Janice ... But we take it more seriously than to any of his companions. Why? Because she represented us.
At the end of the workday, Chandler is the one who, from that sofa in Central Perk that could be ours from which we watch fiction at home, listens in disbelief to the latest battles of his friends. And respond sarcastically. He attacks with irony any comments of irrepressible consumerism of Rachel, criticizes with sarcasm the macho attitude of Ross or is ashamed of the last occurrence of Joey (but always from love).
Chandler is fun, loyalty, cuteness, and man-made wit; the best friend, husband and character of Friends. And above all, he knows the erogenous zones of women by heart.
