preview

Quotationalism And Hyper-Ironism In Friends

Decent Essays

Although TV shows are watched for purely entertainment, techniques such as quotationalism and hyper-ironism are portrayed. Quotationalism is utilized in pop culture to make references from other works. Rather than humor being genuine or on a sense of world-weary clever-than-thou-ness, hyper-ironism is humor that is dark and cold. The well-known American sitcom, Friends aired in the year 1994 and lasted until 2004 but is still very popular in today’s pop culture.. Friends consist of six main characters name Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Phoebe, and Joey whom all live in one of New York’s boroughs, Manhattan. Most of the episodes took place in the group’s apartments and the coffee shop, Central Perk. Though it has been almost 14 years that …show more content…

Chandler notices how Joey is holding the chick too tight so he says “Easy Lennie”. Chandler refers Lennie from the character of the book Mice and Men. Lennie, a very happy man, is known for being a giant who loves to pet animals, but the animals end up dead because Lennie is not careful nor gentle with them. The reference Chandler makes from the popular book Mice and Men is a quotation from a work of pop culture. An example of hyper-ironism utilized in Friends is the constant teasing and ridiculousness directed towards Joey. Joey is not the brightest person from the whole group. Even though, Joey is a physically grown man, he is the most childish one, because he plays video games. In addition, there are a few episodes where he is seen sleeping with a stuffed animal named Huggsy. Joey’s immaturity is not only seen by viewers but his friends also believe he is childish. For example, the episode in “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister” Ross makes a comment about Chandler not getting Emma (Ross and Rachel’s Baby) if he and Rachel died. Chandler makes a remark to Ross’s comment by saying no one from the group would be able to look after Joey but later changes his mind. Chandler informs Ross that Joey eats at least 5 times a day and he shoves pennies in his nose. When viewing this scene from the episode, many people would laugh and find it hilarious about the remarks there is against Joey’s childish behavior, but hyper-ironism is the technique used.

Get Access