This
week when Friends ends its ten-year reign
on NBC, it leaves behind a complicated, ground-breaking, sometimes
frustrating, but ultimately positive contribution to lesbian
visibility.
At
first glance, a sitcom about six heterosexuals in their mid-20's--massage
therapist Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), waitress-turned-fashion maven
Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), chef Monica (Courtney Cox), her brother
and paleontologist Ross (David Schwimmer), actor Joey (Matt
LeBlanc), and Chandler (Matthew Perry), the guy whose job no
one could ever remember--didn't seem a likely candidate to influence
lesbian visibility.
But
somehow, the topic of lesbianism or bisexuality managed to slip
into at least a few episodes of almost every season, and over
time, the show served as a barometer of America's mixed feelings
about women who sleep with other women.
We learn in the very first episode
in 1994 that Ross has a lesbian ex-wife, Carol (played in the
first few episodes by Anita Barone, then played beginning in
Episode 1.8 by Jane Sibbett), who left him after several years
of marriage for her friend Susan (Jessica Hecht).
The relationship between Carol and Susan is seen primarily through
Ross' eyes, especially in the beginning, as he embodies the
uneasiness many straight men have with lesbians and lesbian
relationships.
Denial
and confusion over how to refer to and explain lesbian relationships
is humorously explored in Episode 1.16 when Ross, Susan, and
Carol attend their first lamaze class together:
ROSS:
Hi, um, I'm err, (clears his throat) I'm Ross Geller, and
err ah...(pats Carol's stomach)...that's, that's my boy in
there, and uh, (points) this is Carol Willick, and this...
is Susan Bunch. Susan is um Carol's, just, com... (embarrassment
finally overwhelms him, until he finally says)...who's next?
TEACHER: I'm sorry, I didn't get... Susan is?
ROSS: Susan is Carol's, Carol's, Carol's, friend...
CAROL: Life partner.
ROSS: Like buddies.
SUSAN: Like lovers.
ROSS: You know how close women can get.
(The teacher smiles, but her eyebrows go up. Susan and Carol
pat each other affectionately.)
Carol: Susan and I live together.
ROSS: Although I was married to her.
SUSAN: Carol, not me.
ROSS: Err, right.
CAROL: It's a little complicated.
ROSS: A little.
SUSAN: But we're fine
At
Susan and Carol's apartment to pick up Ben in Episode 1.12,
Ross sees a photo of Carol and Susan with a friend, and innocently
asks "Hey when did you and Susan meet Huey Lewis?" then
looks embarrassed when she tells him it's their friend Tanya. The
audience are meant to laugh at this both because of Ross' naivete,
and because women who look like men are funny.
When
Carol then asks Ross "Don't you want to know about the sex?"
(meaning the sex of the baby), he misunderstands and responds with
a nervous laugh: "I'm having enough trouble with the image
of you and Susan together, when you throw in Tanya..."
Besides
just laughing at Ross' mistake, the audience is also meant to identify
with Ross' confusion over and discomfort with what two women do
in bed together (especially when one of them is his ex-wife).
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