The American television sitcom "Friends" is by genre an ensemble sitcom it follows the everyday lives of six twenty something's living in New York, who are all friends. Although by definition a sitcom the show has established soap elements such as an ongoing storyline and example in this episode is phoebe's ex-boyfriend David from the first series reappearing there is a bleeding over of storylines from series to series. This is known as open text however the majority of the show is written on a closed text format with problems being solved with in episodes. Also likened to soaps are the staging of seasonal episodes at Christmas and thanksgiving to be aired at the same time of year this ...view middle of the document...
Sometimes it is apparent that the characters bleed into each other for example chandler's sarcasm is seen in Rachel in this episode a lot when referring to the cheesecake,Friends uses stereotypes frequently, the whole concept of the show is the stereotype of the American dream. Featuring six young good-looking people who live in a loft apartment, have good jobs and incomes and have great friendship. Also some characters are stereotyped to their profession for example Ross the professor and palaeontologist being a geek.Gender stereotyping is also apparent in Friends. Monica is known for her love of cooking and Rachel for her shopping and both has jobs in this field. Male stereotyping is shown as Chandler being a professional in his job and all the male characters are big sports fans. Within the episode gender issues occur, as an uncomfortable situation is apparent when Joey drops his trousers in front of Chandler the reaction is typically male.Gender conflict is apparent when Joey and Phoebe argue over the issue of standing a friend up at the possibility of sex. The females argue it's not alright whereas the males argue that it is. This is a typical response expected by males and females in this situation. In this scene we also see Ross and Chandler sitting on bar stools drinking beer images of real American men.Friends fits into the category of sitcom as it fits into the half an hour format, it deals with common situations for example loyalty to friends and family also moral dilemmas all shown in this episode.Friends has a limited cast of six central characters with temporary characters being written in as the storyline needs it for example Gunther the coffee shop manager and David the scientist.Humour in Friends revolves around verbal wit namely sarcasm also the ridiculous is a form of humour involved. The episode "the one with all the cheesecakes" the ridiculous is shown by the problems surrounding the cheesecake theft. There is also an element of slapstick involved in friends this can be seen in the overreaction of characters to evens, this is normally seen in Chandler through waving of arms and facial expressions, in this episode its in reference to Rachel dropping her half of the cake. A prop used for slapstick is the wrap Monica has at the wedding it is used with Ross trying to get it away from his aunty without her noticing.The characters in friends have predictable behaviour of which the audience is aware. Friends had a broad audience anyone with friends can identify with it. The audience watches with a voyeuristic viewpoint.In the mentioned episode's opening sequence the pre-title scene is establishing the main storyline, in the opening shot the viewer sees Chandler sitting eating a cheesecake, a medium shot is used ...
