Connections+with+Literature+and+Literacy

The popular television show "Friends" ran for ten years. People all across the country fell in love with the characters and their fictitious lives. The reason this program stayed on the air for an entire decade is because of the story, the narrative that connected these lovable characters. We, as teachers, should use the easy love that people feel for these characters to illustrate how a narrative works (even over this large time span); it would also be rewarding to present an interesting lesson on character development based on //Friends//.

One of the great things about using television in the classroom is that it is familiar to students. Generally speaking, they all have TVs and watch at least one show regularly and understand the story and characters well enough to explain it to another person. Using that everyday kind of understanding of our students, we can apply it carefully to teach them how all other stories work.

"Friends" is a show that has few noticeable major plot lines, though of course, there are plots and subplots that drive the series along (Pace, 2010). Plot A in //Friends// is, essentially, the particular characters figuring out who they are. The entire show is about their interactions, experiences, and relationships with one another--and how they each evolve over a ten year span of time. All six main characters are introduced in the pilot episode. The audience quickly realizes how the characters are connected and makes predictions based on those connections. This is a way of telling a story that is often overlooked in traditional courses. Most classes will discuss how a story begins, follows its path, and reaches its conclusion. But some narratives begin gradually, as if asking the audience to try to understand the characters first before they go jumping into "the story." This series offers teachers an opportunity to show students how to slow down and understand the characters before asking questions about the story and plot.

All of our lessons are based upon characterization and character development and how they influence and reflect culture through the series. This show does not have a traditional narrative arc (Pace, 2010). It is a dialogue propelled series where the humor and entertainment lies in how the various characters react to the same stimuli. The format of //Friends// offers an excellent opportunity for showing students how to analyze characters. Examining the action and dialogue of such richly described and expressed characters provides a concrete way to show students how to break down what a character is doing and saying, and why.

Through characterization and character development, this series also lends itself to discussions on stereotypes, gender roles, and cultural values (Cortes, 2005). All of these things are displayed throughout the series. Analyzing these changes formally is an important step in helping students understand television as a powerful medium for disseminating values and information (Cortes, 2005). Considering that this show aired for ten years, we might expect to find, by the end of the series, at least a slight shift in cultural values or outlooks on the duties of the American young adult. Discussing how the characters grew or changed in the light of passing time is worth studying, especially considering it aired before and after September 11 [2001] and was based in New York City. Discussing how the time period and historical framework affected the characters is another important aspect to analyzing literature which is very easy to see in a TV show.

One other thing that analyzing //Friends// does is to allow students to draw parallels between the idea of serialization in television and in literature. Many famous works of literature were serialized and were only released to the public in bits at a time, just like television. If a unit on Oliver Twist were to follow or precede this unit, a line could be drawn connecting the two since the idea of a cliffhanger (or dangling clause) was not invented by TV producers (Pace, 2010).. It would be fun to look at the last episodes of each season to show how the writers gave just enough to the audience to make them want to keep watching after the summer break.

Using television in the classroom is still a rather controversial topic. Sure, references to make content material more relevant to students might be a good idea, but how does viewing whole television episodes compare to scrutinizing traditional literature? Yet, why //not// teach something they see and use everyday? Using a medium which our students //are already used to// as a bridge to media with which they are //not// //as familiar// seems like such a logical movement. The literacy of television is very real. Instead of ignoring this media, we should embrace it and challenge students to not just absorb input as a sponge but to instead use their minds to analyze more deeply what is on the screen and how it affects them and their lives (Pace, 2010). In that way, we can get students thinking during more of their day than the few hours they are within our scholarly domain.