It's hard to believe that the final episode of Friends aired more than 18 years ago, and a lot has changed in the world since then. Those six iconic characters were the heroes of the 1990s and, for devoted fans, pretty much everything they said was funny and relevant. But does Friends make much sense to a young audience today? As Chandler would say: "Could things BE more different?"
One mother has put it to the test by rewatching Friends with her 14-year-old daughter and immediately found a huge list of things that made sense in the 90s, but now need to be explained. Author and mum, Rebecca Makkai is based in Chicago. Her Twitter bio reads: "Pulitzer & Nat'l Book Award finalist, winner of ALA Carnegie Medal for THE GREAT BELIEVERS. Artistic Director at @storystudio, She/her. Daughter of a refugee."
Over the weekend she tweeted to her 65,000 followers: "I'm rewatching all of Friends with my 14-year-old daughter. We are on season 2. Here is a running, but incomplete, list of all the things I have needed to explain to her: Milk cartons used to have pictures of missing kids, who Dudley Moore was, who Joan Collins is, what pagers were, and how they worked. (I needed help from my husband on this one.) That you could see people off at the airport gate, that you could meet people at the airport gate."
