The One Where Joey Gets Dumber
Remember that one episode when Joey had no idea what an encyclopedia is? Or when he couldn’t answer even the most basic questions on a TV-quiz? What about the time he had no idea whom America was fighting in World War I, do you remember that?
Unfortunately, I do, and I can say with certainty that all children of the eighties and nineties, as well as those born in this century, can recall at least some of the famous “Friends” one-liners. We grew up with Ross’s desperation, Rachel’s superficiality, Chandler’s sarcasm, Monica’s mania and Phoebe’s lightheartedness. And we laughed till tears rolled from our eyes. However, looking back in retrospect, I feel a compulsion to consider Joey, chiefly due to the way he was treated by the show’s screenwriters.
The first episode of “Friends” is among my favorites, since it introduces us to a completely average group of people that just happen to be hilarious to watch. As time progresses, and as the number of episode mounts up, the characters begin to deviate. For example we see how Ross becomes more and more needy, while Rachel shallower. Yet, none of these changes can be compared to the “dumbing down” process which Joey Tribbiani undergoes. During his first appearance, he is merely a typical actor, perhaps slightly stupider than his roommate Chandler. Nevertheless, seeing as Mr. Bing was the origin of the wittiest commentary throughout both the first episode and the entire show, Joey’s inferiority compared with him is acceptable. By season seven, on the other hand, we can notice a significant change in his intellect. All of this change, of course, is for the worse. Tribbiani’s character seems to move closer and closer to the archetype of a Hollywood film star: a pretty head, but completely empty on the inside. He thinks his Adam’s apple is, in fact, his “Joey’s apple”. According to Joey, Dutch people come from Pennsylvania, while the Netherlands is the land of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Each episode from the later seasons contains at least one mockery of the Italian actor’s stupidity, and some are even centered around this theme. When the series began, the young Italian had been equal to any one of his best friends. Quite the opposite is true for the end of the last season, where Joey is constantly depicted as slow, a value which provokes laugher in the audience but also the people closest to him. It is sad to see such a character in the ranks of Tribbiani slowly be transformed in to a stereotype, completely disregarding his potential to be funny without exaggeration. In creating a dumber version of our favorite Italian, the actors managed to take away the normality of the character which we so deeply loved.
Perhaps, when they conceived the episodes, the screenplay writers did not have in mind how great a leap they had made from the initial to the final Joey. After all, the decrease of his IQ was more of a gradual act, happening throughout the ten seasons. However, the fact remains that the character was significantly altered. Although this change could often be considered irrelevant to the entirety of the show, quite a few of the audience find it unsettling that a character as lovable as the actor could be intellectually butchered in such a manner. Personally, I laughed until the very last minute of the last episode (and then replayed it all over again), but I maintain that the derogatory portrayal of Joey Tribbiani could have been managed without lowering him to the level of a common archetype.
Unfortunately, I do, and I can say with certainty that all children of the eighties and nineties, as well as those born in this century, can recall at least some of the famous “Friends” one-liners. We grew up with Ross’s desperation, Rachel’s superficiality, Chandler’s sarcasm, Monica’s mania and Phoebe’s lightheartedness. And we laughed till tears rolled from our eyes. However, looking back in retrospect, I feel a compulsion to consider Joey, chiefly due to the way he was treated by the show’s screenwriters.
The first episode of “Friends” is among my favorites, since it introduces us to a completely average group of people that just happen to be hilarious to watch. As time progresses, and as the number of episode mounts up, the characters begin to deviate. For example we see how Ross becomes more and more needy, while Rachel shallower. Yet, none of these changes can be compared to the “dumbing down” process which Joey Tribbiani undergoes. During his first appearance, he is merely a typical actor, perhaps slightly stupider than his roommate Chandler. Nevertheless, seeing as Mr. Bing was the origin of the wittiest commentary throughout both the first episode and the entire show, Joey’s inferiority compared with him is acceptable. By season seven, on the other hand, we can notice a significant change in his intellect. All of this change, of course, is for the worse. Tribbiani’s character seems to move closer and closer to the archetype of a Hollywood film star: a pretty head, but completely empty on the inside. He thinks his Adam’s apple is, in fact, his “Joey’s apple”. According to Joey, Dutch people come from Pennsylvania, while the Netherlands is the land of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Each episode from the later seasons contains at least one mockery of the Italian actor’s stupidity, and some are even centered around this theme. When the series began, the young Italian had been equal to any one of his best friends. Quite the opposite is true for the end of the last season, where Joey is constantly depicted as slow, a value which provokes laugher in the audience but also the people closest to him. It is sad to see such a character in the ranks of Tribbiani slowly be transformed in to a stereotype, completely disregarding his potential to be funny without exaggeration. In creating a dumber version of our favorite Italian, the actors managed to take away the normality of the character which we so deeply loved.
Perhaps, when they conceived the episodes, the screenplay writers did not have in mind how great a leap they had made from the initial to the final Joey. After all, the decrease of his IQ was more of a gradual act, happening throughout the ten seasons. However, the fact remains that the character was significantly altered. Although this change could often be considered irrelevant to the entirety of the show, quite a few of the audience find it unsettling that a character as lovable as the actor could be intellectually butchered in such a manner. Personally, I laughed until the very last minute of the last episode (and then replayed it all over again), but I maintain that the derogatory portrayal of Joey Tribbiani could have been managed without lowering him to the level of a common archetype.
Simona Sarafinovska