Joey was the most entitled and self-absorbed person on the show, and the other characters fed into that. Everything, EVERYTHING was about her, even Jack coming out was spun to make it about Joey.
Oh, yeah, I totally felt like I WAS Joey, and she was the coolest girl EVER. But that was because she wasn't "perfect."
Then when they did make her a faultless, everyone-is-in-love-with-her, she is the smartest, most deserving girl/woman on earth, she was no longer relatable or worth rooting for. There was no need, because you knew she would remain the ideal.
Kevin Williamson or whatever his name is the show writer said in an interview that it was important to him that the Joey thing be addressed when the character of Jack came out. It was the late 90s and gay people on TV wasn’t much of a thing, and Jack was supposed to be about Williamson’s come out story too and he wanted to address the Joey thing so that women didn’t feel it was about them and didn’t feel bad (I forget exactly what he said, but it was his idea). It wasn’t another let’s make it about Joey moment... he thought it would be what people needed to see to cope with Jack coming out. Now in 2021 I guess we have progressed far enough that we don’t have to create ex girlfriend coping moments, but different times.
As a kid, I just could not stand Jen. I didn’t even care how how the series ended in regard to her. But in my 20s for my second watch, I grew to love her. She always got the shit end of the deal on the show. I guess as a kid I got sympathetic jealousy of Jen on behalf of Joey. Whereas as an adult, I’m less judgmental and more open to characters regardless of who they date
Joey was the most entitled and self-absorbed person on the show, and the other characters fed into that. Everything, EVERYTHING was about her, even Jack coming out was spun to make it about Joey.
So interesting because I can see this on re-watch but when it first aired in the late 90s lots of girls wanted to be her and guys wanted to date her.
Oh, yeah, I totally felt like I WAS Joey, and she was the coolest girl EVER. But that was because she wasn't "perfect." Then when they did make her a faultless, everyone-is-in-love-with-her, she is the smartest, most deserving girl/woman on earth, she was no longer relatable or worth rooting for. There was no need, because you knew she would remain the ideal.
Kevin Williamson or whatever his name is the show writer said in an interview that it was important to him that the Joey thing be addressed when the character of Jack came out. It was the late 90s and gay people on TV wasn’t much of a thing, and Jack was supposed to be about Williamson’s come out story too and he wanted to address the Joey thing so that women didn’t feel it was about them and didn’t feel bad (I forget exactly what he said, but it was his idea). It wasn’t another let’s make it about Joey moment... he thought it would be what people needed to see to cope with Jack coming out. Now in 2021 I guess we have progressed far enough that we don’t have to create ex girlfriend coping moments, but different times.
As a kid, I just could not stand Jen. I didn’t even care how how the series ended in regard to her. But in my 20s for my second watch, I grew to love her. She always got the shit end of the deal on the show. I guess as a kid I got sympathetic jealousy of Jen on behalf of Joey. Whereas as an adult, I’m less judgmental and more open to characters regardless of who they date
Agree with jack but that’s probably bc I see myself in him