Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

FRIENDS 4 (Final Post) - Michele Kelley (H1G3)

Alrighty, here is the last one.

The One With The Kips. (Don't worry about the title, it has to do with part of the episode's plot that isn't involved in this blog post).

Lets get on with the summary.

Rachel and Ross have a history. Their history is basically the driving force for the plot of the first 5 or so seasons. Ross, however meets Emily, a brit, and gets engaged. All this while Rachel is realizing feelings that still exist for Ross. Ross's wedding to Emily ends up happening in London. But Phoebe doesn't go because she is pregnant with her brother's kids. (yes kids, there are three. and Phoebe is just acting as a surrogate. so hold your pitchforks.) Rachel stays behind because of her history with Ross and to watch over Phoebe. Moreover Rachel, ends up going to London to tell Ross how she feels. She comes just in time for the ceremony, but up at the alter Ross says "I take thee Rachel" instead of "I take thee Emily". (just as a heads up guys. don't ever. ever. ever. do this. learn from Ross.) Furthermore, eventually Emily agrees to speak to Ross again and be as a married couple if he never ever sees Rachel again. What does he do? He agrees and then has to tell Rachel about it. 

So... what he right to do that?

or... more specifically (and the philosophical question) how far should you have to go to get forgiveness?  Maybe that was too specific. But the whole situation is screwed up.

Ross tries to do the right thing by Emily. But was it too much for her to ask him to never see Rachel again? They are very close friends, and have been for a long time. Or was the fault with Ross for accepting the premises?

I for one did not like Emily from the beginning. So that "frame of reference" tints my glasses in philosophical talk.  (And besides Rachel and Ross belong together. )"He's her lobster"

But I still think Ross was wrong to agree to it,before speaking with Rachel. He was just trying so hard to appease Emily, that he completely ditched his friendship... But how many of us have seen this happen before? A friend disappears from the face of the earth after starting to date a new person. That sort of new attachment should leave space for friends. Moving on, no one is justified in this situation. Rachel was wrong for going to London on a whim. Ross was really really wrong for saying the wrong name (after he saw Rachel and was "Surprised"). Emily was a jerk (see don't like her) for banning Ross from ever seeing her.  Sometimes there is not a right answer, after so many wrongs. We have to compromise to get the best result, but never forget who and whose feelings are involved.


But moving to the summary about FRIENDS.

Friends are so important. Each individual is different, and the community between Friends gives life vivacity. You have to have Friends different from you. Males need female friends, and females need male friends.....even best friends. Introverts need extroverts. Meditating friends need outspoken friends. Overall, people need the community of Friends, whether it is meeting in Central Perk all the time or at school in class. And I am leaving you with famous philosophers opinions on friends.
"Human beings are born into this little span of life of which the best thing is its friendship and intimacies, and soon their places will know them no more, and yet they leave their friendships and intimacies with no cultivation, to grow as they will by the roadside, expecting them to keep by force of inertia." (William James)

 "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." (C.S. Lewis)

 "I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better." (Plutarch)

 Friendship is almost always the union of a part of one mind with the part of another; people are friends in spots." (George Santayana)
 
\A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth." (Charles Darwin)

3 comments:

  1. Brittany2:42 PM CDT

    I agree that he should have talked to Rachel. Ross only wants to find love. He wants one of his marriages not to fail.

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    1. True true. Like when he doesn't get his "drunken Vegas" marriage to Rachel annulled because he didn't want another failed marriage...

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  2. Glad you gave Darwin the last word, I think C.S. Lewis doesn't know what he's talking about here. (And not just here, but that's another discussion.) Friendship has the GREATEST survival value. James also said (or so the Internet claims) that friends "make our world."

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