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Frontiers in Art Research, 2025, 7(2); doi: 10.25236/FAR.2025.070208.

Multidimensional Study of "Friends" Based on Narrative Art

Author(s)

Xueyan Zhong

Corresponding Author:
Xueyan Zhong
Affiliation(s)

Jackie Chan Movie & Media College, Wuhan Institute of Design and Sceince, Wuhan, 430205, China

Abstract

Since its launch in 1994, Friends has become a classic sitcom with its unique narrative structure, characterization, and light-hearted humor, and has set a benchmark for sitcoms by showing friendship and love in urban life, attracting many scholars to study it from multiple dimensions. This study analyzes the narrative art and charm of Friends in depth from sitcom structural features and time brief, narrative structure, narrative color, and characterization respectively. The study explores the important value of fragmentary narrative, closed structure, and multi-clue narrative techniques used in the storytelling of the movie, which also constitute an indispensable highlight in the creation of sitcoms; and this paper digs out the uniqueness of the characterization of Friends compared with that of traditional sitcoms, and the innovative way of character portrayal creates a flashpoint for the show that can not be ignored. In its thirty years of broadcasting, Friends has not only provided profound creative inspiration for the global sitcom field but also become a source of new narrative techniques for many works to learn from. This paper aims to analyze the classic elements of Friends on its 30th anniversary, to provide solid theoretical support for the creation of sitcoms in the future. 

Keywords

American Sitcoms, Friends, Narrative Structure, Characterization

Cite This Paper

Xueyan Zhong. Multidimensional Study of "Friends" Based on Narrative Art. Frontiers in Art Research (2025), Vol. 7, Issue 2: 53-57. https://doi.org/10.25236/FAR.2025.070208.

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