EDITED and TRANSLATED FOR JUNE EDITION.
Society
We Are “Friends”
Ge Chunyan is part of the first wave of “researchers” of the American show Friends. She likes to observe what the main characters eat. Joey enjoys sandwiches, and Ge Chunyan can name every jam that Monica stores in the fridge. During her last semester at Chongqing University, Ge Chunyan posted a request for roommates who also loved Friends and furthermore who wished to live the way that the Friends live. This kind of roommate ad was well before its time and caused no small commotion, Ge Chunyan says. By the second day of her posting, dozens of Friends fanatics replied. Finally, she found suitable roommates: two men and two women. The Friends fans started living their Friends life.
To this day, Friends fans online establish chat forums, blogs and websites to discuss the show. Some fans have even sorted out the holidays from the more than 220 episodes, brought up the fashionable items in the shows, mentioned what is often discussed in meetings amongst the Friends, and even taken notes on the different coffeehouse drinks and dishes the Friends enjoy, compiling all of this information into a several-hundred-page Friends “study journal,” which they have put online. Most Friends fanatics gather on a few Friends websites (Ruqi Lingfenyuan and Friends6 Movie and Television BBS). Even in the wee hours of the night, people online number in the thousands.
Fudan graduates Yang Mei, Li Jing, Li Caotao and two other friends are also living the Friends lifestyle. “Friends hasn’t made me lust to live my life abroad,” Li Caotao says, “But it makes me want to live my life like these young Americans in China.” This phenomenon, some say, is the result of pop culture’s influence – particularly the American influence of individuality and freedom. But Tsinghua University broadcasting professor Yin Hongze says that television and film culture simply don’t have that power of influence. China’s first batch of children born under the single-child policy have already grown up. This reality was born out of their desire to live in groups. As it turns out, film and television provide a perfect hint and reference to how they can do it. From here the culture takes rise.
Actually, to live this kind of life and get along with one another, especially for a group of mostly only children, is not without its difficulties. Once, Li Caotao didn’t understand how the American characters had so much time to spend with one another. Everyone in his group works very hard. Oftentimes, life isn’t any more exciting than watching the ripples in a teacup. They don’t have the time to sit in a coffee shop, as the Friends do, and encourage each other about life’s boundless opportunities.
Syracuse University’s public communications graduate student Han Geng points out that the Chinese youth’s imitation of the Friends life reflects a phenomenon where a weak culture draws close to imitate a strong culture. These youth consult Friends for things and using imitation, build up their lives based to reflect the conditions of such a life. But Friends originally only reflected one level of American society, one state of affairs. It cannot possibly be said that American life is like this. Clemson University’s communications professor Barbara Ramirez can’t help but find the crazed Chinese pursuit of the Friends life amusing. “Friends is great, Sex and the City is great, but after all, they’re types of fantasy programs meant to help viewers escape reality.”
Li Caotao now strongly agrees that reality and the show Friends have their differences. Living with this life’s entailed trivia has wasted a lot of his energy, and he often can’t avoid conflicts with the others. Yang Mei comes home in the wee hours of the night or the morning from her screenwriting (or playwriting?) job, Li Jing always forgets to run off the water heater at night, and another roommate often arises at the same time as Li Caotao, which results in a struggle for the restroom.
As Li Jing sees it, the reason the roommates can preserve their Friends lifestyle is because they have Yang Mei. She says: “Among the six in friends, not all of the people are cool with each other — just Rachel is always on good terms with the other five and maintains friendly relationships. She has a warm personality and can accommodate the others’ moods. Yang Mei is our Rachel.”
Yang Mei admits that although she has quite a few friends who envy her Friends life, “We are already a really lucky minority. We’re economically independent, and we don’t have any pressure from home.” Ge Chunyan finished her Friends life in 2005 because her parents bought her a flat. “My parents were really embarrassed. I will really cherish my Friends era,” Ge Chunyan says.
Han Gang expresses that although popular culture will add some novelty, some stylish ways of thinking to youth life, its time has been brief and its foundation is weak. Particularly for those living in a small environment among individual personalities it can produce a great influence.
Currently, Chinese youth continue to embrace this type of Friends culture, but China and the US indeed have a great cultural disparity, even if that appears to be changing. For example, recently in Shanghai an imitation Chinese show – called Friends no less—broadcast online. But according to PPLive, the show has never achieved a top-10 ranking. This indicates that American culture can’t be brought over wholesale and dropped down onto China – it lacks a societal foundation.
No matter how long the Friends lifestyle can maintain its popularity, Yang Mei and her roommates are currently still preserving their life together and even occasionally inviting other Friends fans over for pizza and a review of the second season.
我們是“老友”
以《老友记》为代表的美国电视剧从2000年开始以网络和盗版的方式登陆中国，瞬时间风靡了全国各地的大学校园。四川的葛春艳是第一批“搞研究”的《老友记》迷之一，她喜欢观察剧中主角的饮食爱好，Joey爱吃的三明治、Monica在冰箱储存的果酱种类她都能历数出来。2001年，在重庆大学的最后一个学期，葛春艳郑重其事地在学校的电子布告版上发布了一个帖子征询室友，明确要求需要是“喜欢《老友记》、也希望能像《老友记》一样生活的人。”葛春艳说，自己的帖子在当时算是很“超前”的，在学校里引起了不小的轰动，第二天就已经有好几十人回复了她的征询。最后她找到了志同道合的两男两女，五个“老友迷”开始了《老友记》生活。
时至今日，“老友迷”们在网络上建立了很多专门讨论美剧的博客和网站。有些美剧迷甚至把长达220多集的电视剧里出现的所有美国节日、提到的流行事件、常举行的聚会类型，甚至是咖啡馆不同的饮品和菜谱都一一记录下来，集结成数百页的“学习笔记”，放到网络上供“老友迷”们研究。几个热门美剧网站（如謦灵风软、Friends6影视论坛）都聚集着大量的美剧迷。即使在半夜的时段，在线人数也时常数以千计。
复旦大学毕业的杨梅、李静、李蔡韬和另外两个朋友也是这类“老友迷”的组合之一。李蔡韬说：“《老友记》并没有刺激我出国的欲望，但是它让我们有一种想在国内生活得像美国年轻人一样的想法。” 对于这个现象，有人说是流行文化，尤其是崇尚个人、自由的美国影像文化入侵中国而成的。但清华大学传播学教授尹鸿却认为，影视文化并没有那么大的影响力。中国第一批独生子女已经长大成人，这个现象正是他们对群体生活的渴求而产生的。影视作品只是恰好给了一个完美的暗示和参照，让年轻人知道“我们可以这么做”，从而在生活取向上引起共鸣。
事实上，这些生活在一起的室友，特别是他们由于多是来自独生子女的生活背景，怎么样在同一个屋檐下相处也不是无困难的。李蔡韬曾不明白《老友记》里的主角们哪里来的这么多美国时间每日耗在一起。每个人的工作都很辛苦，生活甚至还不如茶杯里的水更波澜起伏。像《老友记》里的主角悠闲地坐在咖啡馆里互相激励人生的机会更是绝无仅有。现实从来不像《老友记》般梦幻和美好。
在美国Syracuse大学研究公共交流课题的韩纲指出，中国年轻人效仿《老友记》的生活是弱势文化向强势文化靠拢的一种现象，他们找到了《老友记》作为参照物，利用模仿堆砌相似的生活状态。但是《老友记》本身只反应了美国生活的某一个层面、某一种状态，并不能说真实的美国生活就是这样的。美国Clemson大学的传播学教授Barbara Ramirez也对中国年轻人这种狂热追求《老友记》的生活方式有些哭笑不得。她指出，《老友记》也好，《欲望都市》也好，归根到底还是一种脱离现实的幻想情节。
李蔡韬现在对此深有同感，他自言在这种方式的生活细节磨合上很耗费精力，且也无法避免因为琐碎的事情而与其他人起冲突。杨梅的编导工作总是会拖三更半夜甚至清晨才到家，李静晚上从不记得关饮水机电源，而他自己总是和另一个室友袁路在早上起床的时段争抢使用卫生间。
韩纲表示，流行文化虽然将一些新的、时尚的想法带入了年轻人的生活当中，但时间相对很短暂，基础也很薄弱。尤其是住在一起的小环境氛围和各人的性格，也会产生很大的影响。
在李静眼中，能够维持《老友记》式的生活模式是因为杨梅的存在。她说：“在《老友记》里的六个人不是每个人和每个人都很好，只有Rachel一直和其他五个人维持着很友好的关系。她是一个性格温顺，很能迁就每个人情绪的人。杨梅就是我们的Rachel。”
杨梅承认，虽然她身边有不少朋友很羡慕她那《老友记》式的生活模式，但“我们几个毕竟是很幸运的少数。经济独立，也没有家庭的压力。”葛春艳在2005年结束了《老友记》的生活，因为父母为她购置了一间单人公寓。“父母都是好意。我会非常怀念这段《老友记》时光。”葛春艳说。
这种《老友记》的文化目前仍然很受中国年轻人的欢迎，但中国和美国确实有着很大的文化差异，且情况看来也在改变中。例如最近在上海有一部模仿《老友记》的本土网络剧，甚至连剧名也叫《老友记》。可是它在PPlive的收视排名并没有进入过前十名，这说明了把美国的一套生搬到中国来是缺乏社会根基的。
不管《老友记》的生活蓝本在中国能够流行到什么时候，杨梅和她的室友目前仍然维持着《老友记》的生活，并偶尔邀请其他“老友迷”到她们家，一边吃匹萨，一边回顾两集《老友记》。
Sidebar：
中国版“老友记”
杨梅: 经常半夜回来，总是心情紧张怕吵醒别人。
Yang Mei (Rachel): Often comes home late and always wakes people up with her nervousness and fear.
李静：其他人事业上很有奔头，跟别人比我压力挺大的。
Li Jing: Others are doing better at work, are busier and have more pressure.
李蔡韬： 早上抢占洗手间，真是跟战斗一样。
Li Caotao: Takes over the bathroom in the morning. It’s just like a battle.
袁路：他们喜欢打麻将，有时候真是吵得我头都大。
Yu Lu: Likes to play majiang. Sometimes argumenative.
吴悠：工作太忙，很少能互相关怀、互相支持。
Wu Xiu: Busy at work, rarely time to take care for or encourage others.
翟辉：每个人总想打探别人的收入又不想暴露自己挣多少。
Zhai Hui: Always trying to figure out how much money everyone else makes, but unwilling to reveal his own salary.
—夏萌
–Phoebe Xia
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