Your love life’s D.O.A.

In a fit of frustration last week, I made an announcement to several of my guy friends.

“Men are dumb. I’m going to marry Chandler Bing.”

Most of the guys quickly reminded me that Chandler Bing is fictional, but one of these friends took a different approach.

“Yes we are, and Chandler Bing is no exception.”

So maybe Chandler is too old for me and we would be “unequally yoked,” but he does represent an appealling “type” of man. Chandler cracks me up – I love his dry, sarcastic sense of humor. He’s manly, and as the show progressed, he learned how to dress better. (The early seasons with those sweater vests kill me. Yuck yuck yuck!) But in contrast to all of his sardonic ways, he adores Monica. He loves her despite her annoying idiosyncrasies.

“I’m sorry. You’re not easy-going, but you’re passionate, and that’s good. And when you get upset about the little things, I think that I’m pretty good about making you feel better about that. And that’s good too. So, they can say that you’re high maintenance, but it’s okay, because I like … maintaining you.”

Though he’s the “cast clown,” he also has really sweet moments. I’m going to miss my imaginary (non-Jesus-loving, too-old-for-me) Friend. Where will my generation turn for mindless (but oddly insightful) definition?

“The main problem with mass media is that it makes it impossible to fall in love with any acumen of normalcy. There is no ‘normal,’ because everybody is being twisted by the same sources simultaneously. You can’t compare your relationship with the playful couple who lives next door, because they’re probably modeling themselves after Chandler Bing and Monica Geller.” –Chuck Klosterman

10 thoughts on “Your love life’s D.O.A.

  1. Two things. 🙂

    1) I think that the show has done a really good portrayal of how both Monica and Chandler have both adjusted to each other, rather than just Chandler adjusting to Monica. I think there’s a difference between “You just have to accept me for who I am”, and “I love you for accepting me as I am…in fact, I love you to the degree that I want to be able to work with you and change things that might need changing.” I think the writers have done a good job of showing how both characters have let marriage change them. (Remember how anti-romance Chandler was before Monica? Remember how much MORE annoying Monica was before Chandler?)

    2) Hey, those sweater vests were cool in 1994! I’m more appauled at Rachel and Monica’s outfits back then. “Whoooa honey, you should not be wearing those high-waisted white shorts with black flats and a vest!”

    😀

  2. If you like dry humour, then you need to marry an Australian! Unfortunately Russel Crowe & Eric Bana are both taken, but Heath Ledger is still not married.
    Dude. I think you have misread the Bing situation. It is not all about findint someone who loves everything about you (those high maintenance issues included) it is about finding someone who loves the Lord first & then loving them the best you can and you will find a guy who wants to love you more in turn (you both grow and change). I promise you, if you chase a guy who is going to treat you like a princess straight off the bat, you will find a guy who is driven by flattery rather than substance & it might feel nice, it is death to growth as an individual.

  3. Mic – I don’t notice Monica’s changes as much because I AM annoying like Monica. 🙂
    Tim – Trust me, I don’t want a guy who will just fall down and treat me like a princess. I’ve dated & hung out with those guys before, and they drive me CRAZY. I think you totally misread me there.

  4. dang, i think chandler is only like 31. how is that too old for you? i guess i am robbing the old folks home with luke. lol.

  5. I wanna find my Chandler…posting a blog on Myspace about what I think is a Chandler…and his qualities are top on it…

  6. Valentine’s day hangover. And Star World does a marathon show of Chandler and Monica’s love story. Just after watching The Final Episode, after two days and thirty two episodes, unable to get rid of that feeling of emptiness after the six of them walk out of the apartment, with Chandler pushing the trolley cradling Erica and Jack, I searched WordPress for “Chandler Bing.” I am 23 and from India. I agree with you there. The Klosterman quote. And I am sorry for posting this absurd comment on a very old post. Just did not feel like leaving this space without having said anything. I so hate Marta Kauffman and David Crane to have ended the saga. But like all good things, it has to come to an end. And I find it funny to hear myself saying this 5 years after the last episode. Back then, I did not know about Friends. I would have loved to have grown up watching it. There is no other story like this. You know, all said and done, there is not one guy out there who does not try to imitate Chandler Bing in some way or the other after watching Friends. Although fictional, I think, he is the best guy a girl can get. It’s like if that world around the Central Park was a parallel universe, I would trade all my wealth to get there and live those ten years in that neighbourhood in Manhattan.

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