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International Communication Gazette
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(Dis)similar Readings

Indian and American Audiences’ Interpretation of Friends

Ketan S. Chitnis

Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University, ketanc{at}lsu.edu

Avinash Thombre

Department of Speech Communication, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, axthombre{at}ualr.edu

(late) Everett M. Rogers

Arvind Singhal

School of Communication Studies, Ohio University, singhal{at}ohio.edu

Ami Sengupta

School of Communication Studies, Ohio University, as260903{at}ohio.edu

The present article compares Indian and American audiences’ interpretations of the Hollywood sitcom Friends. The article is guided by Olson’s narrative transparency theory, which posits transparency as ‘the capability of certain texts to seem familiar regardless of their origin, to seem a part of one’s own culture, even though they have been crafted elsewhere’. Thirty-seven regular viewers of Friends in India and 35 from the US were interviewed personally and in focus groups. Indian viewers questioned the truth-value of the content to conclude that Friends portrayed a universal American culture that is completely different from an Indian standpoint. These interpretations made the media text opaque, and the Indian audience members rejected the safe sex message discussed in the episode studied. The American audience found Friends overly exaggerated, but safe sex and sexuality messages somewhat more culturally proximate.

Key Words: Friends • India • narrative transparency theory • safe sex messages • sitcom • television • United States

International Communication Gazette, Vol. 68, No. 2, 131-145 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1748048506062229
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