“Gilmore Girls”, “Friends”… Series from the 1990s and 2000s, a refuge for millennials?

In October, the American version of Marie Claire magazine published a list of thirty heartwarming shows, also called «comfort shows». Among them, we find more or less recent series, a good number of which were launched on television during the 1990s-2000s, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends, Sex and the City or even Gilmore Girlsthe cozy series par excellence. In 2023, Netflix recorded 500 million hours of viewing of the latter over just six months.

An undeniable attraction for these series

Nostalgia for the 1990s and 2000s has invaded us for several years now, with a return of fanny packs, crop tops, unsubtle blonde highlights or François Bayrou in government. But the fascination with this period of our lives goes well beyond and to better immerse themselves in it, some people are starting to watch series from the period again.

“There was a real shift in society after the 2000s, with technological acceleration, explains Vanessa Lalo, psychologist specializing in digital practices and their impact. There were no cell phones yet in these series, or the big ones from the beginning. It’s a comforting “world before”, where we were still in a certain simplicity of connections, even if far from me the idea of ​​saying that it was better before.”

The series, which were fewer in number at the time, were real generational markers. “We rewatched the same films and series over and over again. We were raised with these characters, who almost became friends, continues the thirty-year-old psychologist. We used to have them in our living room once a week, we almost wanted to text Ross and say “Get back with Rachel!”. This is the notion of a parasocial relationship: a relationship with someone who has no relationship with us.” Seeing and seeing these characters again remains comforting and reassuring, taking us back to a time that seemed less anxiety-provoking.

Cognitive dissonance?

When we see these again comfort showsit is impossible to miss certain comments that have aged poorly, even though they were not necessarily noted at the time of their initial broadcast. Homophobia, racism, sexism, slut-shaming and fatphobia were commonplace then.

“We can choose to take this at face value and boycott what no longer meets today's social standards, or we can put these series in the context of their time, suggests Vanessa Lalo. This allows us to re-examine certain subjects, and the inclusion that we have gradually put in place.”

“In Friendsthere is fatphobia and a great lack of diversity, but it remains a series from the 1990s which talked about condoms, gay and lesbian couples, assisted reproduction, surrogate mothers, divorces, continues the psychologist. It had the merit of evoking a lot of subjects that no other medium spoke about, it should not have been so easy to focus on these minorities and these social situations. You can't watch a film or a series without putting yourself in the historical context.

Clément Combes, sociologist of media and television series, notes that these programs are watched in particular by so-called conscious audiences –“to Frenchify the term woke, which has now become overused». «We can fundamentally disagree with the racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, fatphobia conveyed by these old series, while still appreciating them.estimates the sociologist. Like Vanessa Lalo, he notices that these comfort shows are placed in the context of their time and their problematic aspects are put at a critical distance. Except for another part of the viewers, who still do not find these comments problematic.

What about staying focused on the past? Could this be a problem? “I don’t see any problem there, reacts the psychologist. The public who watches these series is also fond of new Netflix programs, I don't know anyone who only continues to watch old shows. These are series that we watch a little without watching, we rather listen to them, like the audio cassettes of stories that we listened to constantly as children to comfort ourselves. The scenes are reassuring because we know them by heart, it’s regressive.”

A beneficial refuge for our mind?

“Series, characterized above all by their intimate and domestic consumption, can have a comforting side, notes Clément Combes. We find a universe, companion characters who are familiar and sympathetic to us, and who evoke a more carefree period of our youth, whether real or fantasized. It can feel good and help you recharge your batteries.”

For Vanessa Lalo also, this comforting aspect is a reality. “These series immerse us in a context that feels good, that takes us out of the heaviness of anxiety-provoking everyday life, it’s a kind of comfort blanket to relieve anxiety. For some people, a small episode of Friends and here we go again!”

In others, the comfort shows of our youth, however, do not have this beneficial effect. The psychologist notes that viewing them can also cause pathological mourning for a society that no longer exists, which leads us to face permanent anxiety. The glorification of the group of friends in this type of series can also lead to painful comparisons.

“We are sold friendship forever, groups of close-knit friends, this is not necessarily the case today. We must also not stick too closely to what we can be shown, it remains fiction.” Our way of understanding these broadcasts from thirty years ago – reassuring, or generating anxiety – would therefore depend on our own flaws, and on what we seek to fill in our lives.