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PSYC2301 - Chandler Bing

PSYC2301 - Chandler Bing

By Melissa White

Biography
Chandler Muriel Bing is a ctional character on the NBC sitcom Friends, played by actor Matthew Perry. Living in
New York City with his ve friends, Chandler worked for years at a large corporation as an executive in statistical
analysis and data reconguration before later quitting his job to work in advertising. He eventually marries Monica
Geller, the sister of his college roommate, Ross. They adopt twins Jack and Erica and move to the suburbs to start
their family.
Chandler is the son of the famous erotic novelist Nora Bing and Vegas cross-dresser star Charles Bing, who
divorced when he was young. His mother visited occasionally, such as during the New York stop on a tour for her
latest book and later for Chandler and Monica's wedding. Chandler did not have much contact with his father for
much of his adult life, embarrassed at his choice of careerswhich made his childhood miserableuntil Monica
persuaded him to go to Vegas to invite his father to their upcoming wedding. Chandlers best friend is Joey
Tribbiani, who he met when searching for a roommate for his apartment. He also had an on-off relationship with
nasal-voiced Janice Hosenstein before ending up with Monica, and this ex-girlfriend reappears constantly in his
life, often to his dismay. Chandler is perhaps best known for his sarcastic sense of humor. He is often making
jokes that serve to annoy rather than amuse his friends, and escaping uncomfortable situations with humor. This
mocking is often turned against him, however, with the reoccurring questions of his sexuality and the fact that no
one actually knows what he does at work.

Psychoanalytic Perspective
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Chandlers childhood experiences would have had a huge role in determining his personality: he grew up with a
mother who did not hide her sexuality (and even bought Chandler his rst condoms), and a cross-dressing father
who pursued young, blonde men. His parents divorced when Chandler was young because of his fathers affair
with a young boy who worked in the house, and since then he has used humor to evade awkward situations.
In the case of the psychosexual stages of development, Chandler appears to be xated at the anal stage. His
constant jokes and often bawdy humor suggest an anal-expulsive tendency, with bathroom humor and making
messes two of the key indicators of this stages xation (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). The second is also true of
Chandlerhe often gets himself or others in trouble due to something he has said, such as accidentally revealing
to his friend Rachel that Ross is actually in love with her. This can also be seen as a Freudian slip, a verbal or
written mistake that reveals something about the unconscious of a person (Friedman & Schustack, 2009, p. 68).
Chandler, who is often unlucky with relationships, could be jealous of Ross for nding a person he truly loves, and
thus, without realizing it, aims to spoil the moment in which Ross would reveal this feelings to Rachel.
Freud would see Chandlers use of humor as an example of a defense mechanism, a means for his ego to protect
itself through a distortion of reality (Friedman & Schustack, 2009, p. 77). His jokes, which he acknowledges to use
when he is uncomfortable (Bright, K.), could be interpreted as denialhe shifts the focus of the stimuli that is
producing anxiety away, replacing it with humor to distract from the situation. He refuses to acknowledge what is
making him uncomfortable, thus protecting himself from this discomfort.

Neo-Analytic/Ego Perspective
The Neo-analytic/Ego Perspectives focus on identity, self-esteem, and social inuences are key in analyzing
Chandlers personality in terms of his continuous self-deprecation and insecurity. This perspective looks more at
social inuences on behavior, which is important when studying a person who is dened mostly by his
relationships with othersChandlers friends, romantic interests, and family play a large role in showing the
different aspects of his personality, and so it is useful to focus on more than just the unconscious.
Carl Jung would see the quality (Bright, K.) Chandlers friends say he possess, that makes them doubt his
sexuality, as the anima archetype. This archetype is the feminine side of a man, or the idea that every man knows
what it is like to be a female (Friedman & Schustack, 2009, p. 114). Jung would also see that Chandlers
personality as a child did not have to remain the same as he grewindeed, Chandler shows maturity throughout
the years of Friends, growing from someone who took very little seriously into a loving father and husband.
Chandler often uses humor that expresses views of his own incompetence and personal failures, which Alfred
Adler might interpret as an inferiority complex. Chandler often seems to expect failure, and as such not even try to
achieve a goal. Especially in terms of relationships, he tends to compare himself to his popular roommate, Joey,
who is often on dates with random, attractive womenwhich has helped lead to Chandler developing an inferiority
complex. In terms of the fundamental social issues Adler says a person experiences in their life, Chandler has the
most success at societal tasks such as building friendships. He has a close group of friends, is still close to his
roommate from college, and has suitable social networks. However, Chandler originally did not have as much
success in occupational taskswhile he was working at the large corporation in statistics and data reconguration,
a career that did not make him feel worthwhile. It was a mindless, demeaning job where the results did not hold
much importance and none of his friends could even be bothered to remember what he actually did. But when he
quits this job after being forced into a transfer to Oklahoma that separates him from his new wife, Monica,
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Chandler is able to break into advertising and nally feel that he has a worthwhile career. He also starts off poorly
in handling his love task of nding a suitable romantic partner, dating here and therewhile being overly-critical of
the women he metuntil he starts to fear growing old alone. He eventually nds his life-partner in Monica and thus
nds a meaningful relationship and completes this task.
Karen Horneys neurotic coping styles have application in the analysis of Chandlers personality as well. His most
salient coping strategy would be his jokes, which could be interpreted as either moving toward people, or in
contrast moving away from people. If he is telling these jokes to get a laugh out of the people around him, he is
exhibiting the moving toward people coping strategy, trying to hide his feelings of unworthiness from others by
making them happy in order to earn their love. On the other hand, if these jokes are usedas is more common
to disguise discomfort and avoid getting too close to a person, his coping strategy is more consistent with moving
away from people: he uses the humor to withdraw from any emotional attachment to avoid getting hurt in
interpersonal relationships.
Erik Erikson would view Chandler most likely as somewhere in between the stages of intimacy vs. isolation and
generativity vs. stagnation. As a new husband and father, Chandler is learning to connect with his wife and infants
on a more intimate levelmore of a challenge for someone used to independence and less emotional investment.
He is also in a job transition from a job that provided a steady paycheck but did not do much in terms of giving
back to society. He struggles to nd a purpose that makes his work worthwhile.

Discussion
Chandler Bing is an interesting character to study. It is clear that many of his childhood experiences had the
potential to shape his personality and relationships, perhaps simply because of the sheer humiliation his parents,
apparently unknowingly, put him through. His subsequent retreat behind humor has become something of his
trademark, however it may occasionally annoy those around him. His jokes may make him appear a bit insensitive
at times, but it is clear that Chandler has his momentsfrom his defense of his wife Monica as a mother without a
baby (Bright, K.) to his years supporting his struggling-actor roommate Joey without really expecting any
repaymentthat show he is a caring person at heart, who just may not always show it for fear of being rejected or
ridiculed.

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References
Friedman, H & Schustack, M. (2009). Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research. Jefferson City, MO:
Library of Congress Cataloging.
Chandler Bing. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandler_Bing
Bright, K., Kauffmann, M., & Crane, D. (2000). The One With the Proposal: Part One [Television series episode]. In
Friends. Burbank: NBC.
Bright, K., Kauffmann, M., & Crane, D. (1994). The One Where Nana Dies Twice [Television series episode]. In
Friends. Burbank: NBC.
Bright, K., Kauffmann, M., & Crane, D. (2004). The One With the Birth Mother [Television series episode]. In
Friends. Burbank: NBC.

Response-Bruce Bates
BruceBates Apr 25, 2010
Response to: Chandler Bing, by Melissa White
~Bruce Bates
Chandler Bing, like every character on Friends, has a well-rounded personality with one unique mannerism or
characteristic that makes for hilarious comical moments in the show. As there are so many examples of his
behavior over the ten-year span of the series, I will attempt to critique the assessment of his personality in relation
to the scene that, personally, comes to mind to exemplify Chandler. In one Thanksgiving Day episode, Chandler is
abstaining from the celebration because his parents told him they were getting divorced when he was eleven years
oldon Thanksgivingwith a mouthful of turkey and mashed potatoes. Chandler takes delight in all of his friends
Thanksgiving plans falling apart through the episode. His comments are highly comical as each friend suffers
misfortune, but when everyone is miserable but together he makes a heartfelt toast that brings everyone together.
This scene supports the Freudian interpretation presented; his humor is denitely a defense mechanism in
awkward or uncertain situations. Chandlers humor is so ingrained that he uses it whenever possible to relate to
people, so I would argue that his humor is also benecial to his ego development. This was not mentioned in the
Psychoanalytic analysis but was alluded to in the Neo-analytic analysis, where his humor is shown to enable
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moving toward others. Personally, I would say that Chandlers humor creates his reality rather than alter it via an
ego defense mechanism.
My only other critique of the assessment of Chandler Bings personality is that there is not enough emphasis on
his development over the course of the Friends series. The early seasons use his humor to paint the picture of a
more cynical and aggressive personality. The later seasons he is more the butt of jokes, his humor is almost
exclusively self-deprecating. I do, however, agree that Chandler is in the later stages of ego development,
according to Erik Erikson. Perhaps Chandlers nding happiness with Monica pushed him from the intimacy vs.
isolation stage into the stagnation vs. generativity stage. This change in life stage is reected in his dening
character trait; humor.

Response- Anita Laven

anita.laven Apr 21, 2010
Melissa does a great job in analyzing Chandler Bing. Both perspectives used to analyze Chandler, the neoanalytic/ego perspective and the psychoanalytic perspective are accurate in assessing Chandlers personality.
I agree that Chandler uses his humor and sarcasm as a defense mechanism. Chandler would much rather criticize
others in order to mask his own insecurities than address them. In addition, I also agree with Melissas point that
Chandler has a quality that make everyone around him question his sexuality. There are several episodes
throughout the series in which various characters admit they thought Chandler was gay upon meeting him for the
rst time. In several interviews, the creators even say that initially, Chandler was going to be the gay character of
the show.
While I do agree that Chandler is xated at the anal stage due to his bathroom humor, one can also argue that
Chandler is in the genital stage. The genital staged is described as the Freudian stage of psychosexual
development beginning at adolescence in which attention is turned toward heterosexual relations (Friedman &
Schustack, 75). Throughout the Friendss series, Chandler is looking for a girlfriend. He dates an annoying woman
named Janice on-and-off for several years because he is so desperate for a relationship. Following Janice,
Chandler nearly ruins a friendship with his best friend and roommate, Joey Tribbiani, by kissing Joeys thengirlfriend, Kathy. Joey eventually forgives Chandler and Chandler dates Kathy for only a short-while before Kathy
breaks up with him for being too jealous. To get over Kathy, Chandler goes out on a date with Janice. By now,
Chandler has realized how annoying Janice is and doesnt go out with her again. Shortly after this, Chandler
sleeps with Monica and eventually the two move in together, get married and adopt a set of twins. Throughout the
series, Chandler is constantly looking for a relationship. It is not until Chandler begins to fall in love with Monica
that he has completed the genital stage.
This analysis clearly identies key characteristics of Chandlers personality. Melissa did a good job of picking
examples that justied the points she made in her analysis. Both perspectives were detailed with supporting
evidence.

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