The Character of Phoebe Buffay
Continuing our streak of Friend‘ character analysis pieces, next in line is everyone’s favorite weirdo — Phoebe Buffay. Full of colors and mysteries, Phoebe is probably one of the most difficult TV character to attempt and analyse — because of her inconsistent personality — but attempt we shall.
Peeling the onion — her past?
Very little is consistently known about Phoebe’s past. Besides the fact that she somehow learned French, guitar, and lived in a bunch of different countries, we can very carefully deduct a timeline of Phoebe’s life by interpreting the few clues she’s dropped during the show’s run.
Phoebe lived with her mother and her step-father. When she was 14, her mother kills herself, her step-father goes to jail, and she goes to live on the streets of New York. At some point, she moves in with Monica; after that, with her grandma. Phoebe later learns that her mother was not in fact her mother, but rather her adopted mother, and her biological mother is alive and well. She also reconnect with her long-lost father, Frank, and forms a relationships with her step-brother, Frank Junior. Phoebe also has a twin sister, Ursula, from her biological mother and Frank.
Complicated and messy. Just as she is.
Phoebe’s attitude and outlook on life should serve as example for someone who’s been through what she’s been through. She’s lived on the streets, she’s lost parents, she’s found parents — that’s enough to push anyone into a rotten reality.
In fact, Phoebe’s sister, Ursula, is a beautiful example of what Phoebe could have been. A mean human being, a liar, someone who’s been so broken by life and by what their reality has been that they have turned to desperate measures to try and turn everything around for themselves. Someone who has acted mean and tough for so long, who has faked so much, that eventually — everything fake becomes real; Ursula became what she was pretending to be, just because she was pretending for so long.
Fortunately, and very surprisingly, that’s not the case for Phoebe.
Why?
Two theories. Key word — theories. We can dive deep as much as we want, but this is one of those things that may not have rational reasoning behind it. So, our first theory — it’s just who Phoebe Buffay is. Nature vs. nurture, if you will — Ursula was nurtured into becoming who she was, but Phoebe is just naturally a more positive and kind human being.
Our second theory — art.
Art may have well been Phoebe’s gate to internal paradise. Because in her core, beneath everything else, Phoebe is an artist — a colorful one, an expressive one, and an experimental one. Maybe it was her love for art that saved her. Maybe, when she was on the street and when her family was gone, it was music and paining that kept her internal light alive.
Because Phoebe Buffay still keeps that light alive. She never really tries to go for any big career; she is happy where she is because she is creating what she wants to be creating and that is enough for her; being a masseur is enough because it provides her with the opportunity to make music and paint; and that is plenty.
The spicy ingredient.
As Rachel says, Phoebe is naturally inclined to be thought of as the ‘odd one out’. She has no past connections, she lives far away — she fits right out. And yet, Mrs. Buffay is very much needed in the Central Perk group. She is the mysterious, spicy ingredient and maybe, indeed, the puppet-master.
Because it is true — Phoebe does have very significant control over the group, even though many don’t realize it. She often makes others reveal things about themselves, understand things about themselves, and pushes them to go and do that one thing that they wouldn’t have been able to do without her. Phoebe is a lot smarter than she shows — and a lot more manipulative, in a good way.
And she finds ultimate happiness.
Mike Hannigan. We finish this one off as all of our Friends‘ character analysis pieces — by talking about love. In the end, Phoebe is happier than ever because she finds love. She finds Mike, someone who is there for her and who loves her not in spite of all her quirks, but because of them.
Phoebe Buffay —
A character who has been through a lot. Someone who’s lived on the street, struggled, lost and gained and lost and gained; someone who remains positive and happy in the darkest of times; an artist; someone who helps people and makes them better without them even knowing; someone with love. Someone who, in spite of everything, has the strength to pursue, and find, happiness.
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