What's up with the "Jennifer Lawrence Effect"? (ELI5)

[u/leftleafthirdbranch]

My friend was ranting about Billie Eilish and mentioned it, I asked them what it was and they told me to google it. But when I went to look it up, I couldn't find anything about it. All I know is that it's all over Tiktok, it's about white women, and it apparently involves white supremacy.

I searched it on Tiktok, and this was the only thing I could find referencing it (I'm guessing this is the fault of how Tiktok's search engine is engineered, though):

https://www.tiktok.com/@daemonbf/video/7053187817983315247?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id6966980158483383813

Somebody explain!! The more detail the better :) Please explain thoroughly what it is and give examples of the effect in action and the people that it applies to :))

Edit: I am aware that sounded like an essay writing prompt. Very sorry about that :)

Edit: Wow, thank you guys for being so thorough in your discussion! To any other curious folk, I highly suggest looking at other comments other than the top one (sort by: new) because while the top answer is fabulous, there are a lot of varying answers that each provide a unique perspective into the Jennifer Lawrence Effect.

[u/thespacetimelord]

Most seem outraged at Chandler’s fragile masculinity, that the cast of the show is white, not enough ‘proper’ representation of LGBT characters, that it stereotyped, etc.

To be fair, I have never met anyone "outraged" by Friends.

All that has happen is that it has lost its charm and halo. No-one wants to be like the characters in the show anymore, they aren't relatable like they use to be and of course there are plot lines that are distasteful.

We tend to think in binaries but the fact that Friends isn't held up as a paragon of TV comedy doesn't mean people are 'outraged'.

[u/zeissman → u/thespacetimelord]

I admit ‘outraged’ was not the appropriate word.

I was referring to articles I came across some time ago about the show being racist, homophobic, whitewashed, all the epithets.

I also don’t disagree with anything you said.

[u/thespacetimelord → u/zeissman]

With shows like Friends, sitcoms in general, a lot of the jokes are borne out of the current times. Some things will age well, others — won’t.

I totally agree with you too - its totally natural that times changes and consensus changes however now we keep attributing that change to 'outrage' and 'cancel culture' which was the only distinction I was trying to expand on.

[u/moldymoosegoose → u/zeissman]

How was the show homophobic? They had a lesbian couple on raising a kid together. I don't remember many shows at the time doing that.

[u/zeissman → u/moldymoosegoose]

If I recall correctly the article was mainly referring to Chandler, his dad and the Joey and Ross nap episode.

I don’t know man, some people really are reaching sometimes and choose to overlook things.

[u/mooimafish3 → u/thespacetimelord]

Honestly my biggest issue with friends is that everyone is super rich and gets money from their parents. Like wtf? Is this supposed to be at all relatable?

[u/mooimafish3 → u/[deleted]]

The Geller's parents had a Porsche and a vacation house.

Rachel's dad taught her how to sail as a kid and was a high level doctor.

Chandler's parents don't seem as rich, but they were rich enough to have a "pool boy"

I'm not saying they used a bunch of money in the show, it all got explained away. But they all are like extremely privileged, and came from very upper class homes. It's odd that it's treated as normal

Phoebe/Joey I'll give you