Why are we culturally obsessed with the idea of four women being friends?

[Anonymous]

I was just watching an episode of Sex Lives of College Girls (good show, I especially think Pauline Chalamet is very funny) and it suddenly struck me that there are a bizarre number of stories about four girls or women, with different interests and personalities, being friends. Sex and the City, Girls, Girlfriends, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... are there more?

Why is this trope so appealing to people? Why four? Is it just a useful storytelling trope or is there something about this dynamic that people think is an idealized female friendship?

[Anonymous]

I think a tight group of four is common. Three is always a tricky dynamic. You get more storylines with a group of four than just two best friends. IDK it doesn’t seem particularly weird or obsessive to me.

[Anonymous]

It's just the right number of protagonists to create enough tension and interest that can be resolved in the length of a TV series or movie.

[Anonymous]

You get more storylines that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's just the right number of protagonists to create enough tension and interest that can be resolved in the length of a TV series or movie.

Agreed. That way you can have 4 different personalities as well. There's more chances for the audience to relate to a character

[Anonymous]

Golden Girls

[Anonymous]

You could pick 2,3, or 4, and come up with examples to support. But 4 does give you more storylines.

[Anonymous]

Designing Women

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could pick 2,3, or 4, and come up with examples to support. But 4 does give you more storylines.

+1. Four is a good number. You see it with groups of male or mixed gender friends too. Jerry, Kramer, Elaine and George. Mac, Dee, Dennis, and Charlie. Hank, Dale, Boomhauer, and Bill. There's four Ghostbusters, four Ninja Turtles, etc.

[Anonymous]

Girls5Eva had four members of the washed up girls band as one passed away prematurely.

Agree with PPs as to why that works.

Still even with 4 women characters you need great writers and actors to pull it off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could pick 2,3, or 4, and come up with examples to support. But 4 does give you more storylines.

+1. Four is a good number. You see it with groups of male or mixed gender friends too. Jerry, Kramer, Elaine and George. Mac, Dee, Dennis, and Charlie. Hank, Dale, Boomhauer, and Bill. There's four Ghostbusters, four Ninja Turtles, etc.

Seeing "Hank, Dale, Boomhauer, and Bill" turn up out of the blue like this makes my day. Time to find "King of the Hill" somehow and watch some episodes.

And you're right, four seems to be a magic number for storytelling.

I'll add:

Girlfriends (early 2000s sitcom with Tracee Ellis Ross -- four women friends)

The Buccaneeers (remade several times; four American women in 1870s England)

Once you start to think about examples, there seem to be so many.

[Anonymous]

Seinfeld

[Anonymous]

Counterpoint: Friends.

[Anonymous]

A friend group of three is unstable and triggering to too many women who’ve been burned in this arrangement. It never works.

A pair probably doesn’t provide enough storylines and five feels like too many main characters to keep track of.