1. Introduction
Family Guy was created in 1999. It aired on FOX right after the Super Bowl, probably a way to make the FOX brand stronger and a lot has changed to now, 2018 about what is and is not expected and how we can act and treat different people. What was deemed as ok then is often not deemed as ok not. I will look into their relationship with the FCC, since they have had their fair share of issues with the FCC, from pushing the envelope, to being banned on air.
I will also look at advertisers and if they have had issues with Family Guy and who the advertisers are and who they often are catering to.
-Does Family Guy reinforce white, hegemonic, middle class America or do they subvert white American, middle class America?
-Family Guy has a history of making fun of different cultures and kinds of people, whether they are abled or disabled. The show takes place in a middle class, white town in Quahog, Rhode Island with Peter being the typical white American male, Lois being a stay at home mom with a Boston accent and is a piano teacher, Chris and Meg being teenagers and having many teenage problems, an alcoholic dog and a crazy baby.
Some people find the show to be incredibly offensive and reinforced white, hegemonic middle class America and some people say thy they subvert white, hegemonic, middle class America.
2. Literature Review
-The first scholarly source I am looking at is “Funny Or Harmful? Derogatory Speech on Fox’s Family Guy” which talks the history of the show to now and all of the issues the show has had.
This is interesting because it has different perspectives on the show and it talks about everything. They look at those who often make the derogatory speeches and if it is a coincidence of not. They talk about the issues Fox’s Family Guy has had with profanity and the culture that they have created.
-The second scholarly source that I am look in at is “All The Things That Make Us Laugh And Cry: Family Guy and When Sitcoms Kill” which talks about Brian being relatable. He drinks a lot and his issues are well documented in the show and many people can see some of the problem’s that they have to go through day to day. This is similar to the Gray and Lots articles where they talk about television being low class since the characters are relatable and we see eye to eye with the characters.
-The third scholarly source is “One-Man Crusade Target’s Fox Family Guy” which talks about one guy getting a lot of attention because this is specific audience that does not like the show.
-The first trade journal I looked at is the Los Angelos Times which has an article “Is ‘Family Guy’ creator Seth MacFarlne taunting the FCC?” which talks about them making fun of the FCC and people having a problem with it.
-The second trade journal I looked at was arstecnica and their article “Did Family Guy cause 179,997 indecency complaints?” which talks about the issue they have had with the FCC also and how it sets a bad example for kids.
-All of these articles talks about the industries and texts and talks about weather Family Guy does indeed reinforce white, hegemonic, middle class American culture or if they actually subvert white, hegemonic, middle class American culture.
3. Method
-I will look at Family Guy first season, right when they aired the show in 1999 right after the Super Bowl their first and last season from Season 1 to Season 16 the first and most recent fully aired season and compare and contrast them and what aspects of the plot are similar and where they may differ.
– I will look at issues that the FCC has had with them. I will analyze trade journals such and what happened when they got taken off the air. I will see if Seth McFarland cares about the issues they have had.
4. Analysis
-I looked at the plot of Family Guy and how that changes from the first season to the most recent season of Family Guy. I looked, primarily what they say and how they say things and treat people. What specific stereotypes are there in the seasons and write down what surprises me about the episodes especially I am interested to see how the most recent season has changed and is it more sitcom and cartoonish or has it changed with some of the issues the show has created.
-I will look in the FCC how many violations are there and how close have they came to violating the FCC Code.
-I will look at what happened when Family Guy got taken off the air and what happened. What made them get back on air?
5. Analysis
-The first episode starts out with Peter doing what he often does which is promise his wife Lois that he will not drink when he goes to a bachelor party. Peter gets home and passes out which the rest of their family finds out the next day. He falls asleep at a toy store that he works at and his workplace gets rid of him. He does not want to tell Lois and Brian helps him out. Brian s smart enough to trick the government into giving the Griffin’s money and after living well Lois becomes very suspicious and forces him to give the money back to the government since she believes what he did what unethical. Peter is incredibly dumb in the show and has trouble thinking on his feet. The people in the show are almost all white. Peter buys the statue of David for no reason. Chris is dumb and has trouble keeping the secret. Peter has trouble saying fajitas which can show they are not familiar with other cultures. Peter treats Lois as though she is not equal to him and that shows how Family Guy is pro masculinity.
-The last episode of season of Season 1 is Portrait of a Dog when there is a heatwave is Quahog, Rhode Island and Peter finds out there is a prize of 500 dollars for the winner and Brian does not want to comply with Peter being the stereotypical dog. Peter insists that Brian must behave and Brian refuses to which starts a disconnect.
-The first Episode in Season 16, the Griffin’s are watching TV together and Peter gets frustrated that Family Guy has not won an Emmy. As a result, they start mocking others characters in Modern Family and making fun of other TV shows. This is an episode where you could make the case that Family Guy is low class since they are acknowledging this is not reality and this is a show and there may be something behind never winning an Emmy. Once they face the reality and hear the criticism from others about their issues in the show, the Griffin’s come to the conclusion there are too many problems with their show to win an Emmy.
-The last episode of Season 16 is Are You There God, It me Peter begins with Peter watching TV repeatedly for a weekend and then he ends up later getting in an elevator with God. HE has lots of complaints to God, such as the elevator takes way too long in Peter’s mind and he has an issue with that. God reminds Peter about all of his problems and that he does more bad than good. Peter comes to tell the Griffin’s that he has that problem to his family.
-One trade journal, ArsTechnica says that Family Guy caused 179,997 indecency complaints in March of 2009. They believe not enough people are taking action for what goes on during a Sunday night when kids can be watching TV.
-From the Los Angelos Times, there is an article “Is ‘Family Guy’ creator Seth McFarlane taunting the FCC?” where they accuse Family Guy’s 150th Episode featuring Stewie and Brian primarily with vomit as indecent. The last two sentences of the Los Aneglos Times article “Is ‘Family Guy’ creator Seth McFarlane taunting the FCC?” they say: “A Fox spokesman had no comment. MacFarlane could not be immediately reached for comment.” That shows to me that it does not matter what they put on Family Guy and there may be some issues with groups and advertisers but they believe their shows positives outweigh their negatives.
-“In the structure of “Family Guy” the use of derogatory speech allows for a social structure where unequal treatment of individuals is permissible. In the show’s context, the repetitive use of derogatory speech is not only ritualized but it is funny and has no consequence.” (pg. 121-122)
-They continuously push the envelope such as according to “Funny or Harmful: Derogatory Speech on Fox’s Family Guy” in the 6,030 scene they looked at there were derogatory messages in 553 which ends up being 9.2 percent of scenes have derogatory messages. (pg. 126)
-Their issues with advertiser in “One Man’s Crusade Target’s Fox Family Guy” talks about how they are on air when kids ware watching TV and they say “because it is not consistent with our values as a company.” He also says “He has written to more than 20 marketers asking them not to advertise on the show, and gotten positive responses from more than 70% of them, he said.”
-When Family Guy got taken off the air the article “Funny of Harmful: Derogatory Speech on Fox’s Family Guy?” they talk about the show being cancelled for different reasons but the main one being the amount of racism, sexism and inappropriateness on the show. Cartoon Network had their reruns and after being very highly rated, FOX ended up putting the show back on air.
Discussion
-I found a lot of similarities between Season 1 and Season 16 with the amount of profanity and they way they talk about non dominant races and cultures. There are the same issues such as Peter wanting to be the man unless God tells him to do something to adjust his behavior. There are more real life things such as Emmy’s and God from those who are religious. Everyone in the show thinks they are right and they all represent something about what some could see as white, middle class, hegemonic American culture. Even with some reality such as God telling Peter he has problems and famous people talking about the problems with their show about the Emmy’s the problem’s they all have are still there and get worse.
Conclusion
-Family Guy still has many of the same problems then than they do now. The storylines are similar with the same people that reinforce pro white, American hegemonic culture.
-Many people have problems with Family Guy but they are still doing incredibly well as a show, 20 years running so their problems do not outweigh their positives.
-In my opinion, it mostly reinforces white hegemonic American culture or it wouldn’t be on air for 20 years.
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