Marx, C. (2010) Write your way into animation and games. Elsevier : Oxford
"Animation uses motion and misuses the laws of physics. Timing is important. The comedy is exaggerated, often taking reality one step beyond. It may be illogical."
"It's human nature to like to see slapstick things happen to people with power or authority, especially if they're pompous or misusing that authority."
"Experts believe that all comedy contains an impulse of aggression or fear. The fear may be combined with affection, as it is when we tease."
"Shock works well. Repression can contribute to a bigger laugh."
"Who is slipping on the ice? If it's the little old lady, the two frames of reference remain juxtaposed."
Mittell, J. (2004) Genre and television: from cop shows to cartoons in American culture. Taylor & Francis Books Inc : New York
“Not only have scholars followed linkage between parody and postmodernism regarding The Simpsons, but they have also looked at the show’s parody as a sign of the decline of the sitcom genre.”
“It is obvious to even the most novice television viewer that The Simpsons is, on some level, a mixture of domestic sitcom and animated cartoon.”
“Each program…focuses on a family marked by visual styles and characterization as bleak and miserable as those of former TV families has been handsome and cheerful.”
Davis, G. & Needham, G. (2009) Queer TV: theories, histories, politics. Routledge : Oxon
“What interests me about Family Guy is its insistent focus on familial and patriarchal dysfunction.”
“While I am not denying that there are other aspects of Family Guy which do lend themselves to radical and subversive readings, for example the adult-boy Stewie Griffin, I am maintaining a resistance to the possibility that such claims have anything to do with a counter-discourse against the television family as normative.”
Nelmes, J. (1996) An Introduction to Film Studies. Routledge : London
“The contemporary American family, however, is not stable and many families divorce and separate.”
Branston, G. & Stafford, R. (1996) The Media Student's Book. Routledge : Oxon
“Animation often represents worlds which differ from our own: as in the four-fingered, yellow-skinned inhabitants of The Simpsons, with their unlikely ‘local media’, babies that never grow up, far-flung storylines and pain-free violence.”
“Most viewers relish the exaggeration/difference, which partly allows the series its ‘double address’ to both child and adult viewers.”
“They also may enjoy the ways that characters and storylines do relate to ‘our’ world, with bitingly satirical comments on real-life political or cultural issues, relatively unlimited by budget contraints.”
Bignell, J. (2004) An Introduction to television studies. Routledge : Oxon
“While The Simpsons might be interesting and important, it testifies to the success of the Fox television network in producing and distributing a programme which fits the new cultural order of multinational capitalism.”
“The Simpsons is a very important piece of cultural work, at least as important as any contemporary novel, play or painting, because of its intertextual complexity, its self-awareness, its relevance to the fragmented media landscapes and audiences of the present.”
“Much of the comedy in The Simpsons comes from the reflexive parody of the conventions of, among others: other animated series, horror films, television news, children’s television.”
Feasey, R. (2008) Masculinity and Popular Television. Edinburgh University Press Ltd : Edinburgh
“Since the continued success of both The Simpsons and King of the Hill, we have seen the arrival of Family Guy, another animated series situated within the working-class situated comedy tradition.”
“Family Guy represents an outrageously irreverent commentary on all aspects of contemporary American culture, with particular emphasis on changing gender roles and the role of organised religion.”
“In the same way that Homer refuses to attend Bart’s little league games because he finds them too boring, so too, Peter is uninterested in his daughter’s school play because ‘Meg sucks, everything she does is so freaking terrible and depressing’”
“The bond between father and son is less sacred and more an easily overlooked inconvenience for the male.”
“It is not only Stewie that Peter lets down, but the whole Griffin clan; in fact this failed patriarchal routinely takes the family to the verge of financial and social disaster, and seems surprisingly proud of the moments when he, usually unwittingly, saves the day. Lois makes this point herself when she comments ‘Oh Peter I’m so proud of you, once again you brought our family to the edge of the abyss and at the very last minute you saved us all.’”
“One might suggest that those men who refuse to find gainful employment or take on the breadwinning role are simply aware of the danger of being diagnosed with coronary heart disease, or what the medical professions termed ‘the burden of responsibility.’”
“Nine out of ten fathers involved in divorce leave the family home to become non-resident and approximately 8 per cent of all birth certificates in Britain…do not reveal the identity of the father.”
Harris, R.J. (1989) A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc : New Jersey
“The basic message here, as true for The Simpsons or Family Guy in the early 21st century as it was for Leave It to Beaver decades earlier, is that one’s family is more important than money, power, greed, status, or career advancement.”
“When Homer Simpson lost his job, the whole family pitched in to help save money.”
“One may ask if such family solidarity is a realistic reflection of our society. It clearly is for many families and just as clearly is not for many others, whose troubled family dynamics would more typically be characterised by vicious backstabbing, betrayal, and generally putting oneself above other family members.”
“The conventional wisdom is that media have a negative influence [on the quality of family life], but that conclusion is by no means certain or simple.”
“A uses and gratifications approach to studying family TV use looks at motivations for watching, which may vary greatly depending on the program or the individuals’ moods.”
This book features a Psychological study into the differences between the reasons why men and women watch TV. It is called Morley (1988):
“In terms of uses and gratifications, women saw TV viewing as more of a social activity and we also more likely to be doing other activities (e.g., housework) concurrently, whereas men were more likely to devote full attention to the program. Men saw TV watching as ‘earned recreation’ whereas women saw it as a ‘guilty pleasure,’ a distraction from homemaking duties.”
Tueth, M. (2005) Laughter in the Living Room: Television comedy and the American home audience. Peter Lang Publishing Inc : New York
“The Simpsons and Family Guy have turned the television medium into a repository of cultural trivia and popular folklore. In the process they encourage an oppositional reading of much of the mediated messages.”
“The Simpsons family may represent skewed variations on the American middle class, but they are surrounded by members of minority groups or other relative outsiders.”
“The Simpsons offers a full display of inept and hypocritical wielders of power.”
“Meanwhile, the esthetic distance of the cartoon medium allows mainstream viewers to discount the grotesque if they so desire. As a consequence, the presentation of the family is ambivalent. In its animated incarnation the discourse is reassuringly comic for some viewers and boldly subversive for others.”
Casey, B. & Calvert, B (2008) Television studies: the key concepts. Routledge : Oxon
“The resulting product was The Flintstones – the first family-oriented animated sitcom, premiered by ABC in 1960. Based on the classic situation comedy structure, The Flinstones’ influence can be detected across a wide range of contemporary cartoons such as Daria, American Dad, Family Guy, The Simpsons and King of the Hill.”
“Given the prominence of intertextuality along with the use of irony, parody and pastiche, some theorists have cited animated sitcoms such as The Simpsons as exemplifying postmodernism in television programming.”
“Cartoons, it would seem, have ‘grown up’, both in terms of their content and in terms of audiences that they attract. In this respect, some theorists have drawn on the concept of double coding to explain the ways in which a text like The Simpsons appeals to both adults and children.”
Johnston, C.B. (2008) Screened out: How the Media control us and what we can do about it. M.E. Sharpe Inc : New York
[Family Guy]
“The cartoon humour is based on bigotry, hate, and total lack of respect for all people not conforming with the designated ‘majority’.”
“The argument for ‘The Family Guy’ cartoon was the argument that free speech should not be silenced. A difficult line to draw in our culture is the dividing point between free expression of diverse viewpoints and spreading hate that results in physical harm to people.”
'Other Media' [n.d. Online]. Wikipedia.
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy [Accessed 23 December 2010]
'USA Obesity Rates Reach Epidemic Proportions' [n.d. Online]. Obesity Statistics.
Available: http://www.annecollins.com/obesity/statistics-obesity.htm [Accessed 23 December 2010]
'Mental Health Effects of Obesity' [n.d. Online]. Health Tree.
Available: http://www.healthtree.com/articles/obesity/effects/ [Accessed 23 December 2010]
Textual Analysis
Connotations of the “middle finger” gesture – swearing and being inappropriately rude to a fellow driver. It was censored, as are most swear words and inappropriate gestures in Family Guy, to make it (somewhat) appropriate for children.
Long shot of the family sitting in the car – gives indication of it being a family vacation as they are all traveling together.
Medium shot of Peter talking on the phone – emphasising the fact that the family are not involved in the conversation. Also shows the mirror clearly in the top right side of the screen which gives an indication that the object will be in use in this scene.
Extreme long shot of both cars driving – for the audience to visualise the situation from both characters’ points of view. Then another extreme long shot of the cars parking as both characters come out to fight, audience realise (if they hadn’t before) that it was a misunderstanding between the two friends.
Clothing worn is normal everyday casual clothing that is seen being worn by the characters in most episodes – connotes a casual atmosphere.
Facial expressions are typical of all characters. Meg and Brian both look bored as they are clearly not enthusiastic about this family trip. Chris’ face is typical of his character as he is known to be slow and misunderstanding a lot of the reasons behind why the family do things. Lois’ facial expression is also quite typical of her character, as she is smiling, connoting her optimism about the family trip, yet the audience know that something is going to happen to ruin it…as it is often that she is seen smiling before getting angry.
The sound in most of Family Guy is mainly diegetic. There are very few scenes where non-diegetic sounds are used, but both have their purpose in the narrative. E.g. when non-diagetic sound is used, the audience are aware of something action-packed going on, like music during a fight, which usually fits the movements of the characters. However, in scenes like these, diegetic sound is used to add to the tension of something that is going to happen, or a slapstick joke/action.
In terms of transitions and fade-outs, Family Guy take good care in ensuring none are used, purely for the fact that most scenes cut to others sharply, for example, thoughts and memories of certain events. Therefore, canned laughter is also not necessary in making the audience laugh, as the narrative is constructed in a non-linear form and scenes are short and slapstick.
This text is produced by Fuzzy Door Productions, as well as 20th Century Fox Television for the episodes that are available to watch on TV.
Even though the show is not available in cinemas, it still fits all three areas of the contemporary media landscape. It is available on Broadcast channels in the UK on BBC3 usually at a late hour after 22:30, on FOX in the US and available both on SDTV and HSTV formats.
A film is not yet available for the show, but the director/producer Seth MacFarlane announced in an Interview with The Hollywood Reporter on 22nd July 2007, that he is working on a feature film. He also confirmed this in an interview on TV Week on 18th July 2008.
A spinoff of Family Guy includes The Cleveland Show, which was launched in 2010 by Appel and Fox, introducing one of the protagonists of the show, Cleveland Brown, and his Black-Comedy humour.
There are also video games available for the show on PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Xbox. They have all received varied reviews for the game, even though they have been praised for the humour but criticised for their “short gameplay”.
The creator, director, developer and executive producer of the show is Seth MacFarlane. He also voices the characters of Peter, Brian, Stewie, Glen Quagmire, Tom Tucker and Carter Pewterschmidt. Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, Loretta Brown, Barbara Pewterschmidt and Tricia Takanawa. Seth Green voices Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Mila Kunis voices Meg Griffin. Mike Henry voices Cleveland Brown, Herbert the Pervert, Greased Up Deaf Guy and Bruce the Performance Artist.
It is not clear whether Family Guy’s genre is Hybrid, or whether it is a sub-genre. In theory, it is known to be an Animation Comedy. However, it has elements of sitcom in the series, especially as the narrative mainly revolves around family life.
In terms of iconography and settings, it could be said that the genre of the series is a sitcom. This is because, even though the narrative is non-linear, elements within different episodes suggest it is nevertheless a sitcom, for example: the introduction of contemporary social issues like drugs, gender, sexuality, social backgrounds – are all foundations of popular sitcoms.
However, the styles and themes that are portrayed by the characters in the series suggest there is a huge element of comedy in the show. As Christy Marx suggested in her 2010 book Write Your Way Into Animation and Games, "It's human nature to like to see slapstick things happen to people with power or authority, especially if they're pompous or misusing that authority”. Therefore we must assume that Family Guy is as much a Comedy as an Animated Sitcom, because without these slapstick effects, the audience would not find the show so inappropriately humourous.
Glen Quagmire’s quotes that there is a “fat-ass” driving slowly, suggests that obese people are being stereotyped in a negative way in this scene. Even though the audience know that the main protagonist, Peter Griffin, is naturally obese and has been so since his childhood, it is often that he is criticised for his weight and his looks on the show. This brings out the dominant ideologies that obese people are more prone to mental health disorders as stated by HealthTree under The Effects of Obesity on August 10th 2010: “Low self-esteem is common among the severely obese. Rates of depression and anxiety appear to be higher; a Swedish study found that severely obese people are three to four times more likely to exhibit symptoms of anxiety and depression, as compared to those with a healthy weight.”
This kind of stereotypical representation is most commonly found in the youth of today’s society, as communities are made aware of the issues surrounding obesity and the importance of keeping fit at every stage of your life. 2010 Obesity Statistics states under USA Obesity Rates Reach Epidemic Proportions that “58 Million” are overweight, “40 Million” are obese and “3 Million” are morbidly obese in the USA. Statistics also prove that “Eight out of 10 over 25’s” are overweight in the USA.
Therefore, it is extremely common in shows that are of a comedy genre to criticise this unhealthy lifestyle in a humourous way, which many would find offensive if it were not for the situation in this scene. The Cleveland Show also makes references to obesity, which is a spin-off of the original character Cleveland Brown in Family Guy. Yet his character was never criticised for his weight in Family Guy. Even Comedy Sitcoms such as King of Queens also includes an obese main protagonist (Doug Heffernan), who is constantly shown being criticised and teased for his weight.
Furthermore, the behaviour of Peter and Quagmire in this scene seems to negatively stereotype today’s male drivers and their impatience. Some could argue that it reinforces this stereotype of male drivers being aggressive behind the wheel, yet others could argue it challenges this by bringing it to the audience’s attention of how silly it is through the use of comedy. Consequently, it is a positive ideology as it is informing the audience of the stupidity of these kinds of actions and thus educating those to use this approach while driving, to be less aggressive behind the wheel. It does this by showing these kinds of drivers how pointless it would be if they were to make a pompous mistake like the one in this scene.
The primary audience for this particular text would probably be adults, aged 16 to 40. This is because the scheduling time for this show is quite late, surpassing children’s bedtimes.
In terms of the gender and ethnicity, the text would be aimed primarily at male drivers. This is because it reinforces the stereotypes of men driving the family car and getting into quarrels with other men on the road. Therefore, males would be able to have a sense of personal identification, especially if they know that they behave in this manner when they are driving. It also allows the audience self-gratification, so that they are able to use humour in difficult situations. Therefore, it allows males to be able to repel their misogynistic attitudes and possibly inform those in this patriarchal society how they can conform to this post-feminist era.
As mentioned before, the show itself follows a non-linear narrative as it contains many flashbacks and short scenes that relate to characters’ thoughts and comparisons. Yet, solely focusing on this one text, it follows a linear narrative as all events happen in order of expectation. The narrative structure for most episodes follows Todorov’s Equilibrium theory, beginning with the Equilibrium, Disruption in Equilibrium, Recognition of Disruption, Attempt to restore Equilibrium, New-Equilibrium.
The show itself contains very little enigma codes. It is possible that this has been deliberately created in this way in order for the audience to be surprised at every episode, as almost all plots in Family Guy are extremely outside of the audience’s expectations and their way of solving problems.
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