Stereotypes Of Family Guy
The communication situation that I have chosen to focus on this semester is how the show Family Guy relies on offensive jokes and stereotypes of fat people. I have specifically focused on the episode “The Fat Guy Strangler”. Family Guy is an animated adult cartoon television series that premiered on January 31, 1999. The storylines of each episode center around the main character Peter and his family which consists of Lois his wife, his children Meg, Chris, and Stewie, and his dog Brian. Peter is in his mid-40’s, has brown, short hair and is fat, wears round, thin, black framed glasses, a white button down, green pants, a black belt with a gold buckle, and brown shoes. Lois is a middle-aged woman in her early 40’s with a slim build and red
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When I say simple in nature, I mean that the characters are drawn and outlined in black and have simple features. The background settings do not particularly stand out, and also look flat since they are not the primary focus. The episodes are short in length and are generally between 20-23 minutes long. One form of comedy that Family Guy relies on in nearly every episode is cutaway gags. This is when a character sets up a brief scene that may or may not be clearly related to what is going on in that moment, and the scene of the storyline that is the focus of the episode is paused for this short scene from something else before returning to the situation at hand. An example of this is when Meg’s friends are bothering Brian when they have a sleepover and he says “And I gotta do something, 'cause they're more annoying than ants at a picnic”, which sets up a scene of two ants barbecuing and purposely annoying a couple who is trying to have a picnic next to them. The tone that Family Guy sets is more often than not, one that is light and humorous. However, on rare occasions, it can delve into more serious subject matter. An example of this is episode three of season ten titled “Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q”, which premiered on October 30, 2011. This episode shows a serious depiction of domestic violence between Quagmire’s sister and her boyfriend. She does not entirely accept that her boyfriend is abusive and does not want to leave him because of the effect that the relationship has had on her. Peter, Quagmire, Joe, and Cleveland try to save her from her
When I say simple in nature, I mean that the characters are drawn and outlined in black and have simple features. The background settings do not particularly stand out, and also look flat since they are not the primary focus. The episodes are short in length and are generally between 20-23 minutes long. One form of comedy that Family Guy relies on in nearly every episode is cutaway gags. This is when a character sets up a brief scene that may or may not be clearly related to what is going on in that moment, and the scene of the storyline that is the focus of the episode is paused for this short scene from something else before returning to the situation at hand. An example of this is when Meg’s friends are bothering Brian when they have a sleepover and he says “And I gotta do something, 'cause they're more annoying than ants at a picnic”, which sets up a scene of two ants barbecuing and purposely annoying a couple who is trying to have a picnic next to them. The tone that Family Guy sets is more often than not, one that is light and humorous. However, on rare occasions, it can delve into more serious subject matter. An example of this is episode three of season ten titled “Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q”, which premiered on October 30, 2011. This episode shows a serious depiction of domestic violence between Quagmire’s sister and her boyfriend. She does not entirely accept that her boyfriend is abusive and does not want to leave him because of the effect that the relationship has had on her. Peter, Quagmire, Joe, and Cleveland try to save her from her