blog 5 family guy

While reading the responses of viewers of the Family Guy episodes, I was able to relate many of the concerns that the viewers had to the subjects we have been learning about in class. Most of the responses talked about the offensive humor that is portrayed in the Family Guy episodes. While very few found the racial and ethnic slurs that are widely apparent in the episodes humorous, many of the bloggers were upset and found the material degrading. After reading a few blogs I began to see a pattern from viewers. It seems that the family guy episodes were originally intended to poke fun at racial stereotypes rather than actually degrading people of the particular minority. Even though the writers of Family Guy may have intended the show to be attacking the stereotypes rather than the minority groups, the way the issues are portrayed can be easily misunderstood and taken by the viewers as hurtful and demeaning to their ethnicity. Some of the viewers that found the show humorous also express that despite the fact that they found some of the jokes funny, they could not help but feel guilty for the way the jokes were aimed at other people’s religion, beliefs, race or ethnicity. Reading these blogs was really an eye-opening experience for me because since the jokes never seemed to be pointed at me, I never realized how offensive they could be to the minority groups that were attacked. I now see that shows like Family Guy that use racial and ethnic issues as a basis of humor are not funny at all, but are just adding to the tension that is behind many race issues.

Blog 4

Throughout my lifetime experiences, the amount of discrimination I have witnessed towards those who are disabled has been consistent. In this generation, it is common for both young men and young women to make fun of someone who is disabled, and cause emotional stress to that person. Even in our media, producers of shows have taken low blows at handicapped individuals.
In Family Guy one of the main characters is Joe Swanson, a handicapped policeman. Throughout many of the episodes I have watched they always take cheap shots at people who are in wheelchairs. In one of the episodes the main character Peter isn’t aware of Joe’s handicapped and invited him to play baseball. When he arrives, Peter freaks out, but Joe plays marvelously. The stereotype that disabled can’t play sports is ridiculous because they can, and quite effectively.
In the episode I watched three nights ago, Peter and his family open up a restaurant called Big Pete’s House and Munch, and Joe visits frequently. He indeed likes it so much, that he comes back with 30 of his friends. Although business sky rockets for Peter, he gets annoyed because all of his friends are in wheelchairs, and claims that Joe and his friends are a buzz kill to the restaurant. According to Peter, “ I don’t want you or your kind eating here anymore, you’re ruing what was supposed to be a cool establishment.” He also says, “ I think it’s immoral, it’s a lifestyle choice your forcing on America,” “No Legs No Service” Family Guy. Season5.Episode 14. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. 1999. Seth MacFarlane and David Zuckerman.
Basically what this is saying is that If you’re handicapped its wrong. A sign in the restaurant states, no legs, no service. Its joke like these, that give representation of disabled people a bad reputation. Just because a person is disabled, doesn’t mean that they will be hindered in life with their overall development of a human being. The show Family Guy, gives a negative inappropriate view on people that are handicapped, and this is something that has consistently been viewed in our media.

Blog 3

This week I watched a Family Guy episode called “Peter’s Job Hunt”. Family Guy: Season 5, Episode 19. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 1999. Seth MacFarlane and David Zuckerman. In this episode, Peter discovers that he is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and is fired from his job. After struggling to find a new job, he finally comes across a newspaper ad for a hotel that is hiring maids. While working at the hotel, Peter dresses in a women’s maid uniform and speaks with a women’s ethnic accent. This scene relates to the article from the textbook in Chapter 8, “Defining Women’s Work”. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. “Defining Women’s Work. Women’s Lives Multicultural Perspectives. Fourth Edition. 2007. (339-340). The text states that “most women in the workforce do “women’s work” in service and administrative support jobs, as secretaries, waitresses, and health-aide.” Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. “Defining Women’s Work. Women’s Lives Multicultural Perspectives. Fourth Edition. 2007. (339-340). The Family Guy episode demonstrates the prejudice that women face within the work field. The way that Peter portrayed a hotel maid represented the job in negative connotation for both women and immigrants. Later in the episode, Peter finds a job opening in a newspaper ad for a nanny position. While reading the ad, Peter says “Nanny wanted. Well that that’s a perfect job for a immigrants.” Family Guy: Season 5, Episode 19. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 1999. Seth MacFarlane and David Zuckerman. This is a perfect example of gender profiling. Despite the labor that jobs such as hotel maids entail, the wages that the employees receive dramatically differ from the wages of other careers that males usually dominate in the industry. The way Peter depicted the role of women in the work force was offensive and presented false information.

Blog 2 Family Guy

In this weeks show on family guy was called “I Am a Lesbian” Family Guy: Season 4, Episode 19. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 1999. Seth MacFarlane and David Zuckerman. In this episode Meg which is the daughter in the family try’s to convince her mother that she has become a lesbian. Meg’s mother does not believe her so she tells her to kiss her girlfriend. When she does she gives her a kiss on the cheek and her mother says “ What was that, what is she your grandmother. That’s no kiss watch this “I Am a Lesbian” Family Guy: Season 4, Episode 19. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 1999. Seth MacFarlane and David Zuckerman. After she gave her a kiss on the cheek her mother went up to Meg’s girl friend and started making out with her.
When I saw this episode it really reminded me of the reading we did this week “The All-American Queer Pakistani Girl” because the daughters in the reading and in the show both had to tell there mothers that they had become lesbians. Even though the mothers acted totally opposite from each other. In the show Meg’s mother was very exceptive of her daughters decision and in the reading the mother pretty much threw her out of there family. In reading and watching both sides of how mothers act when there daughters tell them that they have become lesbians, if I had a daughter and she told me that she has became lesbian I would go with the approach that Meg’s mother did in family guy. That is excepting that her daughter is a lesbian because it is there life and they can follow there heart in any direction that it leads them to.