Family Guy Research Paper
Britny Phelps
English 101
Family Guy is literature because of its references to social issues in today’s society. For example, models think they have to be super skinny in order to be a good model. There is also an episode about how ridiculous reality TV. shows are now and how easily it is to become famous. Also, this show portrays how obese our society is now by letting Peter eat as many burgers as he pleases because he saved a person. This show is not just a show to laugh at; there is a deeper meaning behind every episode that gives examples of how our society is today. Literature in this century consists of today’s problems and expressed in many new ways such as cartoons, online, and even in songs. Kids are no longer reading literature …show more content…
out of books, we are learning in many new forms. This is why the show Family guy is literature expressed in the form of cartoons but gives great examples of problems we face in episodes played on T.V.
The show first aired on January 31, 1999 it ran for about three seasons before it was cancelled in 2001 until Fox was convinced to start it back up in 2004. The show was cancelled twice because the public thinks it is really inappropriate, and wanted family guy to vanish. Also, Fox network said the rating were not high enough along with expensive production costs caused the show to cancel itself. Some say if they didn’t move the timeslot of the show, poor ratings would not be a factor. After being cancelled the first time and releasing DVDs instead the popularity went through the roof making the show one of the most popular cartoon comedies in the world. Cartoon Network aired reruns and their ratings were so high they even beat David Letterman and Jay Leno. The creator of this show, Seth Mcfarlene, says the purpose of this show is “Putting a mirror up to the face of the world and showing it everything that is wrong with it.” Family Guy can be seen as literature because it has a lesson to be learned or very important message every episode.This show makes a lot of references to our society and makes fun of them for example Americas Obesity.
America’s obesity rate has sky rocketed ever since more fast food places have become more accessible.
Places like McDonalds and Taco Bell make it easy to not buy their food for cheap, but almost all of it is made with artificial meat and come in oversized portions. For example, at Taco Bell we can buy a 12 taco box and at McDonalds we can supersize stuff. Who really needs this much food? Thirty states in America have rates of obesity of 25 percent or more. We tend to follow in our families footsteps because people learn to eat and cook the way in which they were brought up. Instead of dieting the old fashion way by cooking good meals, cutting portion sizes, and regularly exercising. America has been exposed to faster ways to lose the pound by using diet pills, no carb diets, starvation, and even liposuction. In the episode named “He’s Too Sexy for His Fat”, Chris quits going to gym class because he is self-conscious of his body. Lois tries making special low fat meals for him to help lose weight and Peter tries talking him into getting liposuction. Since Chris doesn’t want to do it, Peter decides to go for it. After surgery Peter loves the results and gets sucked into excitement of having work done to his body, he ends up getting work done to his face too. Peter starts getting so much attention from everyone; he begins to become cocky and joins “The Beautiful People’s Club.” One day on the way to the club, he is so mesmerized by himself, Peter drives over a cliff. From all the damage he returns to his old self again. After watching this episode, it makes one think that people are so interesting in getting fake surgeries in order to be more beautiful is okay. This episode is trying to say that even after surgeries, things can go bad meaning the surgery can backfire and leave you looking worse than you did before. It is also saying that doing quit dieting routines is not the safest route and we should stick to the natural way rather than the quick way. Society
projects this image that people think is perfect and they need to look like which leads into the next episode. When Lois is aspired to fulfill her teenage dream of modeling, her family is against it but proves to them she is good at it when she becomes very successful. Peter at first is proud of her achievements but then becomes very jealous when she becomes interested in other men. She rebels by taking diet pills and partying all night. Peter attempts to get her away from the modeling world by kidnapping her while she was playing Xylophones on her own rips because she was so skinny. After realizing that Peter was wrong for trying to tell Lois what she can and can’t do, Lois decides to quit modeling only because she has the freedom to fulfill her wishes. Here they are trying to show how the world is telling young girls and women what they should look like which is super skinny. The media says unless you were born to be a supermodel then many fashion models adopt consuming carrots, diet coke, drugs, and smoking into their lifestyles in order to obtain the unnatural stick figure. In reality we should all be happy with ourselves and our bodies. There are plus size models in the world that look just as great as the skinnier models without all the drugs. The show portrays how girls get so caught up on trying to be what society wants them to be, that they go to extremes to fit this image even if it dangerous and they could die from it. The lesson the show is trying to teach here, is to not get into drugs or extreme dieting in order to become skinnier, you are beautiful the way you are. And in fact, the problem is pressure to live up to this image that can result in damage to your health or even worse, death. Personally I think more plus size models should be shown because they show women how they can be themselves without going through extreme measures. Plus size models often get critised by the the media because they think they may be setting a bad example to how women should look and that having an unhealthy lifestyle is acceptable. There is also criticism about the size of plus-size models are size 10 or 12, the average size for an American women is size 14. The media always shows society how your life should be even if it’s unhealthy or unreal; a good example of this is reality TV. Reality TV is taking over lately and is the easiest way for people to become famous. People will do anything now a days just to become famous even if they do something horrible to someone they love on TV just to get their “Fifteen Minutes of Fame”. Meg is embarrassed by her dad playing a magical clam in a celebration and when a rogue wave steals her dads costume and he washes ashore naked. She later decides to have a slumber party with her friends; her mom hears them playing a game and joins. Meg gets embarrassed and notices Chris hiding behind the couch waiting for a naughty pillow fight. The last straw is when her dad falls through the stairs only to get stuck by his oversized waist. When Meg decides to get the family on a talk show to discuss their problems, they get offered to do a reality show only to later on be replaced and eventually the whole family gets replaced by other actors pretending to be them. As said before, it is easier than ever to get on a reality show in today’s society. You could do something as little as falling off a bike and get a contract for a crew to follow you as you go through your daily routine. I feel like this is very bad because it makes people do bad things or even hurt themselves just to get a little bit of fame. Some producers even place participants in exotic locations or abnormal situations and are told what to say. If there is going to be a show about reality it should be real and not scripted. On the hills at the end of the show they showed how it was scripted. The best example of the most recent and popular TV show is Jersey Shore. They don’t do anything on the show except party, fight, and have sex. Somehow these people are very popular now and keep getting offered to do more and more seasons along with getting paid millions of dollars.
As you can see, in most stories there is a lesson to be learned mainly after something bad happened. Family Guy does the same thing by teaching us something important in every episode played. It gives very good representations of the most recent issues in today’s society and why it needs to change. By observing the show we may learn from mistakes the characters made and better ourselves. “Did you hear that Meg? Guys can marry other guys now. So...this is awkward, but I mean, if they can do that, that is pretty much it for you, isn't it? I mean you as well pack it in. Game over”. As I said before this show talks about very important social issues for example, the one above is talking about making gay marriage legal. Some may believe this show is for humor, but if we stop and listen to the true message behind it, then the viewer may take away something literal from the show.
English 101
Family Guy is literature because of its references to social issues in today’s society. For example, models think they have to be super skinny in order to be a good model. There is also an episode about how ridiculous reality TV. shows are now and how easily it is to become famous. Also, this show portrays how obese our society is now by letting Peter eat as many burgers as he pleases because he saved a person. This show is not just a show to laugh at; there is a deeper meaning behind every episode that gives examples of how our society is today. Literature in this century consists of today’s problems and expressed in many new ways such as cartoons, online, and even in songs. Kids are no longer reading literature …show more content…
out of books, we are learning in many new forms. This is why the show Family guy is literature expressed in the form of cartoons but gives great examples of problems we face in episodes played on T.V.
The show first aired on January 31, 1999 it ran for about three seasons before it was cancelled in 2001 until Fox was convinced to start it back up in 2004. The show was cancelled twice because the public thinks it is really inappropriate, and wanted family guy to vanish. Also, Fox network said the rating were not high enough along with expensive production costs caused the show to cancel itself. Some say if they didn’t move the timeslot of the show, poor ratings would not be a factor. After being cancelled the first time and releasing DVDs instead the popularity went through the roof making the show one of the most popular cartoon comedies in the world. Cartoon Network aired reruns and their ratings were so high they even beat David Letterman and Jay Leno. The creator of this show, Seth Mcfarlene, says the purpose of this show is “Putting a mirror up to the face of the world and showing it everything that is wrong with it.” Family Guy can be seen as literature because it has a lesson to be learned or very important message every episode.This show makes a lot of references to our society and makes fun of them for example Americas Obesity.
America’s obesity rate has sky rocketed ever since more fast food places have become more accessible.
Places like McDonalds and Taco Bell make it easy to not buy their food for cheap, but almost all of it is made with artificial meat and come in oversized portions. For example, at Taco Bell we can buy a 12 taco box and at McDonalds we can supersize stuff. Who really needs this much food? Thirty states in America have rates of obesity of 25 percent or more. We tend to follow in our families footsteps because people learn to eat and cook the way in which they were brought up. Instead of dieting the old fashion way by cooking good meals, cutting portion sizes, and regularly exercising. America has been exposed to faster ways to lose the pound by using diet pills, no carb diets, starvation, and even liposuction. In the episode named “He’s Too Sexy for His Fat”, Chris quits going to gym class because he is self-conscious of his body. Lois tries making special low fat meals for him to help lose weight and Peter tries talking him into getting liposuction. Since Chris doesn’t want to do it, Peter decides to go for it. After surgery Peter loves the results and gets sucked into excitement of having work done to his body, he ends up getting work done to his face too. Peter starts getting so much attention from everyone; he begins to become cocky and joins “The Beautiful People’s Club.” One day on the way to the club, he is so mesmerized by himself, Peter drives over a cliff. From all the damage he returns to his old self again. After watching this episode, it makes one think that people are so interesting in getting fake surgeries in order to be more beautiful is okay. This episode is trying to say that even after surgeries, things can go bad meaning the surgery can backfire and leave you looking worse than you did before. It is also saying that doing quit dieting routines is not the safest route and we should stick to the natural way rather than the quick way. Society
projects this image that people think is perfect and they need to look like which leads into the next episode. When Lois is aspired to fulfill her teenage dream of modeling, her family is against it but proves to them she is good at it when she becomes very successful. Peter at first is proud of her achievements but then becomes very jealous when she becomes interested in other men. She rebels by taking diet pills and partying all night. Peter attempts to get her away from the modeling world by kidnapping her while she was playing Xylophones on her own rips because she was so skinny. After realizing that Peter was wrong for trying to tell Lois what she can and can’t do, Lois decides to quit modeling only because she has the freedom to fulfill her wishes. Here they are trying to show how the world is telling young girls and women what they should look like which is super skinny. The media says unless you were born to be a supermodel then many fashion models adopt consuming carrots, diet coke, drugs, and smoking into their lifestyles in order to obtain the unnatural stick figure. In reality we should all be happy with ourselves and our bodies. There are plus size models in the world that look just as great as the skinnier models without all the drugs. The show portrays how girls get so caught up on trying to be what society wants them to be, that they go to extremes to fit this image even if it dangerous and they could die from it. The lesson the show is trying to teach here, is to not get into drugs or extreme dieting in order to become skinnier, you are beautiful the way you are. And in fact, the problem is pressure to live up to this image that can result in damage to your health or even worse, death. Personally I think more plus size models should be shown because they show women how they can be themselves without going through extreme measures. Plus size models often get critised by the the media because they think they may be setting a bad example to how women should look and that having an unhealthy lifestyle is acceptable. There is also criticism about the size of plus-size models are size 10 or 12, the average size for an American women is size 14. The media always shows society how your life should be even if it’s unhealthy or unreal; a good example of this is reality TV. Reality TV is taking over lately and is the easiest way for people to become famous. People will do anything now a days just to become famous even if they do something horrible to someone they love on TV just to get their “Fifteen Minutes of Fame”. Meg is embarrassed by her dad playing a magical clam in a celebration and when a rogue wave steals her dads costume and he washes ashore naked. She later decides to have a slumber party with her friends; her mom hears them playing a game and joins. Meg gets embarrassed and notices Chris hiding behind the couch waiting for a naughty pillow fight. The last straw is when her dad falls through the stairs only to get stuck by his oversized waist. When Meg decides to get the family on a talk show to discuss their problems, they get offered to do a reality show only to later on be replaced and eventually the whole family gets replaced by other actors pretending to be them. As said before, it is easier than ever to get on a reality show in today’s society. You could do something as little as falling off a bike and get a contract for a crew to follow you as you go through your daily routine. I feel like this is very bad because it makes people do bad things or even hurt themselves just to get a little bit of fame. Some producers even place participants in exotic locations or abnormal situations and are told what to say. If there is going to be a show about reality it should be real and not scripted. On the hills at the end of the show they showed how it was scripted. The best example of the most recent and popular TV show is Jersey Shore. They don’t do anything on the show except party, fight, and have sex. Somehow these people are very popular now and keep getting offered to do more and more seasons along with getting paid millions of dollars.
As you can see, in most stories there is a lesson to be learned mainly after something bad happened. Family Guy does the same thing by teaching us something important in every episode played. It gives very good representations of the most recent issues in today’s society and why it needs to change. By observing the show we may learn from mistakes the characters made and better ourselves. “Did you hear that Meg? Guys can marry other guys now. So...this is awkward, but I mean, if they can do that, that is pretty much it for you, isn't it? I mean you as well pack it in. Game over”. As I said before this show talks about very important social issues for example, the one above is talking about making gay marriage legal. Some may believe this show is for humor, but if we stop and listen to the true message behind it, then the viewer may take away something literal from the show.