SPOILERS
On last night's 100th episode of "Family Guy," Stewie finally puts his money where his mouth is and shoots his mother Lois dead. Lois, of course, turns up alive at the very end of the episode, but...
Did this episode take things one step too far?
I'm asking this as the result of my own gut reaction during certain points in the show. Specifically, after Stewie so graphically dispatched his mom, I failed to find him or the storyline funny anymore...it was as if Family Guy finally went too far!
Of course, there is also the disappointment factor of showing an act that had been built up for so many seasons...sometimes it is better not to actually see Mulder & Scully do it, you know? But I go back to the utter brutality of the act...
It reminded me of that South Park episode where Cartman made the Radiohead fan cannibalize his own parents in front of his idols (who mock him for being a crybaby); when the boy cries, Cartman licks his tears and comments that they are "tasty and sweet." While some fans have commented that this episode indeed jumps the shark, it is also ranked top in South Park popularity polls.
It's all about that invisible dividing line keeping even a character in an outrageous show from being completely irredeemable. In "Married With Children," Al Bundy read porn, was a lout, and put down his family on a regular basis -- but it was always made a point that he never cheated on his wife. And when he would actually end up in a situation where cheating was immanent, he had to excuse himself from it. Though Al was an outrageous character, what "saved" him was his commitment to Peg (such as it was).
The same "device" was used in Howard Stern's early radio program when he was still married to Allison. Howard was the ultimate cad, but in the end he always remained faithful to his wife -- a point played out in near-heroic fashion in his movie "Private Parts." Had he actually slept with the Playboy model he was interviewing, there would be some essential element that would be lost...he'd just be an ordinary bastard.
Similarly, while Stewie has beat Brian with an OJ glass for "my money," shot Matthew McConaughey, traveled across the country just to punch Will Ferrell, attempted to kill his mother numerous times, and done any number of ruthless acts, there was a certain limit that kept him from being totally unlikeable. Oh yes, he wants to kill Lois -- but he never really does it. Because, we think, deep-down he really loves her and is just struggling with pseudo-oedipal issues in his oversized football-shaped head.
But in last night's episode he kills his mom in a bloody display, shows not a drop of remorse, and is willing to see his father go to the electric chamber for it.
I mean, I'm liberal, but do I want my child (theoretical as the bugger may be), to watch this?
It's the day the laughter died (snif!)
Then again, this scene where Stewie turns his head around 180 degrees is pretty funny.
Yeah, I'm easy.
When has Cartman ever been redeemable?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the humor in Family Guy isn't for you.
"When has Cartman ever been redeemable?"
ReplyDeleteWell you obviously haven't attended any of his divine tea parties.
Sure, it's a jump the shark moment and overly graphic, but really, Family Guy isn't what it was during its original second and third seasons. I mean, if you're offended by that, why aren't you offended by the Stewie beating the crap out of Brian scene, or the whole Peter/Chicken fight. I watched the episode, but really, I was doing the dishes at the same time.
ReplyDeleteBut it previously *has* been for her, Pedro; that's what she's trying to examine here.
ReplyDelete(As for that South Park scene, I haven't seen it, but it sounds great in theory!)
The one time I've experienced this was when The Daily Show did an Abu Ghraib joke that seemed in awful taste to me. I was really disturbed, and sent them an email the next day. But it didn't take long before I was enjoying the show again, just as much as I ever had.
That's not *quite* the same as a character crossing the line, but it's the closest experience I have with it. And Family Guy isn't particularly continuity heavy, so it's not like there'll be any plot repercussions.
I'm not so sure, though...I agree, I was pretty viscerally affected by the graphic detail with which they showed Lois getting shot. Was it necessary? Maybe, for whatever the creators were trying to pull off.
ReplyDeleteBut was it funny? I didn't really think so, and I had a hard time watching the rest of the episode as well. And my girlfriend, who's a tough sell on Family Guy to begin with, just left the room.
Misogyny can be funny, when it's shown in an extreme, and contrasted with the fact that it's really not appropriate. That point was made abundantly clear when Peter had to go to sensitivity camp, etc. But I think over the last couple seasons the show's just been gratuitous without that balance of revealing the fact that the characters perpetrating it are in fact in the wrong.
I think this idea was best summed up in the special before the 100th episode, when he asks the guy, "Do you think Family Guy speaks to you as an African-American?" and he says, "I do." Then he says, "and because of what it's saying, that's why I want it off."
I'd say it jumped the shark when it did that cutaway gag with the female asian driver. She causes a pile-up and this is funny... why? That's neither comedy (it wasn't funny) nor observation (factually inaccurate), it was just racism, plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteUsually when they do a gag about racist attitudes towards black people, there's some sort of proviso - or at the very least a character will react to what's been said with disgust or surprise - but there's been quite a few unqualified and pointless digs at asians, and it's past the point where it can be claimed they're going somewhere with it.
I didn't have a problem with Stewie killing Lois, though - he killed another baby in that episode where he travelled in time, and I never cared much about that, either.
From the moment that Cartman first appeared on TV, he was racist and unable to show empathy.
ReplyDeleteHe continued to scheme to commit genocide, various hate crimes, withhold medical care to friends, blackmail, cheat in the Special Olympics way before this episode came out.
There is no doubt that Matt and Trey did everything within their power to make Cartman one of the most awful characters on TV on purpose.
I don't know what line you imagine that Cartman crossed that he didn't cross in previous attempts. The only thing that episode does is let Cartman succeed on one of his awful schemes.
It's a great episode because of that.
But that's exactly the same line that Stewie crossed: Success.
ReplyDeleteEvil can be funny when it fails.. That's a tougher job when it succeeds.
I don't know what the stewie example has to do with Cartman. I didn't see it at all. I'm not arguing that at all.
ReplyDeleteCartman has always been serious about his attempts. That time he caught a W, it doesn't change that he was struggling for them all the other times.
Ever since I 'heard' Quagmire kill all the Simpsons (off camera), Family Guy just isn't funny. Much like Stewie beating the hell out of Brian, I just felt sick watching it.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to explain to someone yesterday why I didn't want to see Saw 4, or why '24' is awful... Basically, do you want to be entertained by violence, suffering, cruelty? It seemed so cutting edge when I was a teenager, now I just want it all to go away.
Then again, I laughed so hard at the Cartman-cannibal-thing, I fell over.
There's humor in Family Guy?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the writers laugh all the way to the bank -- it's like Steve Martin sang: "But the most amazing thing of all is I get paid for doing this sh*t."
I think to complain about Family Guy not being funny now is like complaining about chewing gum losing its flavor on the bedpost overnight - the humor has long since been gone so why look for it now?
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the Family Guy episode, but I'm happy Stewie killed Lois if only because it always felt cheap to me that Stewie was capable of building time machines and freeze rays but always incapable of living up to his word and killing his mother. It was like when a woman talks about how incredible in bed she is, demonstrates tongue tricks for you, and ultimately just lays there during the act itself - it was just build-up, build-up, build-up with no pay-off.
As for South Park, the humor with Cartman was that he was so obliviously to his own evilness that he was never aware that he was crossing any lines. That's why I think the cannibal episode was funny, Cartman was just getting revenge in his mind, meanwhile the viewer can't believe he actually crossed *that* line.
Last, I'm as liberal as they come, but there's no way in Hell I'd let my kids watch Family Guy until they're 12 or so. Young kids don't have the context from life experience to understand the show.
For me the line was crossed a couple of years ago when they had Elmer Fudd blow Bugs Bunny away with a shot gun, break his neck and drag his bloody carcass away. Ever since they've been jonesing for a shock high and like some meth junkie never quite finding it.
ReplyDeleteFamily Guy crosses the line pretty regularly. I'm willing to forgive them their transgressions as long as they continue to make me laugh more often than cringe. I didn't see last night's episode (it was a rough weekend with the kids), so I can't specifically comment on that, but there have been a few occasions where my wife has been pretty uneasy with some of the "jokes."
ReplyDeleteI was more uncomfortable with Robot Chicken's "abusive husband" sketch they did (with the alternate endings) than anything FG's done so far. I'll have to try to catch this one in reruns and see what I think.
Of *course* you don't want young children watching Family Guy! It's usually rated TV-14, I think, but it has had some episodes rated TV-MA. It frequently even has a parental advisory at the beginning of the show.
ReplyDeletePersonally, Stewie's homicidal behavior has never made me remotely as uncomfortable as the repeated references to Quagmire as a pedophile and rapist. (Hey! He found a bound and gagged cheerleader and is now going to violate her! Ho ho ho! Look, he has a couch that gasses people unconscious, removes their clothes, and arranges into various positions for intercourse! What a scallywag!)
The old child molester neighbor is what skeeves me.
ReplyDeleteBut I usually find a lot to laugh at in the episodes, too.
Man I hate to follow myself up, but I just remembered some other Family Guy bits that I think should be considered way more over the line than Stewie killing his mom.
ReplyDeleteThere is of course the recurring old man pedophile gag. ("Whoever can swallow the most Tylenol PM wins!")
But I think the most uncomfortable joke I can remember, is the one where Lois is running for some office (Mayor?) and Joe the policeman, talking to a bruised and bloodied woman who had just been raped, tells her that if she doesn't vote for Lois he might say that he smelled alcohol on her breath. (My apologies if I'm remembering some of the details of that bit wrong, but I remember it really bugging me.)
The episode didn't affect me much because I know that once the two-parter's over, it's back to business as usual. I think Family Guy has gotten a lot better at shocking humor than just trying to shock for a laugh -- I can't even watch the first run of the show because it was loaded with stuff like that. I've only recently, since the show went into syndication, been watching the show regularly and see an episode more than once. I think it's gotten better over time, and much improved over the pop culture laded, politically incorrect for the sake of being politically incorrect, Adult Swim at it's worst, style of the early shows. That said, I did enjoy the clip show comments from the test audience.
ReplyDeleteSouth Park is a different animal altogether, and, frankly, I consider "Scott Tenorman Must Die" the litmus test for South Park, even if they've gone to further extremes in later episodes. And the whole point in that case isn't that Cartman is or should be redeemable -- he's just a little bastard, albeit very entertainingly so. Thankfully you have Butters as a counter otherwise it'd be an unwatchable show, not unlike the early Family Guy's where there are no balanced characters. And even in the more recent shows it really wasn't until the episode when Brian went to reunite with his ex that I felt myself feeling sorry for him, because obviously she'd have a new paramour by that point, as the rules of filmic romance go. Unfortunately due to the lack of strong episodic continuity in Family Guy that strong bit of character comes and goes, but of course, were that not the case I'd undoubtedly be more shocked and upset over Stewie killing Lois in the latest episode.
And I certainly hope that "full-circle" bit makes this post read better than I'm afraid it does, since I went on long enough to doubt my own coherency.
Right then. Have a good day.
George Morrow
Zeroswitch:
ReplyDeleteBasically, do you want to be entertained by violence, suffering, cruelty? It seemed so cutting edge when I was a teenager, now I just want it all to go away.
Then again, I laughed so hard at the Cartman-cannibal-thing, I fell over.
I'd say the difference is the quality of the material. The "South Park" guys are more talented and put in more effort, which is why they can get away with pushing the envelope further without it coming across as shock for its own sake. "Family Guy" can gets a lot of mileage from "risky" material, but making an actual risk work requires a level of craft that's simply beyond them.
TFG has always been one of the most female-hostile shows on television.
ReplyDeleteFirst, congrats on the Friends of Lulu presidency.
ReplyDeleteNow then, "I mean, I'm liberal, but do I want my child (theoretical as the bugger may be), to watch this?"
Well no, obviously. But as for the edginess of Family Guy, I think it's just pushing the envelope a little bit, as will inevitably happen in our constantly broadening culture.
Let me put it this way, did you even give a second thought to referring to your theoretical child with a word that is basically derived from butt sex?
"TFG has always been one of the most female-hostile shows on television." Now THAT is freakin' hilarious.
ReplyDeleteIn the first couple of seasons, Stewie always had a plan to kill Lois. When it came back to TV, that whole bit disappeared. Now it's back? I agree, it wasn't as funny as the clip show before.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are taking this WAY too seriously. Stewie shooting Lois wasn't so much funny as it was awesome. We've been waiting a long time for her to kill her, and he finally did (even if she survived somehow in the end).
ReplyDeleteI did, however, like his line after he shot her: "I did it! She's dead! (runs down the boat,laughing. He suddenly falls) Ow ow! (begins crying) Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! (realizes) Oh, yeah. That's right."
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ReplyDeleteGreat Cartoon and Now One of most popular show Family Guy Online
ReplyDeletePrivate Parts was surprisingly good, like how Primary Colors was surprisingly good.
ReplyDelete