ipl-logo

Family Guy Sociology

1253 Words6 Pages

Option 2: “Family Guy” Keniesha Lake SOCI 1010-C21 Murphy University of Memphis There are many ways to show the world your ideas, and the main way people tend to go about it is using different forms of media. Media is all the print, digital, and electronic means of communication” (OpenStax College 2015). The most used form of media is television. You can use television to find out the news, watch sports, and be entertained. The form of media I am using for this paper is the popular comedy show “Family Guy”. “Family Guy” is a very diverse show, covering many topics some people might find inappropriate, but that is what makes this show very rich for a sociologist to study. The episode of “Family Guy” I studied was titled “You Can’t Do That …show more content…

In this episode of “Family Guy”, the agents included the Griffin family and their dog, Peter’s friends, and the people around their neighborhood. Some people in the neighborhood included Dr. Hartman, Meg’s teacher, the kids in the studio watching Peter’s show, and the kids that attacked Lois in the store. These characters might have been in the background, but from a sociologically view, they added more to the show that one would think. The norms in “Family Guy” are quite different from the norms in the real world. “Norms define how to behave in accordance with what a society has defined as good, right, and important, and most members of the society adhere to them” (OpenStax College 2015). The norms in “Family Guy” include a Bryan, who is a talking dog, Stewie, who is a baby who is speaking as fluently as a grown man, walks as if he is not a baby, and who also spends most of the episode by himself, and a doctor who is not even considered a doctor in a legal …show more content…

This episode had many different elements of sociology to study. Since the show is so controversial, it has many elements that people would not openly talk about, and many scenes where it would be completely wrong to do in real life. That is why studying media from a sociological view is so important. It shows the underlying layer of what is being shown that most people who are just watching it for entertainment never

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of The Problem With Popplers

    977 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Futurama episode entitled “The Problem with Popplers” (2000) satirically pokes at meat-eating, while openly mocking animal rights protestors in the face of their ignorant compassion. And while targeting the hypocrisy that exists within modern society and presenting the far too common avarice of corporations and businesses, the episode never truly lets the audience get comfortable. That being said, a general feeling of moral ambiguity underlies the episode. And without becoming unpalatable and unenjoyable, the content reaches the brink of legitimate trepidation, while maintaining cunning social commentary and foolishness. Therefore, the audience most likely consists of young adults and adults, sci-fi fans, and those

    Read More

  • Andy Brith Show Satire

    614 Words  | 3 Pages

    A sitcom is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, with often humorous dialogue (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Some of today's top sitcoms are Big Bang Theory, Family Guy, and South Park; however, back in the 60s the top television sitcoms wereThe Andy Griffith Show, The Lucy Show, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Unlike modern day sitcoms, 60s sitcoms, mainly The Andy Griffith Show, used down-to-Earth comedy and moral lessons to attract viewers. The Andy Griffith Show takes place in small town Mayberry, North Carolina, where Andy Taylor (police chief) and deputy Barney Fife stop any and all crimes in a nonchalant manner.

    Read More

  • Family Guy And Freud: Jokes And Their Relation To The Unconscious

    737 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Influence on the Unconscious” As young adults, we have laid around our homes for countless hours watching different types of television programing. Many of us, have a good idea on whether a program tries to offend viewers with their content. For over a decade, the popular television show “Family Guy” created by Seth MacFarlane, has shown controversial content that many people throughout the world have either loved or hated. In the writing piece titled, “Family Guy and Freud: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious” by Antonia Peacocke that is discussed below encourages us to distinguish between offensive and insightful content that airs on Family Guy.

    Read More

  • Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants: An Analysis

    1747 Words  | 7 Pages

    In fact, shows such as American Dad, Family Guy and South Park that utilize similar melodramatic devices, such as heightened emotions and the moral dichotomy of good and evil, portray government as a damaging rather than a heroic force. In one such South Park episode, “Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants,” examination of the complex interaction between the four protagonists and the government in the aftermath of 9/11 displays how melodramatic effects are used to

    Read More

  • Family Guy Will Go On Analysis

    1409 Words  | 6 Pages

    Besides the ignorant remarks, Family Guy uses taboos which were a term I wasn 't familiar with at first, but found out it is defined as “a social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing”(Bing Definition). Honestly, I 'm stunned with how many outrageous taboos Family Guy contains because it is presented in a joking manner. In this case the show stand out more because of its endless lists of taboos in Family Guy all which would of been taken seriously in the real world ( Hanh Nguyen). Whether the episodes that break down the taboos are true or not, there are still specific reasoning, and real-life lessons

    Read More

  • How Have Family Sitcoms Changed?

    1886 Words  | 8 Pages

    The past decade has not seen any notable family sitcoms that has surpassed such leaps of social justice as some had in the 1950’s or 1970’s. While that may be disappointing to some, this is also a great feat for all television audiences. So many issues that were once considered, “taboos,” now, can be the premise of the sitcom altogether. Even the little things like interracial couples, married partners in the same bed, and even mentioning a pregnant woman is considered normal. Yes, the family sitcom is still no direct comparison to the modern family arrangement, but it is as close as were going to get for

    Read More

  • Structural Functionalism In Family Guy

    854 Words  | 4 Pages

    The show strives to expose all the preconceived notions and beliefs society has put in place and mocks ALL stereotypes. The show portrays both low and high culture in general and makes fun of them, but at the same time does not encourage it. Most people who watch Family Guy can relate strongly. That’s because the show acts like a mirror and we the audience are forced to take a look at ourselves, but at the same time providing amusement and humor for the reflection.

    Read More

  • Father Knows Best Character Analysis

    800 Words  | 4 Pages

    Television situational comedies have the ability to represent different values or concerns of their audience, these values often change every decade or so to reflect and highlight the changes that the audience is experiencing within society, at the time of production. Between the years of 1950 and 2010, the representation of gender roles and family structure has been addressed and featured in various sitcoms, such as “Father Knows Best” and “Modern Family”, through the use of narrative conventions, symbolic, audio and technical codes. These representations have transformed over time to reflect the changes in social, political, and historical contexts. The 1950’s sitcom “Father Knows Best” traditionally represents the values of gender roles and family structure in a 1950’society, with the father, held high as the breadwinner of the family and the mother as the sole homemaker.

    Read More

  • Family Guy's Existentialism Analysis

    1503 Words  | 7 Pages

    I am also better able to see that deep down, the show produces positive messages about family, relationships, risk-taking, and self-discovery. In essence, the environment of Family Guy is existential, where characters have the ability to make extreme choices; this allows episodes

    Read More

  • Media And Non-Amish Culture

    172 Words  | 1 Pages

    The media plays a very big role in our daily lives because, we rely on it in every decision we make, supported by Pollan (2006) “we rely on ads, experts’ opinion, books, and science”. For example, in the Amish community, they only try to use the most basic tools rather than rely on technology for advances, stated by Hostetler (1963) “small communities where life is stable and intensely human”. Unlike the non-Amish, we rely heavily on both the media and the consumption of work in our everyday lives, supported by Hostetler (1963) “all have undergone change as they have into contact with expanding machine civilization”. Stories are told in various forms, for the Amish as Hostetler (1963) mentioned “a way of living is more important than communicating

    Read More

  • Examples Of Stereotypes In Modern Family

    732 Words  | 3 Pages

    Challenging Stereotypes: How “Modern” Is Modern Family? The show won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in each of its first five years and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series four times. If you have never heard about “Modern Family," you have never seen comedy. Modern Family is an American television show that portrays the ‘Modernism’ in families nowadays in America.

    Read More

  • Dexter: The Media Response

    936 Words  | 4 Pages

    The media text being investigated is Dexter; a television series based around a blood splatter analyst Dexter Morgan. The series follows his career by day and his killing addiction by night. My argument will focus on how this text creates an ‘active’ response from its audience. The key concept under investigation is the audience, in relation to the ways that they’re impacted. For this I will explore my chosen concepts in conjunction with the media text itself, followed by a conclusion to summarise my argument.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Cartoons And Animated Movies For Adults

    948 Words  | 4 Pages

    If the adults now go and look back at children cartoons they grew up watching, they can see that there were some points at which their childhood cartoon character did something which isn’t meant for a young mind, following are some examples; Showed in the picture above is a snapshot from the show Edd, Ed & Eddy as you can see Edd has a collection of a few magazines which are not for kids below a certain age, this picture tells us how even kids cartoons have some adult references Another adult reference in the show “Johnny Bravo” where a sexual reference is given by a girl being blindfolded in a children’s game This here is something that everyone will get, Rugrats which is only for young kids, Grandpa tells the kids that he’s going to watch something, after they fall asleep. This refers to an adult movie.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Modern Family

    720 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite the creator’s of Modern Family effort to portray a progressive view of American families, the show still accentuates outdated female stereotypes and gender roles; reinforcing gender characteristics, patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity. In contrast to its title, Modern Family promotes traditional gender roles and stereotypes of women, which result in the portrayal of an inaccurate image of the female, and weakens the stance of women in today’s U.S. society. Gender stereotypes are prevalent throughout the Modern Family; the women are all portrayed as wives and mothers, promoting a continued male dominant family ideology. Claire and Gloria are throughout the show acting on our society’s “assumptions about women’s ‘appropriate’ roles” (Dow 19).

    Read More

  • Modern Family Case Study

    1217 Words  | 5 Pages

    Gender roles in the past decades When watching The Simpsons family interact, their family depict what a ‘nuclear family’ look like with the father being the breadwinner and the mother staying at home doing the cooking and looking after the kids. It sends a message of what a ‘traditional’ family look/ed like in the past. “Gender roles are the product of the interactions between individuals and their environments, and they give individuals cues about what sort of behaviour is believed to be appropriate

    Read More

More about Family Guy Sociology

Open Document