Janet Audette
Perez
03/17/10
WST 3015
Analyzing the female role using an episode of family guy presented itself to be a rather interesting endeavor. Anyone who is an avid family guy watcher is aware of all of the stereotypes represented and mocked throughout the episodes. The one presented in the blog is in no way different from the norm. A general synopsis of the episode is that Meg (the odd-ball daughter) has found herself a normal boyfriend who proclaims his found attractiveness for Louis (the mother). After Peters (the father) constant berating of Louis’s appearance she decides to cave into the feelings she has towards her daughter’s boyfriend that are developed simply from her own insecurities and attempt to seduce Megs boyfriend. She then confronts Peter and realizes that the only reason he was continuously diminishing her confidence was due to his backwards attempt to make himself feel better about his own appearance.
As portrayed in the episode, it is the general media portrayed belief that woman need the confirmation of men that they are desired and wanted. When Peter does not give Louis what she is looking for in the means of physical satisfaction or the verbal confirmation of her beauty, she is immediately seduced by the innocent complement of her daughters’ boyfriend. Since Louis has very little social interaction (as displayed by the previous episodes) as she is a homemaker and has very little friends or people to confide in, she relies on the words and feelings of her family to determine her actions (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 340).
Throughout the many episodes of family guy, especially the one required to view for the blog assignment women are portrayed as individuals who have no ability to do anything other than to be housewives or inferior beings to men. Although the cartoon Family Guy is meant to portray the utmost extreme of the stereotypes it is doing nothing to help in the fight for equality. In order to make a difference everyone must join the fight and do something to end the injustice against woman (Seely 113). The mere idea that Louis is so starved of attention and appreciation she has to seduce a young boy to quench her lust proves that woman has very little respect in the media. If the circumstances were reversed I have a feeling that very few people would find it humorous. Due to the inequality of woman it has become perfectly acceptable to exploit the sex in every possible means with little or no repercussions. The media and shows such as Family guy that sensationalize such inequality only add to the issues existing (Seely 102).
Although there have been many times where I have found myself laughing endlessly at the Family Guy sexist humor I realize that this in fact makes me part of the problem. If I as a woman am taken in to the media portrayal of the female stereotype and am not willing to object then I am doing nothing to end the injustice.
WORKS CITED
Woman's Sexuality." Woman's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010
Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007.
McFarland, Seth. "Go Stewie Go." Family Guy. 2010 Season 9. CastTV. Web. 17 Mar. 2010.
I appreciate that you wrote that this episode does not help the feminist movement at all. I too wrote about this episode and noted the exact same thing. If anything, I think that by mocking stereotypes Family Guy is essentially perpetuating the system of Patriarchy.
ReplyDeleteIt does mock the stereotypes, and Lois does fit into the stay at home mom who cooks and cleans. However, I also noticed that the dog seems to play the mother's role to Stewie instead of Lois.
ReplyDelete