Derogatory Speech on Fox’s Family Guy, Essay Example

In the history of society, there have been vast arrays of taboos that have ranged from all kinds of discrimination on people based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, political views, ethnic background, and other things. Unfortunately, this part of society’s history has led to many problems that caused inequality in the economy for certain groups of people. Many things regarding such taboos have changed up to present day where differences in these personal preferences, race, or religion, are more acceptable. As a matter of fact, such taboos have become so accepted in today’s society that media actually uses it for comedy and entertainment. This has a different effect on different groups of people. While some people may find such content entertaining, others may take offense to it. It all depends on that person’s taste in entertainment, comedy, and sense of humor. This is because the language used in Family Guy is different from most contexts. It mixes language barriers of different generations. Their combined use of profane and childish context mixed in with mature and intelligent linguistic content is what makes the show stand out to audiences. (Ricke 2012)

One of the more popular shows in America and in the world is the cartoon titled “Family Guy”. Family Guy has been widely criticized for its obscure content, profanity, and direct attacks on certain races, religions, sexes, and other cultures. The cartoon attacks these groups of people not for the purposes of taboo but for the purposes of humor. Although the writers of the cartoon intend to be humorous, many people take offense to the show’s content attacking specific groups of people. (Ryan 2015)

The audience is affected by the structure of such unusual content because they are not use to it. The structure and content of the text found in Family Guy are linguistically geared towards pop culture. The language of pop culture is unique in such a way that it is able to communicate messages to audiences with heavy use of rhetorical language.

Some of their content even directly attacks specific people in history, politicians, as well as other celebrities. The show has even attacked Jesus Christ and is a reoccurrence. Again, these attacks are done through humor for the sole purposes of entertainment and poking fun at what were once considered to be taboo. (Sienkiewicz 2014)

For example, there is a character in the show named Herbert that plays an old man who happens to be a pedophile. Pedophiles simply are not accepted in society and are considered criminals under federal law. However, Family Guy pokes fun at them by directly exposing who they are through this reoccurring character with humor.

Another example is the character Cleveland, who is the only African American friend of Peter Griffin, the main character. Peter will often make racist remarks at Cleveland for being black. The show also pokes fun at a character name Joe who is disabled in a wheel chair.

In many episodes, Jesus Christ will appear and the show portrays him as a normal human having fun with the other characters. In one episode, Jesus was featured with actor Chris Tucker as they were firing guns at gangs and smoking weed together. (Raymond 2013)

This demonstration of how the language and meaning of pop culture is well articulated in the context of family guy. This impact on the language barrier between generations is effectively both entertaining and communitive to audiences.

All of this content is intended to find the humor in taboos and clearly the show does not seem to take life seriously under any circumstances. Although there have been many activists protesting against the show, the writers claim that they are just having fun and trying to entertain people. (Ryan 2015)

Despite their profane, racist, and considerably inappropriate content, Family Guy has currently holds three Emmy’s as well as three Annie Awards. The show continues to be viewed by millions and is a significant part of pop culture. This show is without a doubt controversial and can be offensive to many. Unfortunately, the writers of the show will not be able to please everybody. There will always be critics and people whom take offense to the show’s content. It is all up to the interpreter on how they want to perceive the show, either as a serious attack or as humorous entertainment. (Ricke 2012)

Bibliography

Ricke, LaChrystal D. “Funny or Harmful?: Derogatory Speech on Fox’s Family Guy.” Communication Studies 63.2 (2012): 119-135.

Sienkiewicz, Matt, and Nick Marx. “Click Culture: The Perils and Possibilities of Family Guy and Convergence-Era Television.” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 11.2 (2014): 103-119.

Ryan, Reilly Judd. “Where Are Those Good Old Fashioned Values? Family and Satire in Family Guy.” (2015).

Raymond, Chase Wesley. “Gender and sexuality in animated television sitcom interaction.” Discourse & Communication 7.2 (2013): 199-220.