Posted on 02/20/2010 9:16:41 AM PST by ricks_place
“Family Guy,” the Fox animated comedy series, is either irreverent or crass, depending on your tolerance for unmannerly humor. Viewers come for its pop-cultural free associations and flatulence gags, not necessarily to debate pressing issues of the day.
So it is probably the last program that anyone expected to serve as a catalyst for a continuing fight about the depiction of disabled people on television, and whether they are fair game to participate in and be the subjects of satire.
...
The argument was started by a “Family Guy” episode shown on Sunday night, in which the teenage character Chris woos a classmate named Ellen, who has Down syndrome. During a dinner date, Chris asks Ellen about her family, and she replies, “My dad’s an accountant, and my mom is the former governor of Alaska.”
Though the joke was more or less in keeping with the offend-everyone spirit of “Family Guy” and its 36-year-old creator, Seth MacFarlane, it quickly drew the disapproval of Ms. Palin.
...
Mr. MacFarlane said in an e-mail message that “Family Guy” was proud of the way that the Ellen character was portrayed. “She is headstrong, outspoken and, at times, almost domineering,” he wrote. “The fact that she has Down syndrome was deliberately played as a secondary element to her character.”
...
“Within ‘Family Guy,’ the character was fully included, well-rounded, dynamic, not dealing with stereotypical Down syndrome issues,” Ms. Williamson (note: executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles) said. She added: “Am I a fan of that kind of humor? Eh. It’s beside the point.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Offend everyone spirit? What Family Guy is this NY Times reporter watching? I don't remember the scene where Obama is seen eating fried chicken and watermelon on the WH lawn. I don't remember the scene where Mohamed is in bed with a group of young boys. And, I don't remember the scene where Hilary Clinton is portrayed as man-hating lesbian queen.
It seems if Family Guy really embraced the "offend everyone spirit" so many Democrat politicians and protected religions wouldn't escape the poke of their satirical barbs. Just saying.
Anymore, Humor is all about shock. Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby and all the old comics hardly if ever used swear words. they didnt have to because their humor was smart and didnt have to rely of shocking people using the F bomb.
I watched this episode and found it distasteful. While I enjoy Seth McFarlane’s humor, his political bent is very obvious. “The Cleveland Show,” based around the black character Cleveland from Family Guy, also slammed the Right last Sunday when the “short Republican neighbor” appears to murder his own mother, and while Cleveland asks him to show where he buried the body, a McCain/Palin sticker is shown on the rear of his car as they drive away. The “body” was a sex doll that he’d gotten rid of.
McFarlane can be funny, but in this case, his shows were obvious slams of the Republican party and the Palin family.
I’m sure DAVE ITZKOFF, NYTs, said the same thing when everyone was accusing Rush of mocking Michael J. Fox even though he wasn’t.
What was the slam in the ~1 minute scene?
DAVE ITZKOFF, former editor at Maxim & Spin
Dave Itzkoff: The Genre Dunce Who Won’t Stop Dancing
Dave Itzkoff has been an embarrassment to the New York Times Book Review for some time, imbuing his “Across the Universe” columns with a know-nothing hubris that one expects from an investment banker who considers himself an art expert simply because he’s had his secretary send in a tax-deductible donation to the opera.
You’re absolutely right. These people try to be so cool when they’re really gutless hypocrites. Too cowardly to publicly demonstrate what they likely believe in private.
“Family Guy,” the Fox animated comedy series, is either irreverent or crass, depending on your tolerance for unmanly humor....I'm guessing it has a mostly lesgaybi audience, something less than msnbc. if olberman said it it must be funny right?
Can you believe I get paid to write about Family Guy? My A1 NYT story on the show’s fight with Palin on Down syndrome http://nyti.ms/93C0dG
about 4 hours ago from web
Sources say he will admit to an affair with Leslie Knope of the Pawnee Parks & Recreation dept. RT @jodyrosen Bayh bimbo explosion TK?
8:24 AM Feb 15th from web
The moment after Dick Cheney said “I am the vice president,” and before he corrected himself on This Week, did your heart also skip a beat?
8:15 AM Feb 14th from web
I couldn’t stop myself from looking at the naked Snooki pictures. It was like staring into a bright orange fake-tanned sun.
3:57 PM Feb 12th from web
When I hear the name David Duke, I always think of the guy who tried to rape Edith Bunker, not the KKK guy. That’s how non-racist I am.
3:58 PM Feb 10th from web
This show, written by manatees, has already jumped the shark...
It has long saddened me that we as Americans are loosing our ability to laugh at our selves. not too long ago I told an amputee and my friend said that was politically incorrect. to which i reminded him of two things, I’m an amputee and the joke was on me. sometimes we need to laugh at our selves and then things hurt less.
Sarah better learn to let this stuff roll....otherwise they will flood the media with things trying to insult her...
And those guys were hilarious. What is comic genius is when you can take something and make it hilarious without using nasty words, dirty jokes, making fun of people who can’t help they way they are.
My reaction to this “joke” is that it’s kind of confusing and just not clever. Obviously, Gov. Palin has a Down Syndrome son, not a daughter. So... huh? The screenwriter seems to think that A) simply mentioning Sarah Palin and B) reminding us that she has a Down Syndrome child is funny. Even if it weren’t in poor taste, it would be pointless. There’s nothing worth laughing at - or responding to. If Sarah felt compelled to respond at all, it should have been with pure disdain, as if this wasn’t even worthy of her attention.
Let’me enlighten you. I agree, PC is harmful not helpful in all cases but, there is compassion and a place where you draw the line that you don’t cross. Out of respect for the other person. When you make fun of the learning disabled it’s never funny to them. In many cases they know they are retarded and they hate it. They want to be like everyone else and they are usually people pleasures, they want to be loved and they want to love. It hurts them, and they are defenseless and do not know how to react, it’s never funny, it is always hurtful and beyond cruel. They struggle, you wouldn’t believe the struggle. Many never live to see 50, most have seizures and other health problems. They are burdened more than any group of people I know and yet they are the most loving, forgiving and kind people I’ve ever known. LEAVE THEM ALONE, PERIOD.
It was an indirect reference to McCain/Palin supporters as whackos. The same show portrays a skinny white “redneck” as a gun-toting NRA supporter with an obese wife. I’m all for character development and comedic interpretations, but as an NRA Life member and a (hesitant) McCain voter, I take exception to being characterized as a whackjob, a sex-doll user, or illiterate.
All signs point to Fox canceling “The Cleveland Show” anyway. It really never hit its stride, and every week was a strained attempt at humor at the expense of a “white-sounding” black man.
He lives in “Stoolbend” for Christ’s sake. How could you take that seriously?
If Sarah Palin calls out every person or show that offends or makes fun of her or her family, she’s not going to have time to run for President. I like her and I don’t like Family Guy, but she needs to get above this. Otherwise this will be like the kid in grade school who reacts to being made the target of jokes only to have the jokes increase because of the reaction
Swearing does have a purpose, but it should be used sparingly.
Someone said that swearing is a sign of a weak mind. I swear and I am trying to cut back on it. But when a person smacks his head on a Steel “I” beam, it helps ease the pain.
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