Friday, July 18, 2008

Family Guy Analysis

In the Family Guy episode entitled “Don’t Make Me Over” we were to analyze five examples of hegemonic and counter-hegemonic ideals and how these ideologies represent cultural identities.

My first example is when Meg Griffin asks Craig (a self proclaimed “rebel”) out on a date. In a patriarchal society, it is normative for the boy to ask the girl out a date and to assert his masculinity. However, this scene shows counter-hegemonic ideals since Meg is the one asserting authority and self confidence by flipping the normative gender roles. This counter-hegemonic representation, however, is quickly flipped when Craig rejects Meg claiming that he “doesn’t go out with dudes”. He could have simply rejected her proposal for a date but instead had to assert himself as the masculine, dominant male in the situation.

The second example involves the reaction of Lois (Meg’s mother) to her daughter being turned down. Instead of Lois telling Meg things like beauty is skin deep and that she can find someone better to date, she exerts hegemonic ideals by taking Meg to the mall to buy new clothes to make her more attractive. Lois then selects items for Meg such as low-rider jeans and pink baby tee’s with glittery phrases like “little slut”, “porn star”, and “sperm dumpster” written across the chest. Lois is sending the message that this is a patriarchal society and that a girl needs to exploit herself to get a date. Moreover, she insists Meg receive a complete makeover including dyed blonde hair, midriff bearing tops, high heels, and tons of makeup.

The third example is the hegemonic ideals of homosexuality, specifically those of gay men. When Peter’s band meets before going to their first performance, one member notes that they should have worn matching outfits to avoid looking like a bunch of “queers”. Also following that comment, once the band arrives at the gig destination there is
a scene involving the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz being gay. The Tin Man pretends to keep falling to either side until Dorothy moves and he can collapse onto the Scarecrow. The scene showcases a stereotype that gay men are sly when “putting the moves” on a heterosexual male and straight men should watch for gay men trying to trick them.

The fourth example is the hegemonic ideology of prisoners. When Peter and his band have a gig that goes horribly wrong at a state penitentiary the prisoners break out into a riot. Each of the prisoners is either sporting a tattoo, eye patch, facial scar, or bandanna which is the normative stereotype of males in jail shown by the media. Additionally, the prisoners exert patriarchy when they notice Meg and one even goes as far to say that she’s so beautiful he could strangle her all night. This also stereotypes male prisoners as being deprived of female contact and that all prisoners want to take advantage of teenage girls.

The fifth example is when Brian barks uncontrollably at the black record producer, Dr. Diddy. In this hegemonic representation, Brian quickly becomes defensive of his actions claiming that he has nothing against black people and that it was a reaction passed down to him by his father. He even goes as far as to assure the Griffins after Diddy leaves that he is not racist and in fact votes democrat. On top of that Dr. Diddy is shown as a stereotypical black man, adorned with huge “bling” around his neck, a backwards hat, sunglasses, and uses dialect such as “yo” and “aight”. However, this stereotyped is challenged when Diddy reveals he has a degree in optometry.

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Family Guy. “Don’t Make Me Over.”

Season 4, Volume Three, Disc One, DVD. 6/5/05

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation: Beverly Hills, CA. 2005.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Classwork from 7/16/08

Nice job with the Family Guy analysis!

:o)
Jessie

See SOCS for point/grade-related credit (reminder: for all blog-assignments, the number or letter-grade will only be posted to the "Gradebook" on SOCS).