I find the animated TV sitcom, The Family Guy, sexist. Just like the Simpsons was and is. Both endeavor to reflect the typical American family, which is irrepressibly sexist, and to make other various social commentaries. The Simpsons, being the first of its kind at the time, seemed much more tolerable than its successors because such a candid assessment of familial patterns had never been portrayed in prime-time cartoon format before. It was plucky and hilarious to realize what buffoons the whole of Americana was through this great show.
However, culture needs to not simply reflect society but understand that it shapes it, too. And after two decades such a commentary then becomes the very force that is continuing to propel those stereotypes it depicts. A single generation's worth is one thing (The Simpsons), but several generations of depicting apathetic, infantile father figures linked to passive, repressed, unambitious wives, mothers and sisters who begrudgingly tolerate families who doesn't support them in return, gets old.
Between The Simpsons and Family Guy, the issue isn't about which is funnier or better written,* it is about placement on the historical time-line and the role of culture in society. And both of them follow a similar model. My argument is that in light of the Simpsons, King of the Hill, Futurama, and South Park - Family Guy, whose name itself indicates a virtually exclusively male-centered perspective - might be offering something noteworthy if it didn't render the same low-impact, supportive, submissive female characters we’ve come to expect from prime time network television. I mean, society always needs biting satire - I'm certainly not suggesting we lose that - but I'd like to see conscious influence as well as mere reflection. Btw, I do think Futurama's Leela is a little more ballsy and independent, but she still easily falls into the responsible-mother cliché, keeping everyone together while the male characters get to be zany and consequence-free.
*Granted, Family Guy does have many hilarious jokes and they have perfected the art of the Non Sequitur, though in my opinion, the biggest reason Family Guy is more topical than the Simpsons is because it's simply a newer show, the writers and cast are more fresh, tuned in, etc. Simpsons in their prime, was just as tuned in as Family Guy is now, if not more so because the Simpsons were the first to recognize the American nuclear family needed to be satired with ruthless precision and thus, created an entirely new genre - whereas the Family Guy just carries the same torch already scooped up by the Simpsons, merely with a newer, brighter flame.
Between The Simpsons and Family Guy, the issue isn't about which is funnier or better written,* it is about placement on the historical time-line and the role of culture in society. And both of them follow a similar model. My argument is that in light of the Simpsons, King of the Hill, Futurama, and South Park - Family Guy, whose name itself indicates a virtually exclusively male-centered perspective - might be offering something noteworthy if it didn't render the same low-impact, supportive, submissive female characters we’ve come to expect from prime time network television. I mean, society always needs biting satire - I'm certainly not suggesting we lose that - but I'd like to see conscious influence as well as mere reflection. Btw, I do think Futurama's Leela is a little more ballsy and independent, but she still easily falls into the responsible-mother cliché, keeping everyone together while the male characters get to be zany and consequence-free.
*Granted, Family Guy does have many hilarious jokes and they have perfected the art of the Non Sequitur, though in my opinion, the biggest reason Family Guy is more topical than the Simpsons is because it's simply a newer show, the writers and cast are more fresh, tuned in, etc. Simpsons in their prime, was just as tuned in as Family Guy is now, if not more so because the Simpsons were the first to recognize the American nuclear family needed to be satired with ruthless precision and thus, created an entirely new genre - whereas the Family Guy just carries the same torch already scooped up by the Simpsons, merely with a newer, brighter flame.
