Sarah Wrote:>implying it is any of that.
Oh, but it is! And I aim to prove just that in this very post.
Upon visiting youtube and searching for "family guy clip," the first video that appears is this one:
[video=youtube;MU1qTIB9Yrk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU1qTIB9Yrk[/video]
While on the surface, this clip could be seen as nothing more than a chance to laugh at Stewie's bloodlust, his constant reference to "a list," and his position in power despite his youth indicate that a deeper message is being displayed here, specifically towards the cartoonist's feelings towards the Federal Government and its tendency to use laws to punish seemingly anyone. The list so often spoken of could be seen as anything from a reference to McCarthyism, to the Patriot Act, to the recent anti piracy bill, if the interpreter wished to discuss that. The sheer number of people Stewie claims that he wants to kill accomplishes two things: First, it displays the sheer amount of people affected by such sweeping, unjust laws, and second, by going through so many different people, it increases its chances of "killing" an individual who may be similar to the viewer, thereby bringing the whole thing closer to home, so to speak. The fact that Stewie is an infant, yet he holds a position of great power acts as a clear shot at the American voting system, and its tendency to vote individuals into office based on charisma, and less on actual issues -- or in Stewie's case, his obvious desire to kill many people.
Even if my interpretation is misguided, there is still plenty of room for discussion in a clip that isn't even three minutes long. Viewers against the show may claim that it is vulgar, and any rational person would have to agree. But aside from its vulgarity, the show offers a world of discussion in its frequent satire of recent events, politics, celebrities, film, and so on. Even if the viewer disagrees with Seth's obvious liberal slant, it offers plenty of room for discussion; one could spend hours discussing just how Seth is wrong, for example. The same cannot be said of many other shows, and it's sad that so many people dismiss the entire show because of its tendency to be vulgar, but it is also understandable.
That said, the fact that Meg Griffin is ridiculed despite no objective justification (as seen in this thread) provides yet another area of conversation. Just what makes this girl so disgusting, and so worthy of constant torment and humiliation?
edit: Responding to other posts now. Gosh, a lot sure came in while I was typing this up!
TøbiasBlack Wrote:when her group of friends consists of the girls that the popular guys wouldnt date, that have braces and bad complexions, and dare i speculate on the social circles and workings of a fictional world, they probably dont entirely fit in with the rest of their peers. Odd balls tend to gather in groups as the rest of the world sees them as freaks and casts them out of their affairs.
figure in all the instances where she had friends of hers present, the before/after affect she had on that episode where she got a makeover (and landed a record contract which led to her being deflowered on SNL), and the way she was treated in the few episodes where she was employed:
Girl does not fit in. She in unattractive. She has few friends and sticks to her own social peers. *She cuts herself. *She smokes pot (which although may not be a bad thing, given current social trends amongst today's youth, she seems to be the type where anyone would only ever talk to her if they wanted a hook up). She is a boring girl overall; name for me one stand-out trait that she has that makes her unique, and no singing does not count because she only ever got that record contract because she had a makeover and appeared in front of a bunch of horny jail inmates.
*: Episodes where her mother becomes a famous model is where the first star is revealed, and in an instance or two where Brian asks her if she has any pot connections for the second asterisk.
(I am not a massive follower of the series, i just remember really random specifics of things.)
>Girl does not fit in, unattractive, sticks to her own social peers
First, on the subject of her friends, I was honestly not aware that she had any. Regardless, her friends should not act as a standard to judge Meg upon, especially when there is nothing necessarily bad about any of them, other than their unwillingness to go along with the crowd. For this reason, I wish instead to move to your second point.
>She cuts herself
While this is a horrible thing for Meg to partake in, it does not make her a bad or undesirable person. If anything, the abuse she suffers from her family and friends is actually the cause of her cutting tendencies. Meg needs help, to be sure, but this does not make her an undesirable person.
>She is a boring girl
I do not think she is. While she may not necessarily have special talents, we have already acknowledged that Meg has a small group of friends, indulges in illegal drugs, and has an unfortunate tendency to cut herself. While some of these traits may not necessarily be good things, they make her stand out as an individual. My main point is that her lack of talent does not necessarily make her a bad person, nor does it make her an undesirable person, nor does it excuse the way she is treated in the show. While some may argue that her lack of talent does in fact make her a boring person, we have just acknowledged that she has friends willing to put up with her, so it can be implied that she isn't too boring, at least.
That said, to me, Meg really does seem like a rather interesting character. Recent episodes (specifically an episode that aired tonight) have shown that Meg has a diary, implying that she enjoys writing. While her writing may not be good writing, and it may even consist of short snippets of her day, it adds a part to her character. The aforementioned darker side of her character inspired this very thread. I believe it is safe to assume that while she may not be good at a lot of things, she is still an interesting person, if not just for her traits that could be considered negative.
Spideyjvc Wrote:.
His downward gaze indicates that he is ashamed of being seen with his door open.