Family Guy Analysis

The Family Guy series has always been a contreversial one. The cartoon goes above and beyond and is not afraid to attack all aspects of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. The episode "Don't Make Me Over" is a perfect example of how the show portrays the identity categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. From the beginning of the show, all the way to the very end, it is easy to pick examples that conflict hegemonic/counter hegemonic representations of ideologies related to these identities.

The show begins in a school setting. Megan, a teenage girl in high school, is peered into asking out a boy. His name is Craig. Craig is portrayed as the All American bad boy that plays by noone elses rules but his own. He sports the bad boy look and the bad boy attitude. The guy all the girls want. When megan approaches him, she is turned down. Because of this, Megan believes she is ugly. A likely feeling that many girls like Megan in today's society feel. When she tells her mother of the situation, her mother's solution is low rider jeans and shirts that sport the words "little slut" and other oppressive slurs. In today's society, shirts like this exist, and young teenage girls who seek attention from the "Bad Boys" or just want popularity believe they must wear these shirts that demorolize to get it. Sadly, for many young girls today, this is the reality. Sex sells and sex gets the most attention. So Megan is made over into the typical blonde white girl that wears make up, sexy low rider jeans,and tight shirts with the words little slut on them. Craig now ask her out, not because of who she is, but merely because of what she has become; the sexy blonde girl.

The second example has to do with The Asian correspondent Tricia Tacanawa. Tricia is portrayed as the stereotypical Asian women with the small eyes and an accent. She has black hair and a round face. This portrayal feeds into the stereotype that all Asian women look like this. This portrayal of ethnicity is wrong, but exist in society today.

The catergory of race is also portrayed in episode. Peter's one black friend, is portrayed as the black guy with few words. However when he does speak, his speech is a bit slow and drags. When Peter turns the guys into a rock band. The black guys outfit is a disco suit with a afro. While the white guy in the wheel chair's outfit is rocker outfit with long hair. And Quagmire wears an outfit resembling that of which Tommy Lee would wear. Later on, the family is introduced to Dr. Diddy, the black producer who wears a gold chain and wears his hat backwards. Bryan who has always been questioned as being racist barks at him everytime he sees him. Dr. Diddy vocab consist of the words 'Yall" and "Aint".

Gender was also portrayed in the episode. The female is not a dominant figure in this show. Megan for example gets taken advantage of and Peter is sent to beat up the guy that took advantage of her. This is reinforcing the idea male dominance. Anytime Lois has an issue or problem, she approaches Peter and ask him for his idea. Even if she feels that something is wrong, she goes with what Peter says. Peter is an idiot, but he clearly still maintains the dominance in the household. Even though Lois is portrayed as smarter and more level headed, Lois goes by whatever Peter says because he is the male. This reinforces the idea that woman or smarter, but guys are stronger.

Sexuality is always potrayed in the family guy episodes. For example, Peter is the head of the typical heterosexual family with a wife, daugther, son, infant, and pet. In this particular episode, many homosexual comments are made. When Peter is putting together the band, the guy in the wheel chair makes a reference to looking like a queer because they all had different outfits. I believe he was making a reference to the YMCA group who wear different outfits. The tinman from the Wizard of Oz was portrayed as gay. In the jail scene, there were many gay comments made. A guy braded the son's hair and Peter signed a mans butt. Just to name a few homosexual comments.

All in All, the Don't Make me Over episode of Family Guy simply just reinforced the things that we in society do daily without even knowing it. Its almost making fun of our ignorance. From wanting to be skinny blonde white girls to making racist and gay comments, we do it all. This episode was a perfect example of how the show portrays the identity catergories of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity.



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.