01/10/2014

The Griffin Simpson cluster




Family Guy: The Simpsons guy


So i watched the new Family Guy episode, a real talker on the net due to it being a cross-over show with the Simpsons. Now for the casual viewer who just catch an episode here or there this might sound like a good match. Both are social satires that revolves around a family with a strong cast of supporting characters and racial stereotypes. But the thing of course is that Family guy is a mean show, it likes to torture it´s characters and often cross the line from funny to somewhat uncomfortable. Now this is something the fans of the show likes as it give it some “edge” compared to most others. The problem is that this clash with the Simpsons much more family friendly style of humor. Sure it can be dark too form time to time but on general it is a lot less brutal and spiteful.
The episode itself is about how Peter starts a daily strip in the local paper and it is a runaway hit until he makes some backward joke about women and their role as a household appliances. This in my mind is intended as a dig at the critique the show itself receives from time to time, like that would make it more ok since they are aware of it. Any way the angry mob of women the comic-strip created forces the Griffins to leave town. Yes… This was the thing that caused this… Not the other crap he did over the years. Any way they end up in Springfield, somewhere USA after having their car stolen at a gas station and it is a bit of a kick seeing the town through the eyes of a different creator. After meeting Homer and accompanying him home meet the rest of the family. Again here is a small comedic moment that take a dig at other cross-over shows where sometimes a core cast member could not do the shoot or was too expensive and thus is left out and some oh so convenient excuse is presented. It drew a small laugh from me but I guess it is easy to miss as I have seen mixed reactions to it online. Any way the rest of the episode is 2/3 fan service and 1/3 plot including a down right stupid reason to get both shows supporting cast in. In the end they are back at status quo as it always is.

To be honest I did not find it to be all that funny, many of the situations felt forced and the flow was shot to all hell. Also the show try to brush of the whole fact that Family guy is the show that has anything to gain from this by making a joke about how cross-over shows often is a sign of desperation. Again taking an ironic stance and hoping to pull it off. But the worst thing is that the show reads much like a checklist, as it often does when you go overboard with fan-service. Places a,b,c and have to be seen and we need to interact with character x,y and z. There is no natural interaction.

I also guess I need to address my take on the 800 pound gorilla… The thing that have had the most echo over the web.

The rape joke…

Because they could very well not stay away from one of those now could they. In short Bart and Stewie are making prank calls to Moe, Bart doing a classic Lee Keybottom and Stewie just telling Moe his sister is being raped… .. . Yeah it is not even funny and I guess the idea is to have some chock value but it is so abrupt and out of left field that it causes mental whiplash. There are many other ways of making people stop and go “what the fuck” and I feel that this was not the best one that could be used. Within the right context a rape joke can work… But it needs to be carefully crafted and have a proper build-up and closure in the same way as other tragedy jokes does. After all humour is a coping mechanism.  Here it is just flat and can at best be compared to a jump scare (jump scares are the clip-art of the horror genre by the way) as it sure as heck gets your attention but not in a good way.

It is not in any way the worst Family Guy episode ever made but it will not end up on any ones top 10 list either in my opinion, and having said that I am sure the internet will prove me wrong.

But there you have it at least… My humble opinion… .. . Or at least opinion

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