Television Show

Kelly Hales WST 3015
March 17, 2010
Nina Perez
Word Count: 453

Family Guy Analysis

Family Guy is a television show created to suit all audiences, but makes jokes that only certain crowds will appreciate. While it is one my favorite television shows, it does contain some content that is offensive toward many different walks of life. Regarding Feminist ideas, Family guy certainly is successful at perpetuating society's common ideas about a woman's expected domesticity.

While Meg frequently sustains mental abuse from her family members, Lois is commonly the woman to which all oppression is directed. Lois is commonly portrayed as the caretaker of the family, while Peter gets drunk and watches television. By setting up the family structure like this the show is essentially perpetuating the system of Patriarchy. As consumers, we watch this television show and begin to repeat what we see. It is common known that"the media have a powerful influence on our idea of reality" (Seely 102). It is easy for a viewer to consider the message behind a television program too seriously.

In the episode "Go Stewie Go" Peter makes negative statements about Lois' outward appearance. In the opening scene of the episode Peter points out that Lois has a gray hair. He continues to make comments about it further upsetting Lois. At a later point in the episode he makes a joke about her genitalia and further insults her appearance. The degradation of her appearance fuels Lois' poor self esteem and leads her to cheat on Peter. When Peter finds out about the incident he is upset and slightly angry. It is interesting to me that Peter expected Lois to remain happy and faithful in their relationship considering the way he treats her. Their marriage is extremely one sided and provides a poor image to society of a lasting relationship/the institution of marriage. It is stated that "marriage provides the ultimate form of acceptance for personal intimate relationships in our society" (Ettelbrick 317).

The appearance of the two main married characters is also quite interesting to me. Peter is fat and is of rather average appearance while Lois is depicted as a sexy and desired mom. She is even referred to as a MILF in this particular episode. She is depicted as better looking than even the teenage daughter. I think that this plays into the roll that every man should remain "fat and happy" while his good looking wife caters to his needs, takes care of the family as well as his sexual desires. Lois generally accommodates all of the listed needs, however there are other episodes where Lois can be seen taking a stand for herself.

In summary, this episode portrayed what almost every episode of Family Guy does: the degradation of women in a relationship and as a mother.

References:

Seely, Megan. Fight Like A Girl. New York: New York University Press , 2007.

Ettelbrick, Paula. "Since When Is Marriage a Path to Liberation?". Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009.

Behind The Music

Kelly Hales WST 3015
February 28, 2010
Nina Perez
Word Count: 355

Behind The Music

The famous rapper Eminem was most influential in the late 90's. He is known for his severely graphic and aggressive lyrics. Usually, the graphic nature of his songs are accompanied by inappropriate noises such as the dragging of a dead body, his daughter crying, him drowning someone, or forcing them into the trunk of his car.

In the song "97 Bonnie and Clyde" Eminem takes out his aggression on his ex wife by clearly stating his intentions to end her life. By doing so, he will create the perfect life for himself and his infant daughter; as stated in the chorus "just the two of us, just you and I."

There is no official music video created for this particular song, however, there are several videos displayed with this song playing in the background. In the video provided, Eminem is displayed in numerous photos with his daughter. He is embracing her and clearly loves her an immense amount, however the content that she is exposed to is something I would consider detrimental to her.

In terms of violence, this song is incredibly offensive to both women and children. He explains how he murdered the mother of his child by slitting her throat and throwing her in the trunk of their car in clear view of his baby daughter. He describes how he is taking her body to the beach to dispose of it while explaining to his daughter that the death of her is better, that they will have a much better life without her. This is interesting because while Eminem is perpetuating systems of violence against women, he is obviously wanting to take over the motherly duties expected of women in society. Domestic violence is among the most common forms of violence. "For many women and children, however, home is not a safe place but one where they experience emotional or physical violence" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 260).

The lyrics and ideas that Eminem promotes are quite frightening. Teenagers obsess over his music and listen to it on a daily basis. These teens will listen to this music and begin to think that what he raps about is acceptable because they are incredibly influenced by popular media. It has been stated regarding media that "the line between information and entertainment is blurred" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 60). The youth of today and taking these lyrics and applying them to their everyday life.

References

Kirk, Gywn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. "Violence Against Women". Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009.

Kirk, Gywn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. "Theories and Theorizing: Integrative Frameworks for Understanding". Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009.