2. Intro/background
Family Guy is an adult cartoon created by Seth McFarlane
First aired in 1999 on Fox
Family guy is arguable one the postmodern TV shows currently airing, due to the fact that the basic
aspects that make up the basis for the show. The TV has built its humour and reputation off some of the
biggest post-modern attribute; intertextuality and irony
-mainly towards pop culture
Family Guys founder put it "Family Guy likes to hold a
mirror up to society and say, Society, you're ugly and we
don't like a lot of what you're doing."
3. Family guy use intertextuality from a large variety of media; containing references from
everything from TV and movies to music and even adverts. These intertextual reference
can be found throughout the main story, in this case mainly mimicking other films or TV
shows, or in one the key parts of the shows identity, its cutaway gags-with in most cases
the actors from the show mimicking such movie scene or the show putting its own twist
on it, for example Home Alone but with confident burglars or the mimic the Taken call
but making completely unthreatening when one of the character is kidnapped. Running
references /intertextuality in the show come from; Star Wars, the CoolAid adverts, House
(TV show) The amount of references to Star Wars in the early episodes lead to the writer
being to go that extra postmodern mile and do a 3 part extended episode version of
Family Guy: Star Wars.
Intertextuality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiXSenizbKo
4. Jameson
Another reason for the show being seen as postmodernism is it lack in originally and that it was seen as a rip off of
previous cartoons, especially The Simpson. Yet Family Guy uses that to its advantage and to add to its humour, with
intertexual reference to the Simpsons; including the Simpsons cast appearing on the jury at Peters (Family Guy character)
trial, with Peter saying their in luck as its a jury of their fellow peers and Brian pointing out that he doesn't think they view
it as that way.
This is a common theme in adult based cartoons that followed the Simpsons, with South Park even running an episode
titled the 'Simpsons Already Did It', but the TV show most associated with stealing ideas from the Simpsons being Family
Guy.
5. The Episode I’m analysing: Simpson Guy
This joke about Family Guy and the Simpson was taken to the next level when the shows decided to do a crossover
episode, known as Simpson Guy. The episode start off the two as family friends when the Family Guy casts car breaks
down and they end up in Springfield (home of the Simpsons).
This episode containing many intertexual references through out, with comparing catch phrases in which Brian (family
Guy dog) explain to Stewie (family guy character) how Bart's (Simpsons) catch phrases are a lot more popular than his,
references the larger international success and cultural impact. The episode also has Homer teaching Peter the word
“D’oh” and Peter teaching Homer what a cutaway gag is.
This cutaway also references Bob Burgers and TV show that both Simpsons and Family Guy are created for the idea of
and for it’s views as it follows both shows on Fox.
The ending of the episode takes massive references to Jameson's theory, of ideas just being recycled, as the cast are all in
court over if the Pertacket Patriot, the beer from Family Guy, (a metaphor for the show) is just a rip off of Duff (a
metaphor for the Simpsons) in which lead to Peter giving a massive speech about the Pertacket Patriot has grown
different to Duff and has its own customers that prefers its taste, despite earlier in the show Moe ripping off the label of a
bottle and it having a Duff label underneath. Yet the final decision by the judge who is then revealed to be Freddy
Flintstone claiming that both beers are just a rip off his favourite drink Busch Beer.
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BISLSxjBGhs
