Family Guy Character Analysis

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Family Guy is one of the most controversial shows on television today because of its racy comedy and satirical references to popular culture. This is particularly evident in "Baking Bad," an episode in which Peter and Lois Griffin start a cookie business together. To bolster their Peter implements an unorthodox method. This episode plays on some topics when it comes to the commodification of sex, the objectification of women in media, and popular stereotypes of women.
This episode features a few different characters who contribute to the controversy highlighted in the show. Peter is the father of the Griffin family and is your everyday blue-collar worker. He's also lazy, childish, obese, mellow, unintelligent, vocal, and a raging alcoholic.
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Peter, the husband and father goes to work, earns the paycheck, and comes home to a house with dinner on the table. Lois the wife and mom, stays home and takes care of the house by cleaning, doing laundry, and cooking. With these stereotypes at play, Debra Globoke says in her article titled Women in today's society, "the main purpose of a woman, of the past, was to be a ‘helpmate to her husband.'" As time has progressed, we see more and more women getting college degrees and pursuing a career of their own. With women making a transition from the house to the workforce, the housework is having to be shared among the entire family. Husbands and children are doing more chores around the house since mom is at work all day earning a second paycheck. Having two paychecks is what is needed for a family to survive in today's world. Lois in this episode starts her own cookie business and she is in charge of the business. But after a while, they can't turn a profit so Peter takes over and turns it into a strip club. Is the message in the episode telling us that women can't a run a successful business, and have to rely on middle-aged men going to a strip club to spend money to turn a profit? Or is showing that as a woman in today's world they have to manage everything they do daily. Between the family life, their volunteer groups, and jobs. Do women in today's world have too much on their plates, and …show more content…
They will use women and put minimal amounts of clothing to sell their product. Rebecca Chacko says in her article The Mystery of Sex in Advertising, "we see, primarily, women sold to men…the idea that man's desires are centrally important and meaningful, and women's are not because they are the object to men's subjectivity." Women are being portrayed in the most unnecessary of manners that degrades them. In the scene when Quagmire told Peter that "sex sells," he isn't lying about that. Peter does what he says and he gets a couple of strippers to help their sales improve. One of the most popular examples of that is from a Carl's Jr. advertisement featured Paris Hilton dressed in a seductive bathing suit, and held a burger in one hand with the wind blowing threw her hair(Chacko). Just about everywhere you look today you see half-naked women in ads, and it's for a product that has nothing to do with her. Objectifying women has become part of a culture and is often looked past(Chacko). Women used to be viewed as homemakers, but now they are viewed as purely sex objects. This method has turned how people view women as a fantasy element. These fantasy elements are what create modern day stereotypes of women today. These new stereotypes of women add on to modern day issues including the racial stereotypes of