A very popular animated show that does a great job of portraying gender and sexuality is Family Guy. It is a very funny adult cartoon that pushes the boundaries of racism and sexism. Peter is an overweight father and husband that is the stereotypical American dad. He is constantly drinking beer, which touches on the topic of alcoholism in America, and is verbally abusive to his family, which touches on the topic of abuse in America. He is specifically abusive to his daughter Meg by always ignoring her and treating her like a pet. Louis is the mother and wife who is the stereotypical stay at home American mom. She is always in the kitchen cooking or cleaning throughout the house. This brings up the idea that all women are domesticated and stay in the house all day long. However, Louis does have a masculine side because she basically controls Peter and is very strong. 
Chris is the "not so smart" son that is easily amused by anything. He expresses how the education in America continues to decline, making our nation less superior to others. Meg is the daughter that is treated poorly. She is bullied both at home and at school because she is not the prettiest of the girls. She even thinks about becoming a man often times throughout the show and seems to be very confused about her sexuality.
Stewie is youngest son and is an evil genius. He is clearly too young to be able to do the stuff he does, but the creators of Family Guy use him to push the limits on what is socially acceptable for young kids to do. The final member of this family is the dog Brian. Brian is a white and black dog that can also talk. By doing this he portrays humanistic qualities. He is very smart, especially smarter than Chris and Peter, and shows how even pets are now smarter than some Americans. He is also a racist and has trouble not barking at African Americans in the show. This touches on the idea that still today, some Americans are racist for no reason. 
This show is the ideal example of how gender and sexuality are portrayed in animated programs.
I used to watch Family Guy alot and I thought you did a really good job describing the gender roles in the show, especially when you described Louis' gender role.
ReplyDeleteI have never watched or seen Family Guy, but I still found your post to be very interesting. It sounds like this show does a great job exaggerating the stereotypes of women and men, which is what most modern cartoons today seem to do. I agree, based on what I have read in your post, it sound like Family Guy is a great example of how gender and sexuality are portrayed in cartoons.
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