Family Guy, Robot Chicken, and the Form/ Function of the Narrative: Part 1

This is the first part of a short essay I wrote in my spare time over two years ago and placed on a social networking site. I have split it into several parts, so that it is more readable. I hope it is enjoyable for someone. Maybe one person max.

"When Family Guy first debuted in 1999, few would expect it to be a success. The creator was not relatively known, nor did the show receive as much media attention as its launch counterpart Futurama (1999). After being cancelled and subsequently resurrected due to substantial DVD sales, Family Guy is now enjoying high ratings with its irreverent style of humor. A successful show can be followed by imitators, and the general consensus is that such reproductions are inferior to the original. In the case of Family Guy, however, it can be argued that the television show Robot Chicken (2005) supersedes its forebear.

At first glance, Robot Chicken bears little resemblance to Family Guy. Its format is an amalgam of random snippets of irreverent takes on television commercials and shows with virtually no main characters, whereas Family Guy centers around the exploits of a dysfunctional Boston family in the town of Qhahog. Its running time is less than 15 minutes, as opposed to the latter’s 30 minute runtime. Chicken employs stop animation with clay and plastic figurines in contrast to Guy’s mixture of traditional 2-D animation with some CGI.

Their brand of humor though is what binds the two into the same category. Both Family Guy and Robot Chicken rely on a type of comedy that requires a sense of nostalgia. Frequently, Family Guy evokes many cultural jokes, many of which are drawn from the realm of television and film. The show often provides different versions of cultural phenomena of the past and present, usually laden with a darker sense of humor. In a spoof of the show Two and a Half Men (2003), for instance, there is a skewering of the title, as there appears onscreen a half a torso of a man with two other men screaming in horror. There are also revisionist views of popular films, such as the depiction of the Star Wars’ villain Darth Vader as a meter maid in an urban setting. The humor extends beyond visual media allusions, although these two particular mediums provide the most fertile ground for Family Guy’s gags.

Family Guy may not have introduced the trend of modifying other narratives and their characters, but it did do so with an infectious enthusiasm that was translated to its audience. A large part of the fun derived from watching the show is recalling the plethora of citations from popular culture. Considering the fan base of the series, some would argue that Family Guy is superior to many of the animated comedy shows offered on television today; its progeny Robot Chicken defies this assertion.


End Part 1

Please allow me to introduce myself...

I am a man of poverty and disinclination. My name is immaterial, though you may label me as an Incognito Transcendentalist if you choose.

In terms of skills, I am a jack of all trades but a king of no profession. As a result, I am highly unemployable since I dabble in several areas but excel at nothing in particular.

I believe my only real (and very irrelevant and amateurish) talent is to write, at least in comparison to more lucrative tasks that require knowledge of math, science, computers, engineering, etc. that I do not have a predilection for.

This blog will have no specific direction of content. Whatever I choose to write will be published with little or no necessary relationship between any two posts. One post may attempt to be profound while another will have no merit in being published. Think of it as a dream that conjures up no sense when you try to analyze it

This may seem like a very short introduction, but there really is not much to disclose about myself. What I write in the future may give some kind of inkling of who I am but only slightly. Stay if you wish to learn more; leave if you prefer not to. Maybe one day you can guess my name.