With Family Guy finally switching to 16:9, the show remains mired on many of its familiar tropes of more or less recent vintage, such as Quagmire's weird out-of-left-field hatred for Brian or James Woods' obsession with Quahog. But one old trope dusted off for last night's episode "And Then There Were Fewer" was Stewie's supposedly matricidal intentions towards his mother Lois, declared from the very first episode and examined in the episodes "Stewie Kills Lois" and "Lois Kills Stewie."
But let's not forget "Death is a Bitch," in which, with Death incapacitated, Stewie throws Lois down the stairs, followed by an armoire and a grenade. Lois is none the worse for wear, because Death's broken ankle has not healed. Various nitpickers have pointed out that if Stewie really intends to kill his mother, he could've done any of the things he does in that episode when Death was infirm.
In last night's episode we get more evidence that Stewie's matricidal rants are just talk: before Diane Simmons can kill Lois, Stewie uses a long-distance rifle to kill Diane, then declares that if anyone will "drop" Lois, it will be him. Well, Stewie, you missed your chance: why couldn't you kill both Lois and Diane? Did you only have one bullet with you?
Showing posts with label Lois Griffin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lois Griffin. Show all posts
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Lois not in GLBTA
Is it just me or is Lois on Family Guy getting more and more ignorant? Her attitudes to Brian's various girlfriends are but one indicator. Another is her attitudes towards gays: in "You May Now Kiss the... uh... Guy Who Receives," Lois's initial refusal to allow Jasper's wedding to a Filipino man was not exactly exemplary of tolerance but at least it showed a woman intelligently willing to amend her views.
Last night, in one of the unfunniest Family Guy episodes to date, "Quagmire's Dad," the writers introduce Quagmire's father, a commissioned officer in the Navy, only to have him get a sex change operation. It is not at all surprising that Peter comes to the unmindful conclusion that Quagmire's father feeling like a woman trapped in a man's body is exactly equal to his being gay. But it is surprising—and disappointing—that Lois would come to that same conclusion.
And just for the record, this is the difference, which both Peter and certainly Lois ought to be aware of: a gay man is attracted to other men but has no desire to change his body in any radical way (even if he's usually a "bottom"); a transgendered man may be attracted to either men or women but regardless has a strong compulsion to change his body into a woman's body. Lois apparently learned nothing in "You May Now Kiss the... uh... Guy Who Receives."
Oh, and how could Brian not tell Ida is a post-op transsexual if he's so damn disgusted by the concept?
On another note, it was good to see the animators not putting Private chevrons on every single Navy officer shown (as they have done with police officers in prior episodes), and in fact giving appropriate Navy officer rank insignia to the officers shown. Though there was this one guy whose rank fluctuated between Lieutenant and Commander (two and three solid stripes on the shoulderboard, respectively) but maybe we can chalk that up to the exigencies of animation.
Last night, in one of the unfunniest Family Guy episodes to date, "Quagmire's Dad," the writers introduce Quagmire's father, a commissioned officer in the Navy, only to have him get a sex change operation. It is not at all surprising that Peter comes to the unmindful conclusion that Quagmire's father feeling like a woman trapped in a man's body is exactly equal to his being gay. But it is surprising—and disappointing—that Lois would come to that same conclusion.
And just for the record, this is the difference, which both Peter and certainly Lois ought to be aware of: a gay man is attracted to other men but has no desire to change his body in any radical way (even if he's usually a "bottom"); a transgendered man may be attracted to either men or women but regardless has a strong compulsion to change his body into a woman's body. Lois apparently learned nothing in "You May Now Kiss the... uh... Guy Who Receives."
Oh, and how could Brian not tell Ida is a post-op transsexual if he's so damn disgusted by the concept?
On another note, it was good to see the animators not putting Private chevrons on every single Navy officer shown (as they have done with police officers in prior episodes), and in fact giving appropriate Navy officer rank insignia to the officers shown. Though there was this one guy whose rank fluctuated between Lieutenant and Commander (two and three solid stripes on the shoulderboard, respectively) but maybe we can chalk that up to the exigencies of animation.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Remember Pearl Burton
In last night's first episode of Family Guy (the one preceeding the Almost Live special), Brian dates a significantly older woman. Peter's reaction is completely understandable (he's a tactless idiot). But the way Lois reacts has me wondering. She laughs in much the same way she did when Brian introduced Gilliam. Indeed, the whole family objects to Brian dating an old woman. But it's not the first time Brian dates an old woman. What about Pearl Burton? Pearl Burton had completely white hair. Lois even said "She's beautiful." Granted that Lois said that of Pearl's picture from decades prior, but she certainly must've realized that Pearl would look much older. Though this doesn't quite rise to the level of a nit because it appears Lois never met Pearl in person.
In last night's second episode of Family Guy, Stewie gets to meet Miley Cyrus while Chris becomes friends with the Evil Monkey. The Evil Monkey tells the Griffins his life story, which immediately made me wonder: "How did Chris know the Evil Monkey's back story if this is his first time talking to him?" But then I remembered that in the episode in which Chris told the monkey's back story, he just said "He wasn't always evil" and then we see a cutaway to the day the monkey made partner at his firm and caught his wife in bed with another monkey; I had just assumed that Chris had actually spoken this back story. In this new episode, the Evil Monkey says what happened, rather than just introduce the clip.
In last night's second episode of Family Guy, Stewie gets to meet Miley Cyrus while Chris becomes friends with the Evil Monkey. The Evil Monkey tells the Griffins his life story, which immediately made me wonder: "How did Chris know the Evil Monkey's back story if this is his first time talking to him?" But then I remembered that in the episode in which Chris told the monkey's back story, he just said "He wasn't always evil" and then we see a cutaway to the day the monkey made partner at his firm and caught his wife in bed with another monkey; I had just assumed that Chris had actually spoken this back story. In this new episode, the Evil Monkey says what happened, rather than just introduce the clip.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
My driver's license is in your bank statement
The show: Family Guy
The episode: "Family Goy," first aired last Sunday on FOX.
What happened: Peter falls in love with a cardboard cutout of Kathy Ireland and neglects his wife. When he comes to his senses, he tries to have make-up sex with Lois but instead discovers a lump in her breast. Lois goes to the hospital, where Dr. Hartmann gives her a clean bill of health and announces that her mother is a Holocaust survivor. The doctor knows this because that's what the birth certificate in Lois' medical record says. Peter then becomes obsessed with Judaism, even converting. Peter drops Judaism as soon as the ghost of his deceased father Francis shows up to threaten him with eternal damnation if he doesn't return to the Catholic faith.
Why it makes no sense: Now it isn't enough to make absurd revelations about Peter's relatives, the way those revelations come about don't even have to make any sense. I still think that the idea that Peter is a Mexican immigrant (in "Padre de Familia") is pretty damn ridiculous, but at least the way Peter comes to that revelation was more organic than what happens in that episode. Since when is a mother's birth certificate kept in the medical record of one of her daughters? What's next? Will we learn that Chris is actually an ordained Anglican bishop when Peter goes get a lube change at Wal-Mart?
Also, I'm having a real tough time believing that a blueblood like Barbara Pewterschmidt could actually be Jewish, and a Holocaust survivor at that. The problem is not chronology, but characterization. I would think that a woman who's gone through something as horrific as the Holocaust would choose someone of more substance to marry than Carter Pewterschmidt.
The episode: "Family Goy," first aired last Sunday on FOX.
What happened: Peter falls in love with a cardboard cutout of Kathy Ireland and neglects his wife. When he comes to his senses, he tries to have make-up sex with Lois but instead discovers a lump in her breast. Lois goes to the hospital, where Dr. Hartmann gives her a clean bill of health and announces that her mother is a Holocaust survivor. The doctor knows this because that's what the birth certificate in Lois' medical record says. Peter then becomes obsessed with Judaism, even converting. Peter drops Judaism as soon as the ghost of his deceased father Francis shows up to threaten him with eternal damnation if he doesn't return to the Catholic faith.
Why it makes no sense: Now it isn't enough to make absurd revelations about Peter's relatives, the way those revelations come about don't even have to make any sense. I still think that the idea that Peter is a Mexican immigrant (in "Padre de Familia") is pretty damn ridiculous, but at least the way Peter comes to that revelation was more organic than what happens in that episode. Since when is a mother's birth certificate kept in the medical record of one of her daughters? What's next? Will we learn that Chris is actually an ordained Anglican bishop when Peter goes get a lube change at Wal-Mart?
Also, I'm having a real tough time believing that a blueblood like Barbara Pewterschmidt could actually be Jewish, and a Holocaust survivor at that. The problem is not chronology, but characterization. I would think that a woman who's gone through something as horrific as the Holocaust would choose someone of more substance to marry than Carter Pewterschmidt.
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