Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Power & Empowerment- Final Blog Post

Character guide

What does it say about the Griffin household when the family dog is the voice of reason. Well, they are a dysfunctional, middle class, suburban family- mocking all aspects of pop culture. Each character; however, is marked my symbolic power or empowerment.

Peter Griffin, the father and head of the Griffin household is shown as an idiot. This is an image of power as far as gender roles go. It is shown that even as "an idiot" or a bad decision maker at the least, a man is still the head of the house hold.

Lois Griffin, once Lois Pewterschmidt, was the daughter of a very wealthy man. When she fell in love with Peter and got married she left her inheritance behind. Lois teaches piano lessons, but mostly takes care of her family. This is an image the take power away. Lois' character shows women putting being hopelessly in love, even if it is with a fool, and keeping the family together. Her character also shows her in the typcial housewife role.

Chris and Meg embody the awkwardness of being a teenager; however gender comes into play by letting Meg receive the brunt of jokes about her looks. Again stressing the importance of physical beauty in female, teenage adolescents.

The list could go on, but each character portrays a stereotype in our society. Pop culture is a source in which truths, satire, and social commentary are mixed together and fed back to an audience. From readings in this course, and class conversations, it is evident that people have a desire to regurgitate and commentate on all aspects of our society.

Family Guy makes references to all types of pop culture aspects and uses satire to make a statement. For exampe in many episodes Lois tries to help Meg be more attractive to the opposite sex. In one particular episode Lois tells Meg a shirt that says "Cum Dumpster" is very becoming on her (haha pun) However, this is a commentary on the way young women are portrayed in our society and parenting. Young women are forced to portray a certain role- attractive, and sexually promiscuous- "being a cum dumpster" will get you a guy? Also that idea of parents being a source of continuing these ideas instead of providing guidance. In this day and age, when the most popular high school graduation gift is plastic surgery ( i saw it on the news this morning) parents are clearly sending a message that physical appearance is an important aspect of who you are, and how others see you.

Wow, Family Guy- that is kind of deep.

buddy blog

digioac2 said...
Blog Buddy Work

1. Where has your Blog buddy shown strong analytical work (be specific—is it a particular post, a type of analysis, a site for analysis that seemed to click more so than others, etc)?

In Jess’ post after the video of the guys in the sex shop she has shown strong analytical work. Her analysis of the objectification of women in the clip seems to be dead on. The shop looks to be for men and men only as shown by the females covering all the magazine covers and all the female sex dolls.

2. How could your Blog buddy use this strength for the final Blog post and presentation?

Jess will be able to use this strength in her final blog post and presentation by doing the post about audiences and understandings. Her accurate analysis of various elements of Family Guy are well thought out and they do make sense but in a show like Family Guy there are going to be disagreements on how certain jokes should be taken.

3. Think about the following statements in relation to your Blog buddy’s Blog and then provide feedback on each area (constructive praise/criticism):

The Blog is on a topic that has been clearly evident in the Blog posts throughout the semester

Most of the posts are related or about a specific episode or clip from an episode of Family Guy so we know exactly what she is talking about.

The Blog is on a topic that seems to interest my Blog buddy

My blog is on Family Guy too so I love her topic!

My Blog buddy’s topic is one that has produced a good set of posts that were analytical used gender as a primary category of analysis

All of her posts were very well done and most of them had a video to accompany her analysis of gender in the show which helped even more. Her post on the guys in the sex shop was particularly effective in analyzing gender.

The posts make analytical arguments. The posts are understandable and each post logically outlines and supports the argument presented. The posts were clear, provided insight, evidence, and analysis to connect the topic with the assignment for each of the posts

All of the posts in Jess’ blog were very well organized and clearly stated her arguments and were supported with evidence to back it up.



The sources cited in each post are relevant to the topic and help to aid the understanding of the argument and/or assisted in proving the argument.

She cited many of the articles we read for class and helped to further support her arguments.

The quotes used illustrate a broad range of course readings throughout the semester.

Quotes used in the blog were relevant and supportive of the topic being discussed

The quotes were clear and succinct; additionally, the material was presented so that I could differentiate the Blog buddy’s ideas from that of the author cited.

4. Finally, complete the following:

I thought it was great when you... used video clips to help people who may not watch the show know exactly what you are talking about in your posts.

I found it confusing when you… everything seemed clear to me

You’re really great at… making it easy for the reader to understand exactly where you are coming from and analyzing the controversial parts of the show.

I wish you could focus (more) on/alter/edit/explain/expand on/etc these three things…
(Basically, when you read the Blog posts, what do you wish your buddy had done differently, more of, etc?) Not too much else in the blog to worry about… great job.