FCC: Family Guy vs South Park
FCC: Family Guy vs. South Park
Family Guy and South Park are two shows that have taken a great deal of negative criticism over the years. South Park has been pushing the limits with their content since they first aired. But because the show airs on a cable network, there is almost nothing the FCC can do about it. Family Guy on the other hand airs on a broadcast network and is known for exceeding the FCC limits. Both of these shows are being closely watched by the Parents Television Council, who would love nothing more than to have these shows pulled off the air. So what is all the fuss about?
Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park first aired in 1997 and has been running strong since. It is, “an animated series featuring four foul-mouthed 4th graders, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman. The show is set in the Colorado town of South Park where weird things keep happening, whether it’s being abducted by aliens or avoiding Kyle’s little brother Ike” (IMDb). Family Guy, also an animated series, was created by Seth MacFarlane in 1999. Since then, the show was cancelled twice, but has been brought back by popular demand. The series follows a dysfunctional family that lives in Quahog, Rhode Island. The family includes parents Peter, Louis, their children Chris, Meg, Stewie and their talking dog Brian. I will be using an episode from each show that has received the most criticism from viewers. The South Park episode, “The China Problem” and the Family Guy episode, “Family Gay.”
The South Park episode, “The China Problem”, has two simultaneous stories that intertwine in the end. The first story includes Cartman, who is convinced that the Chinese are taking over the world after watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In order to stop the Chinese plot of world domination, Cartman manipulates his classmate, Butters, and together follow his plan. The plan? To hold up a P.F. Changs restaurant, the obvious headquarters of the Chinese in America. The other story includes Stan, Kyle and Kenny, who are having repeated flashbacks of the rape that they witnessed during the movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In their flashbacks, Indiana Jones is being repeatedly raped by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. They set off to seek justice for the rape by going to see a lawyer and the police, who too have flashbacks of the rape. The police then raid the house of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg who are caught in the act of raping a Stormtrooper. As Lucas and Spielberg are being arrested, word gets out to the police surrounding the P.F. Changs and they quickly forget of the situation inside. Because the police are distracted with the great news of the arrest, Cartman and Butters are able to leave the P.F. Changs without an incident.
Family Guy episode, “Family Gay”, starts off with Peter on his way to buy groceries, only to comeback with a retarded horse. This is actually not unusually for a guy like Peter. He then wants to be a horse breeder and stores the horse’s seamen inside of the family refrigerator in milk glasses, not telling anyone about it first. Stewie then accidently uses the horse seamen in his cereal, thinking it was milk. Peter then decides to enter his horse into a derby, which winds up costing him $100,000 worth of damage. In order to pay this debt, Peter decides to work as a test subject and has a gay gene injected into him. Peter then comes home as a stereotypical homosexual who loves to shop and bake muffins. Having lost all of his sexually attraction to Louis, Peter leaves the family and starts dating a man named Scott. Louis is heartbroken and Brian cannot stand seeing her this way. So Brian decides to kidnap Peter and send him off to straight camp. Scott then comes looking for Peter and Brian admits to kidnapping him. Louis just wants Peter to be happy and accepts Peter the way he is, getting him out of the straight camp. Peter then goes off with Scott and while in the middle of an 11 man orgy, his gay gene wears off. Peter then returns to Louis, where they both agree to never speak of this ever again.
It is Understandable why both of these Episodes have received negative criticism; they bring in topics people find as unacceptable, such as graphic scenes of rape and a baby eating seamen. But while they are similar in their cruel humor, they are different in how they tell their stories through narrative and technique.
In the episode, “Family Gay”, it becomes clear that Seth MacFarlane is not afraid to use cut scenes and flashbacks to enrich the humor in the show. While watching this episode, I counted ten of them and all of them had nothing to do the actually plot itself. A flashback is, “a break in the chronology of a narrative in which events from the past are disclosed to the viewer” (Chandler). While these past events are revealed to the viewer, the events themselves have no relation to the shows plot. They are random events that mostly have pop culture references, such as Peter being Matt Damon’s neck or James Bond forcing women to have sex with him. You could argue that these flashbacks are nothing more than satellite scenes. Satellite scenes, “focus on character, setting, or incidental actions that do not move the story along its causal trajectory. When a satellite scene is removed, the basic storyline remains intact.” If these ten satellite scenes were removed from the episode, the viewer would still be able to understand the plot. But these, “satellites make the story richer”, “fuller” and act as a comic affect (Porter). Although Family Guy uses these flashbacks as something else to laugh about, South Park uses them more to bring drama to its scenes.
In the episode, “The China Problem”, South Park uses narrative and technique slightly different than Family Guy. When flashbacks were used in this episode, they first began with a close up of the character. Which allows the viewer to, “focus” their “attention on a person’s feelings or reactions.” Dramatic music would then play to, “reinforce the mood of the scene” (Chandler). The camera would then begin to fade, bringing you into the characters flashback of their recollection of the Indiana Jones movie. This episode also used satellite scenes to reinforce its dramatic effect. For example, there was a scene where Stan and Jimmy were alone in a park talking about what they should do about the “rape” of Indiana Jones. The plot of the episode could have gone without it, but the scene added ambiance to the story. Which, “draws the audience into the story at an emotional level” (Porter). Despite these small differences in both shows, Family Guy and South Park are quite identical.
Family Guy and South Park, though they may air on different networks, yet are more alike then people think. Each of these shows thrives on the satire of our every day lives, poking fun at our contemporary culture and how it affects our society. Not only are they both comedic satires, but the plot structures of these shows are so similar it becomes uncanny. In most episodes of each of these shows, there is a main story which is mixed into a group of smaller stories which then feed into the main story (Gersch.) There are also both non-linear narratives, meaning that the outcomes of each episode will usually not affect the story of the next episode. Allowing viewers to miss an episode and not be lost. But what make these shows so scrutinized are the cultural and social issues that they cover.
In just these two episodes, these shows were able to stereotype Homosexuals, African Americans, Asians, display bestiality, rape, domestic violence, and have a baby eat seamen. All of which are controversial and borderline taboo for most viewers. Both shows do not even tackle these topics lightly, it is an all-out affair. Because of the lack of sensitivity, it is no wonder why the Parents Television Council is so angry.
The Parents Television Council has been after Family Guy and South Park since day one. Their main goal is to rid the T.V. screens of such “crude” rumor to protect their children. “Family Gay” and “The China Problem” were even each named “Worst TV Show of the Week” by the PTC. Their website also has articles reviewing each of these episodes. Exhibiting there disgust for the content they find to be intolerable. Making claims such as, “South Park has been a show piece for sharp satire, as well as explicit language, sex and violence; but for a show that has made its name by consistently crossing the line, it says something when even its fans feel the program has gone too far” and “The FCC has the DUTY to enforce the law and fine Fox for this gross violation of broadcast decency standards” (PTC). At the bottom of each article they even have links for concerned viewers to find out who is sponsoring these shows and how to file a claim to the FCC. So with all this protest surrounding these two shows, why haven’t they been cancelled yet?
The FCC does have regulations against obscene and indecent material. But the problem is determining if the content actually is obscene or indecent. “There are many examples of the FCC’s vagueness over what exactly constitutes indecency. When Bono used the F-word as an adverb at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, the commission ruled he was not being indecent because he wasn’t referring to sexual or excretory functions. The FCC changed their minds a year later, deciding that the F-word is…off limits.” The status of other words or content has also become unclear. “It is generally accepted that using the S-word is acceptable…but in early 2006 the FCC declared that the same word with the prefix ‘bull’ was ‘grossly offensive”. The “problem…is that the FCC enforces unwritten indecency rules…TV networks don’t know what infractions they are supposed to avoid; it’s up to the FCC to decide” (Citizens). Because the FCC obscene and indecency rules can be so undefined at times, it is hard to tell when a show is crossing the line.
So is it fair that a show like Family Guy and South Park are getting attacked by organizations such as the PTC? Or do they only have themselves to blame? Much of their content is questionable; there is no doubt about that. But with the fuzziness of the FCC regulations, it is hard to tell whether or not they are pushing the limits or have already exceeded them. It is a subjective topic; it is ultimately up the viewer to decide. They have the power to change the channel and to even block a network they find unworthy.
Works Cited
“About Family Guy.” FOX. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <http://www.fox.com/familyguy/about/>.
Chandler, Daniel. “The ‘Grammar’ of Television and Film.” The Grammar of TV and Film. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html>.
“Citizens Band.” F— the FCC! 25 Apr. 2007. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. <http://citizensband.blogspot.com/2007/04/f-fcc.html>.
“File a Complaint Against Fox’s Family Guy.” File a Complaint Against Fox’s Family Guy. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/action/familyguy/content.asp>.
“Frequently Asked Questions.” Obscenity, Indecency and Profanity- FAQ. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. <http://www.fcc.gov/eb/oib/FAQ.html>.
Gersch. Rep. On Family Guy: The Narrative and Postmodern. 25 Oct. 2006. Web. 7 Nov. 2012. <http://ebookbrowse.com/essay-final-on-family-guy-the-narrative-and-the-postmodern-doc-d58893769>.
“Obscenity, Indecency and Profanity.” Obscenity, Indecency and Profanity. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. <http://www.fcc.gov/print/node/31245>.
Porter, Michael J. “Redefining Narrative Events.” Journal of Popular Film and Televsion: 23-30. Print.
“South Park.” IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121955/>.
“South Park on Comedy Central.” Worst Cable Show of the Week – Cable Worst of the Week. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. <https://www.parentstv.org/ptc/cable/2008/1017.asp>.
History of TV and the Radio. 