All in the Family Guy

When we watched All in the Family for the screening, it was the first time I had ever seen it.  As soon as I saw the intro, I knew which modern day television show I was going to compare it to.  Family Guy.  The openings bear such a striking resemblance to one another that it raises the question of whether Seth MacFarlane took inspiration from All in the Family.

All in the Family

Family Guy

The two shows have many differences. One of the most obvious differences one could ascertain within a few seconds is that Family Guy is animated while All in the Family is not.  This opens up possibilities for characters such as a talking dog, a talking baby, etc for Family Guy.  Another difference is that All in the Family takes place in the 1970's while Family Guy is supposedly taking place now.  This time difference presents the two shows with very different viewpoints and outlooks that can definitely be seen in the writing.

However, I feel that there are many more similarities than there are differences.  Both shows present a family structure of husband, wife, daughter, and son.  This allows for the two to discuss topics in a similar way.  Both shows present this family to be living in the suburbs.  This presents a very similar venue for the topics to be discussed in. Although the characters of Archie Bunker and Peter Griffin are very different in many ways, they are both also very set in their own ways.  Archie Bunker just happens to be set in a bigoted way while Peter Griffin is set in a smug dufus kind of way.  Both shows use parody as a way of getting their point across, which brings me to the types of issues each show covers.

As a means of comparison, I found an episode of Family Guy that discusses the topic of homosexuality to juxtapose with the episode of All in the Family we watched.  The episode was entitled "Family Gay". In this episode, Peter engages in a series of medical experiments to make money, the last of which injects him with "the gay gene".  For the rest of the episode, Peter is overtly gay and flamboyant.  This brings me to a difference in how the two shows use parody to get their points across.  In All in the Family, Norman Lear parodies a bigot with the character of Archie.  However, as we learned in lecture, this backfired in a way when people started identifying with the bigoted Archie Bunker. In Family Guy on the other hand, Seth MacFarlane directly parodies the stereotype itself.  He then uses other characters to comment on the subject and represent different viewpoints.  For example, Stewie represents the religious homophobe while Brian represents someone who is more liberal and open minded.  This is very similar to what Norman Lear did with the different viewpoints of the son, daughter, wife, and drinking buddies. Both shows use parody such as this to talk about all kinds of topics including race, gender, etc.  These two episodes are just a good example of how each show goes about doing so.

Seth MacFarlane's Parody