Lately, my best friend and I have been watching Family Guy and noticing some pretty satirical things. In very subtle ways, that appear maybe once or twice throughout the seasons, Family Guy comments on issues in the country such as abortion, women's rights and race. Mostly, it comes in small segments where it’s usually shrugged off by the characters, but the more I watched, the more I noticed it! The episodes that were subtly about race stood out to me because they felt weirdly familiar.

Here are a few examples:

Season 8, Episode 7

This is the episode where Cleveland left, and now Peter and his friends have to find a new friend to complete their group. The guy ended up being Jerome, a black guy that used to date Peter’s wife, Lois. Peter was perfectly fine with Jerome until he found out that Jerome used to date Lois, and after that, he went on this rant about how Jerome was going to take his wife. Also in this episode, Jerome and Peter are in the car and, of course, they get pulled over. Jerome ended up getting questioned by the police and gets back in the car talking about how he’s used to always being questioned by the police. Hmmm… I wonder why…

Season 12, Episode 18

In this episode, Peter’s son, Chris, falls for Jerome’s daughter, Pam, who happens to be black. However, Jerome doesn’t want Pam to date Chris because he is white. This appears to be commenting on a stereotype that usually involves parents not wanting their children to date people of different races, which is something that still happens today. In addition to that, when Chris first brings her home, Lois says, “I voted for Obama once.” Don’t think that’s important? Remember in Get Out when Rose’s dad was talking about how he’d vote for Obama a third time, and you saw how he really felt…? Y’all, Family Guy is on to something.

Season 14, Episode 9

Y'ALL, LOOK!

In this episode, Peter becomes the neighborhood watch, and as he is “patrolling,” he sees Cleveland Jr. “breaking into his house” and shoots him, as Cleveland Jr. is reaching into his pocket for his phone. All I’m saying is that the storyline to this particular episode was weirdly similar to the shootings that helped spur the #BlackLivesMatter movement. In addition to that, Peter attempted to do blackface, doesn’t initially get arrested, AND to stop all the madness, all Cleveland has to do is mention black on black crime and the media goes away. I’m not saying that Family Guy is trying to tell us something, but it’s getting a little too close for me.

The creators of Family Guy are watching what's happening in the world, and they're putting it in their shows. They're trying to say something to their main audiences. Watch out for them. They are on to something…

KyDenyse

Writing since April 2017 · 1 story contributed