Family Guy and Stereotypes

Shows like Family Guy, South Park, American Dad, and The Simpsons have grown in popularity in the past decade or so. As for me, I don’t really enjoy watching any of them, but I will occasionally watch Family Guy if there’s nothing else on TV. However, such shows are excellent for analyzing the media.

I flipped the channel to Family Guy the other day. This particular episode featured an elderly homosexual male character named Mr. Herbert. In learning more about the character, I discovered his nickname is “Herbert the Pervert.” He has a very high, raspy voice. It’s actually somewhat creepy. He seems to be middle class, living in a house by himself, uses a walker, and almost always wearing just a bathrobe. He also has a “crush” on Chris, the teenage son of the Griffin family. In this episode, Chris’ parents want him to find a new hobby, so after Peter tries to unsuccessfully introduce him to stamp collecting and drinking, Chris discovers a puppet shop and becomes friends with the elderly German man that owns it. Mr. Herbert tries to help and warn Chris that the man is actually a Nazi and he should stay away from him, but Chris doesn’t listen, pointing out when Mr. Herbert tried to help him by having him clean the pool with his shirt off, wash his car in jean shorts and bend over in front of him to clean the rug. He then states that Mr. Herbert is only about free labor. This shows that Chris doesn’t see Mr. Herbert as a “pervert” as he is insinuated to be, by the show. But by listing such jobs he has had Chris do, tells the audience that Chris is too naïve to see what is really going on and that Mr. Herbert really is a pervert who preys on Chris.

This kind of representation is very stereotypical and homophobic. Mr. Herbert’s high-pitched voice and “feminine” qualities represent him as the stereotypical “swishy” gay man. This makes audiences think that all gay men are super flamboyant and no other representations are plausible. If that stereotype wasn’t bad enough, Family Guy goes even further, giving Mr. Herbert the predator stereotype as a gay man pedophile. The way he acts around Chris and treats him, by making inappropriate sexual comments could very well be classified as sexual harassment. No, scratch that, It's definitely harassment. Every time Chris leaves, Mr. Herbert’s comments become even more aggressive and sometimes almost like he wants to hurt Chris. He squints his eyes and his voice gets harsher, saying things like, “Get your fat ass back here,” and, “Please, I just want to smell his hat, that’s all I want,” then suddenly when the wind blows Chris’ hat off and into Mr. Herbert’s hands he sniffs it he says, “Now I need more.” Another example is when Mr. Herbert was talking to some kids including Chris, that were fighting with each other and he says, “We can settle this like reasonable and sexy teenagers. Whoever can swallow the most Tylenol p.m. wins,” insinuating that Mr. Herbert wants all the young boys to be unconscious in his presence.

These stereotypes have been around since the early 1970’s, when the first few representations of gay men even surfaced. A lot of the early representations were horror movies or thrillers, where the psychotic killer was a gay man, telling the audiences that gay men are bad and will probably kill you because they are pedophiles. Other early representations were gay men depicted as extremely feminine, or that all gay men had AIDS. This is the first step in perception, Selection. Watching shows like Family Guy and most media begin to shape the public's perception. We see things in the media, we organize them in our minds based on the ways they are represented, like appearance, social positions and behavior. We relate to what we see, and it becomes meaningful. Then we organize the meanings and interpret them according to what we have been socialized to see. These representations and stereotypes shaped the public’s views on homosexuality, making them think it was something to fear. This has affected society negatively, especially since these stereotypes are still around. People have feared queer people because of these representations, allowing them to be dehumanized, and therefore being able to strip their rights, not allowing them to get married, taking away opportunities because of discrimination in the work force, and thinking it’s okay to treat queer people like dirt simply because they don’t fit into their hetero-normative sexist roles that they have been socialized to believe is the only way to live in this world.