Funny Throat Slit Funny Cartoon Violence

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Is the violence in Family Guy supposed to be funny? (NSFL content inside)

• Thread starter Solid SOAP
• Start date Apr 28, 2022

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• #1

At the age of 9, I experienced the death of my father.

Prior to his death, we bonded over a new show at the time: Family Guy.

This show was by no means intended for children, but its adult content was presented in a vague enough manner that adults could laugh at said content, while children could find humor in the slapstick and antics which ensued.

This was all pre-cancelation. After several years of success on Adult Swim, the show was brought back. Something changed, though.

(Last warning for NSFL content)

After the show was canceled I tried watching it again and I just couldn't. The season immediately after was just... odd. Chris and Meg making out definitely sealed it for me, so I stopped. Then I started coming across clips of content and images from the show. Like what is this shit?

I recognize that humor can be found in shock value, but when you do it so much it ceases to be shocking. Does anyone find this shit funny anymore? What even is Family Guy? It seems cynical simply for the sake of being cynical. I don't find humor in this family hating each other so deeply that they commit consistent bodily harm on one another, let alone it constantly being portrayed in such a visceral and gory manner. Every time.

Idk. Maybe I'm just bitter because I found a weird comfort in it as a kid, but I think I legitimately hate this TV show, Haha. It's the one thing I legitimately wish ended when it did, so I could keep my happy memories of it and not have them tainted by what it's become. I literally had a Family Guy themed bar mitzvah that my mom FOUGHT for me having as a commemorative nod to my dad, lol.

So again, do you find Family Guy's shlock shock humor funny? If so, why?

Side note: when did the TV-14 rating allow such insane shit to happen in it? I remember there was an episode of South Park centered around saying the word "shit," and that was shocking at the time and the show has always been TV-MA. Now Family Guy nets a consistent 14 and has dismemberment, rape, etc. on full display literally nearly every episode.

• #2

it's "supposed" to be funny

but the show is not funny

• #3

it's "supposed" to be funny

but the show is not funny

I realized I should've titled the topic and poll "do you find the violence funny"

Oh well!

I miss the days where the shocking nature didn't go beyond Peter accidentally making a sex toy out of a vibrating pickle

• #4

The Evil Stewie episode definitely exceeded whatever "TV-14" is supposed to convey.

Just disgusting violence.

• #5

I literally started giggling like a little kid when I scrolled past the images you posted, so I guess so?

• #6

Gore can be shocking and funny, but family guy (from what little I've seen) isn't.

• #7

It's literally a dark comedy show so yeah? Stewie is basically a future serial killer. I get being turned off by blood, but plenty of gory shows are hard to take seriously due to context and tone.

• #8

Non-sequiter humor is always hard to get right. I would argue that in two of the three images you posted, and two of the first three video clips, the people in the frame are concerned about the unexpected violent situation - so I don't think we are supposed to think that the violence is "okay". The humor comes from the shock of the extreme violence, and likely the reactions that the other characters give from seeing that violence. If all the characters found the violence acceptable, then it wouldn't be a comedy.

Also, much of the violence is just a paraody or reference of another movie or famous event.

• #9

The only time the show did excessive violence that I found humorous was Peter's fights with the chicken

• #10

I think it depends on the context and timing.
Quick bits of a gore can get a chuckle.
But stuff like the beached whale scene... that's way too much.

• #11

always read to me as very try-hard

same with the 'rape humor' in the show

feels like they're always looking at the camera, seeing if the audience is impressed with them being so edgy

• #12

The Evil Stewie episode definitely exceeded whatever "TV-14" is supposed to convey.

Just disgusting violence.

It's crazy to me stuff like this is acceptable for TV-14, imo. I can't imagine my 14 year old self watching whatever this is and thinking it's funny.

Oct 25, 2017

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Seoul

• #13

Yes the chicken fights are great

• #14

Can't say that I've ever found gory violence to be funny. Admittedly, I've found some funny in other shows like when a NASA scientist hits Barney and Homer to knock them out. Specifically relating to Family Guy, I can't think of a violent scene that I thought was funny.

The Evil Stewie episode definitely exceeded whatever "TV-14" is supposed to convey.

Just disgusting violence.

Usually I can handle violence without issue but the woman being cut in half by Stewie was the first time I can recall recoiling at it. I don't know what it was but it just was too much for me.

• #15

Trash show.

Always has been.

• #16

Can't say that I've ever found gory violence to be funny. Admittedly, I've found some funny in other shows like when a NASA scientist hits Barney and Homer to knock them out. Specifically relating to Family Guy, I can't think of a violent scene that I thought was funny.

Usually I can handle violence without issue but the woman being cut in half by Stewie was the first time I can recall recoiling at it. I don't know what it was but it just was too much for me.

The amount of detail in the image of it is what gets me. I'm not actually scared by it but it just makes me curious why they take it to that length. You see her bones and brains and shit. Why?

Also the friggin tail slice, lol. Why!?

• #17

it's not funny, and neither are the rape jokes. show is trash.

• #18

The bit with Stewie collecting money from Brian is funny.

But the show has lost a lot of its humor following the Brian eating the diaper episode. The show has overstayed its welcome and feels like it is trying too hard. Also of early season content has aged poorly, too.

• #19

The amount of detail in the image of it is what gets me. I'm not actually scared by it but it just makes me curious why they take it to that length. You see her bones and brains and shit. Why?

You know what? All those details might actually be what bothered me about it as well. Can't recall any cartoons that get that in detail with it.

• #20

The show post-cancelation tries way too hard to be edgy and most of the time fails at being funny.

• #21

The chicken fights work well mainly because of the absurdity of the premise and the use of tropes of physical confrontations we have seen in film/tv, like the chicken's eyes opening at the end and the "Dun-dun-dun!" music clip. Not to mention they aren't as excessively gory as the clips the OP and others have posted and fit into the TV-14 rating.

• #22

I mean a lot of the shock humor of the time, very much after the post-cancellation era was morphed by violence. South Park had/has plenty. and kids tripped over themselves to watch Happy Tree Friends in which this kind of violence was the cornerstone. Maybe it wasn't how Family Guy specifically started out, but more how it embraced what people responded to.

Do I personally find it funny? Not always. Family Guy is a master of literally throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. This means a lot of unfunny trash makes it on air, but sometimes it does get a chuckle out of me. I remember this gag getting a good belly laugh out of me for being so stupid and dark. Same with South Park and this gag. But gratuitous violence just for the edginess of it? Nah.

• #23

You know what? All those details might actually be what bothered me about it as well. Can't recall any cartoons that get that in detail with it.

It's a weird level of cynicism that only "adult" cartoons get to. Family Guy is the only one I can think of on a "mainstream" channel like Fox though. Most others are popular via Adult Swim, Comedy Central, or streaming. Family Guy is right next to The Simpsons and whatever else Fox shows.

• #24

it's like Itchy & Scratchy but without the in-universe justification of it specifically being a shockingly violent children's cartoon

• #25

The chicken fights work well mainly because of the absurdity of the premise and the use of tropes of physical confrontations we have seen in film/tv, like the chicken's eyes opening at the end and the "Dun-dun-dun!" music clip. Not to mention they aren't as excessively gory as the clips the OP and others have posted and fit into the TV-14 rating.

Definitely. The early season ones were violent but never excessive. They played out like an action scene in a movie.

it's like Itchy & Scratchy but without the in-universe justification of it specifically being a shockingly violent children's cartoon

Funny how what once was an absurdist parody of popular culture has essential become pop culture.

• #26

I think it's still funny at least honestly, so I don't know, I guess so? But maybe just for us sick folks.

But tbh, I actually don't think Family Guy is trying to be funny, at least not in the same way most things to be. I've felt for at least the last several seasons, Family Guy's worldview has become far more cynical than anything else on TV and has been about the misery of modern life.

The episode where Brian marries the girl with cancer was the one where I really became convinced that it isn't just a 'they are so out of ideas, it's just unfunny schlock' and 'they are deliberately leaning into the pure misery at this point.' I find it hard to believe you can watch that episode and not conclude that they are aware of what they're doing and that the show has shifted to being about a miserable group of people who are stuck in their misery lives in a miserable world that is on the fast track to collapse with basically all hope and love for the future long gone.

I think consciously or not, that's why a lot of people still watch and find humor in it. But I also get why a lot of people are turned off by it

• #27

Yes, but it usually is not. It's why I prefer the earlier episodes. Less edge, more comedy.

• #28

I think everything in Family Guy is supposed to be funny. Someone finds it funny I'm sure or else it wouldn't have lasted this long.

I think violence can be pretty funny but it really depends on how it is presented. Mortal Kombat used to be funny until it got really realistic and now it's kinda too much.

• #29

People were attracted to the shock value, so they just kept pushing it. It's more like a substitute for actually being funny; it gets them views so nothing else matters.

Early Family Guy came across more as a loving parent who was just obsessed with TV and a world distorted by TV. After the revival it seems like they geared up the more distinctive parts of the show to extremes, to the point that the characters no longer particularly resembled themselves and the whole thing just became totally unpalatable.

• #31

Of course it's supposed to be funny

There's nothing wrong with not liking it though. I don't

• #32

It's supposed to be funny. Supposed to be.

• #33

You know what? All those details might actually be what bothered me about it as well. Can't recall any cartoons that get that in detail with it.

Modern Mortal Kombat fatalities come to mind. Which I do think are generally supposed to be kind of goofy, if not outright funny.

• #34

I genuinely love precancellation family guy.

I thought it was fucking great. While not Simpsons tier, I would put it in the same ballpark for me.

• #35

Later Family Guy kind of feels like it's made by people who started on Newgrounds, adapted to that style, and don't know how to get away from it so they're just stuck with it forever.

• #36

Pre-cancellation FG had violence that was much funnier than post-revival FG. It could be for simply being better executed. The chicken fights as mentioned are simply so damn absurd you can't help but laugh, because a simple fist fight somehow causes so much destruction within the vicinity.

The violence in current FG is just there for the shock value.

Heck I question if the jokes themselves are meant to be funny. Never mind the violence!

• #37

I genuinely love precancellation family guy.

I thought it was fucking great. While not Simpsons tier, I would put it in the same ballpark for me.

The chicken fight is so worn out at this point that it's at times hard to remember just how genius I thought that gag was the first time they did it.

• #38

I fully understand people not enjoying modern family guy, but I definitely do not understand people enjoying early family guy

• #39

Pre cancellation was funny because it was absurd. Post cancellation is awful because it's "edgy"

• #40

Modern Mortal Kombat fatalities come to mind. Which I do think are generally supposed to be kind of goofy, if not outright funny.

Yeah, I think that is pretty accurate.

• #41

I mean I have nothing against it but cartoon violence has never been for me. I don't even like Itchy and Scratchy stuff.

Okabe

Is Sometimes A Good Bean

• #42

What made me think it was too much was when peter fought homer and homer was bleeding etc

I ain't used to seeing the Simpsons look that brutal but I'm cool with it if it's just family guy chars if that makes sense.

• #43

I mean I have nothing against it but cartoon violence has never been for me. I don't even like Itchy and Scratchy stuff.

Itchy and Scratchy was at least purposeful in that it specifically parodied classic cartoons, specifically Tom and Jerry. The shocking violence of it was meant to highlight how absurd it is that cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry were intended for kids, yet they were truly violent at their core.

What made me think it was too much was when peter fought homer and homer was bleeding etc

I ain't used to seeing the Simpsons look that brutal but I'm cool with it if it's just family guy chars if that makes sense.

Simpsons has definitely had it's fair share of violence, but nothing like what's shown in FG

• #44

I recognize that humor can be found in shock value, but when you do it so much it ceases to be shocking.

That's Family Guy humor in a nut shell. They love running a joke into the ground and letting the joke linger on for way too long. Those are their bread and butter and a version of it can be found in every episode.

• #45

Family Guy can be funny as hell when they fight the impulse to go for the low hanging fruit

this is 30 seconds of solid goofs

• #46

I mean the closet I feel Simpsons got pretty violent outside of the crossover abs THOH, was during the arguably iconic scene of Homer failing to jump over Springfield Gorge and when Homer is dragged around the baseball field by Bart in the episode when both were tethered together.

The latter episode did not show pretty results.

• #47

I mean the closet I feel Simpsons got pretty violent outside of the crossover abs THOH, was during the arguably iconic scene of Homer failing to jump over Springfield Gorge and when Homer is dragged around the baseball field by Bart in the episode when both were tethered together.

The latter episode did not show pretty results.

I remember seeing that latter episode just casually on TV while I was at something like a TGI Fridays or something and being a bit surprised they could just show that at a family restaurant

God I feel old, lol. Complaining about family restaurants and shit

• #49

We have a significantly different point of view of what constitutes NSFL content. Cartoon violence doesn't even come close.

• #50

Like with the majority of Family Guy's jokes, they took what started as amusing and overdid it to the point of nausea. Like, how dragged out the first Chicken fight was worked because of how out of the blue it was.

But then they just kept upping the ante to the point where now the gore basically turned into porn.

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Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/is-the-violence-in-family-guy-supposed-to-be-funny-nsfl-content-inside.578114/

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