Family Guy in general is pretty known for having very strong minoritizing discourse on race, gender, and sexuality. One episode that I felt have one of the strongest cases of minoritizing was episode: Quagmire's Dad. In this episode Quagmire (who is known to be very aggressive with women and having sex with multiple partners) invites his friends Peter and Joe over to meet his dad, who is coming to visit. Before Peter and Joe go to meet Quagmire's dad they are excited because they expect him to be as much of a ladies man as his son is. Peter and Joe soon find out that that is not the case when they realize that Quagmire's dad is gay. Peter and Joe become concerned because Quagmire seems to not notice that his dad is indeed a homosexual so they tell him what they believe and Quagmire is forced to confront his father. Quagmire's father tells his son that he is a women trapped in a man's body and that he wants to have a sex change. So his father has a sex change. The episode concludes with Brian meeting Quagmire's father and sleeps with her not nothing that she used to be a man. Brian finds out after the family tells him and he is disgusted with himself.
Minoritizing discourse on sexuality believe that heterosexuality is the norm and everything in society should be about what works for heterosexuals (Transgeneration Power Point) and this episode clearly shows a minoritizing discourse of sexuality. When Peter and Joe first come over to meet Quagmire's to meet his father they show his father dancing around and wanting to drink a Cosmo, as if it is not manly to dance around to festive music and drink Cosmos. This immediately shows stereotypes of gay men and when Peter and Joe begin to poke fun at Mr. Quagmire for being gay it shows that homosexuality is something to make fun of and is not considered to be the norm. This can also go with Moddelmog's argument that
Minoritizing discourses of transgeneration explain that gender binaries are highlighted and refined and also it give ideas that characters are fixing an internal problem (Transgeneration Power Point). In the episode it gives a clear representation of this when Mr. Quagmire comes out and says that he is not happy being a man and he feels that if he stays a man the rest of his life will be miserable. Another way that this episode shows minoritizing discourse of sexuality is the reaction that the Griffin family has towards Mr. Quagmire after he has the sex change. Mr. Quagmire is invited over to the Griffin house for dinner and immediately the first thing out of Peter's mouth is "Hey so do you miss your penis?", another example of how transgender is seen as some what of a joke and shouldn't be taken seriously.
Lastly another minoritizing discourse of sexuality that appears in the episode is when Brian sleeps with Mr. Quagmire not knowing that she used to be a man. Before Brian finds out that Mr. Quagmire used to be a man he believes that she is his soul mate and he feels that he has finally found the one that he will spend the rest of his life with. Brian tells Peter and Lois about what a wonderful time he had with a women that he has met and then proceeds to show them a picture of her. Peter notices who it is and then begins to laugh hysterically. Brian later has to find out Mr. Quagmire's secret from Stewie and he puts to the pieces together and finds out that that is who he had slept with. He begins to vomit for a ridiculously long time and immediately goes to take a shower to show just how disgusted he was with him self. I believe that this showing minoritizing discourse of sexuality because it makes it seem like that a man that had a sex change can not have any real relationships and can't physically be intimate with a man just because he is transgendered. This can also go with Moddelmog's argument speaking about how same-sex marrigage and relationships are seen viewed as evil in our society. She says that " A more troubling threat is the potential transformation of the way in which marriage functions as a disciplinary mechanism that not only regulates heterosexual desire but helps to produce it" (Moddelmog pp.9). What I think she is meaning by this is that he believes that it will turn into a bad thing for society if it continues to only accept heterosexual and not even to consider same-sex marriage or relationships as acceptable.
Works Cited
Brown, Adrienne. "Transgeneration." May 2011. PowerPoint.
Moddelmog, Debra A. "Can Romantic Comedy Be Gay? : Hollywood Romance, Citizenship, and Same Sex Marriage Panic." (2009): 162-72. Web.
This episode of Family Guy represents the minoritizing view that society uses to interpret homosexual, queer, and transgendered individuals. Transgender peoples clearly deviate far enough from the norm that society has began to treat them as people who don't deserve the respect and privacy that all others receive. A good example of this is when Peter asked Mr. Quagmire whether or not he missed his penis. When meeting the father of your close friend, it is highly unlikely that you would mention his genitals; so why should transgender individuals be any different? Society is so minoritized in their though process of transgender bodies that they forget simple concepts like respect, privacy, and common courtesy and instead just cater to their curiosity and ask inappropriate questions. This episode of Family Guy illustrates that people who deviate from the norm are thought of as objects of their sexual preference rather than as people.
ReplyDeleteI love watching family guy and I don't remember watching this episode off the top of my head, but it definitely sounds like a great example. I think that anyone who watches family guy, and knows all of the characters pretty well would agree on this. There are a lot of family guy episodes out there that are good examples of this.I do think that the part where Brian sleeps with Mr.Quagmire then finds out that he used to be a man and ends up being disgusted with himself is a good example of the minoritizing discourse of sexuality. The simple idea of sleeping with someone who was a man and is now a women is portrayed as being weird and not the norm.
ReplyDeleteI felt that this episode of Family Guy was an excellent example of minoritizing and universalizing discourses in popular culture. Although the episode was minoritizing in various ways, I felt that it was universalizing in several ways as well. I felt that the episode created a (somewhat) realistic depiction of the issues that Transsexual individuals face every day. For example, issues of sex, and social stigma. I also liked that the episode made an effort to focuse upon how Quagmire's father felt about his sexuality and about his decision to become a transsexual, for example, when Quagmire's father explained to Quagmire of the reasons in which he felt uncomfortable about his gender and that he "felt like a woman trapped inside a man's body". After the operation, Quagmire's dad was ecstatic about his new body (and new name, Ida). I also thought it was beneficial that the creators of Family Guy added the scene at the dinner table with Peter and Lois when Quagmire's dad debunked the myths about Transsexual people (i.e. if he was gay or not). Although Peter and Lous dismissed Ida's statements, I felt that it was used as an important message to the viewers of Family Guy. Hopefully this episode and others will help resolve the stigma behind LGBTQ issues.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you analyzed this piece and appreciate that you noticed that problems with the reactions that the characters had to the father’s sex change. This episode is really important in showing how transgendered people are mistreated and often times misunderstood. In saying this, I would like to draw in on the fact that Peter asked the man “do you miss your penis?” This seems to be a very personal question and not something that should be talked about among two strangers let alone at the dinner table. In class, we discussed that often times transgendered people are asked very personal questions whether it be about their body parts, feeling, or sexual desire that almost dehumanize them and make them as objects. I feel that the scene at the Griffin’s house family dinner with the man after his sex change is very good representation of this.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this blog. I am a huge fan of Family Guy but watching it and analyzing it are two different things. I remember seeing this episode and thinking there was something not quite right about the comments they were making about homosexuals. When Mr. Quagmire has a sex change and Brian finds his soul-mate or thinks he finds her until he finds out “she” is a “he”. Peter laughs hysterically and Brian goes and vomits for days and he showers because he is disgusted with himself. This goes to show you that society thinks it is okay to poke fun at the homosexual and gay communities and this is not okay. The media is not helping the scenario at all. I thought the writer did a great job of showing how minoritizing sexuality was portrayed in Family Guy.
ReplyDeleteThis family guy episode was a very good representation of minoritizing discourses on race and gender. All the examples provided were strong arguments to why this episode shows how society still minoritizes marked identities. This is a good representation that everyone is assumed to be the norm until told or proven different. When Brian first goes out with Mr. Quagmire he assumes that this girl is normal until he is told that she is transgender. Only after he is told he assumes all of the stereotypes about transgender people. Society has a hard time breaking away and universalizing stereotypes that have been given to marked identities. Being gay of transgender are becoming increasing more common and society is slowing trying to universalize these ideas, this episode shows how much of society still wont accept or change the way we view marked identities.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching this episode of Family Guy a while ago. Brian is attracted to Quagmire's father at first. After he finds out that she is transgendered, he is disgusted and revolted. I think this was an interesting moment because in our society, being transgendered is not yet accepted fully. In this case, it is something to be made fun of. If Brian did not know her secret, it would have been interesting to see if he would want to start a relationship with her or not.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog was written very well and I enjoyed reading it. I've never seen this episode but I think it's very sad in its representation of transgenders. I also wonder too what would have happened if Brian had not found out that she was once a man. I think his reaction to finding out that she was a transgender was very immature.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge fan of Family Guy, but after reading this post I am very interested in watching a few episodes! I loved the Moddelmog refference with Brian and his situation. Though I'm sure the show is meant to be very sarcastic and light hearted in a sense it undoubtedly show's the way people and society may view "marked discourses of sexuality", as far as realtionships, and orientation. The sad reality is that most LGBTQ persons don't have a safe place to "come out" a lot of times and this just somewhat reinforces that idea/concept.
ReplyDeleteWell written blog post and great analysis of the episode. I think that this episode of Family Guy helps draw attention to transgenders in a satirric way but by adding humor to it it is able to confront the issue. This reminds me of the docummentary that we watched about the four different transgenders in college and you had the one girl, who used to be a male, who was always hit on. It's strange how they are okay with them when they seem like a regular person but then once you find out that they are the minority or different from the norm all of a sudden Brian is disgusted with it, when before when he saw her as a normal girl he was talking of spending the rest of his life with her.
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