Feminism and the “Adult” Cartoon

I’m 24 and I still get a kick out of watching cartoons. Most of all, I love the “adult” cartoons. There were four that I watched fairly religiously, “The Simpsons”, “South Park”, “Family Guy”, and “American Dad”. I thought that they were all equally smart and funny in the beginning, but then I began to notice a sharp contrast between the four… mainly in regards to “The Simsons” and “South Park” v. the Seth Macfarlane creations “American Dad” and “Family Guy”. The more I watched, the more I noticed how degrading the Seth Macfarlane creations really are to women. I know these cartoons have other issues besides just how they relate to women, but for the sake of space, I’m focusing on the women on this post…
“The Simpsons”, in all it’s glory, is still pretty tame in comparisons to the other 3 cartoons (which wasn’t necessarily the case when it first came out). Homer is the “typical” dad, a little dense sometimes, but you notice throughout the show that he genuinely cares about his family. He really, truly loves his family and is willing to do anything for them.
In “South Park”, the cartoon is more from a perspective of some very mature 8-year olds. While occasionally, they do make some hideously off color remarks in regards to race and world news, the women play a somewhat secondary role in these boys’ world. There are the “girls” in their class who are as “gross” as girls are to any 8-year old (with the exceptions of Stan’s undying love for Wendy and the episode where BeBe goes through puberty and develops breasts). On the other side of the “women” spectrum of “South Park”, there are the family members. The mothers, the sisters, and other miscellaneous relatives all play minor parts in the lives of the 4 main characters. There have been the occasional show that demonstrates a young boys love for boobs, but then again, that’s sadly a little realistic… especially for boys on the brinks of puberty.
And then there are “Family Guy” and “American Dad”. While the premise of both these shows are different, some of the basic character elements are the same. They both revolve around the nuclear family and both have men with really “hot” wives. Rare is there an episode in which both male characters do not make some ignorant or sexist remark in regards to their wives, daughters, or women in general. The appalling thing about this is that neither character seems apologetic and none of the women notice. There are minor, dirty characters that are sprinkled throughout the show (Quagmire, Roger, etc.). The overall feel just seems to be get laughs and be offensive in any way possible.
Kinda like “Porkys”…
The general idea is that these cartoons are meant to entertain but is it necessary to disregard another gender just for a few laughs? Unfortunately, we’re stuck with these two mega-cartoons for awhile in syndication and new episodes (Macfarlene is signed up in a $100 million contract with FOX). The sad thing is, anyone who tries to point out the ignornace of the cartoons are knocked down as having a poor sense of humor or just lampooned in the show (remember when Peter went on the women’s retreat after he sexually harassed a co-worker?)
I ::heart:: pop culture…