Why is Family Guy often used as an indication of low intelligence?

[Nazulu]

I've seen it on this site and hundreds of message boards. Everytime someone talks about what they consider a stupid person, they seem to mention "Loves Family Guy." Sometimes, they'll mention how they can quote Family Guy or quotes Family Guy to thier friends.

I don't understand why this makes a person stupid. They don't seem to care if you quote anything else to your friends, but the moment you use Family Guy quotes, you've lost 400 IQ points. It might not be the hieght of wit and hilarity, but it is funny. I see no reason to call someone dumb for liking a simple cartoon show.

Did they really say a person is stupid for watching Family Guy? Or is it when they talk about stupid people, they often bring up how they quote Family Guy?

The first one is a lot worse than the second one, to say someone is stupid for watching a show is very ignorant.

If it's just quoting Family Guy a lot then that can be pretty annoying, but that show doesn't make people stupid.

In the end it's just ignorant people saying offensive things which happens all the time on the net, so I either ignore it or correct them.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I have loathed Family Guy since the first day it aired.

At first it was just a bad Simpsons knock off, but then they went full blown with the interchangable jokes and it started sucking even more.

 

[Fenreil]

I loathe Family Guy and American Dad because they're basically outlets for McFarlane's opinions. Remember that Brian(The character) is basically McFarlane. He's voiced by him and has even been labeled by McFarlane as his personal character. Now, you'll notice that all the political and social views in the show that aren't completely retarded are stated by Brian, and these statements are well received by everyone else.

A lot of people like Family Guy because of the people it makes fun of, i.e. Republicans and Christians, both of which I can relate to. This isn't why I hate it though. I hate it because of the way he goes about this humor. If McFarlane was doing the complete opposite and making fun of Democrats and Atheists, I would still find it stupid as shit. The show is nothing more than Fart jokes, Pop culture references, and insinuations that George Bush uses crack.

American Dad was created just so he could get in more political jokes. The ONLY FUCKING REASON.

I wouldn't really have a problem with this if I didn't know that these shows are influencing people. People take the opinions they see and make them their own, and I should know. I watched a bit when I was younger, and I started agreeing with the bastard, for no reason. I didn't think about it or form my own opinion, I just took his for my own.

Bah, forget it, I'll just keep not watching the show and go watch something intelligent...

 

[Elementlmage]

Because people are stupid.

"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People?s heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."

It's kind of apt, and you sort of reminded me of it.

Yes, I am fully aware of all of the irony that this post contains and/or represents.

 

[pcload1etter]

Because people are stupid.

QFT I judge a person's stupidity by a lot of things other than Family Guy quotes.

 

[Harlemura]

I like Family Guy.
I find the jokes funny. So they're not the best structured, perfectly executed jokes in the world, they're still funny to me.

 

[Veritas0323]

This analogy might be a bit hard to understand but the same reason applies to why people think that Green Day writes intelligent political songs. Family Guy just dumbs things down and makes them more accessible to a larger amount of people (like Green Day did with politics)at the cost of subtlety/intelligence.

Also, yes I think that Green Day became a stupid band once they started writing about politics, not necessarily when they became popular.

FYI: I consider good political songwriting to be Bad Religion (their singer has a phD for fuck's sake) Rage Against the Machine (VERY left wing) and State Radio (listen to them if you like reggae/rock/punk fusion)

Wow I just realized how off topic that was.....Family Guy=low brow humor that more people can relate to, that's why it's popular

 

[Mutie]

Family Guy is funny as fuck because it doesn't give a shit and just takes the piss. I think it's mint and quote it on a regular basis. But by no means does that make me stupid, I think the way they've structured the show is very intelligent as it is a very entertaining cartoon.

 

[silver wolf009]

Family guy is often thought to be a pinnicle of stupidity because the only intelligent people on it are brian and stewie and the show as a whole relies on crude humor and cheap laughs.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I'd have to say that people who write Family Guy off completely as "low brow" humour are most certainly a rather prejudiced bunch.

Family Guy does contain a lot of stupid gimmicks and gags, that's true, but if some of these prejudiced people bothered to actually watch a few episodes the more witty and intellectual sides of the show would become apparent.

Another thing that's worthy of appreciation is the fact that Family Guy is one of few shows that actually has the balls to treat a good load of taboo topics that few other shows would dare to touch.

So if you ever hear someone calling you an "idiot" just because you enjoy watching Family Guy, chances that your critic is an idiot him/herself. And what's worse: a prejudiced idiot to boot...

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Most of the jokes are fart jokes or something that's just straight up dumb. Sometimes, they can do something hilarious, but this rarely happens. See, they're the kind of show that mistakes "offensive" with "funny" much like many stand up comedians. They see how far they can push the line, much like South Park, and honestly I really don't find that funny. There are some jokes like the one where he tries to get the frog out of the window that are actually really funny, but they're buried so deep in the sex/fart jokes that it's hard to find.

 

[Dark Angel Warlord]

ya know people its a cartoon made to make u laugh and its made for adults
okay not everyone is going to like every joke
i like how they push the boundries and tell the FCC off

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Why does intelligence even play a part in this discussion? It's not perfect, but nothing is...and it's still more enjoyable to watch than most things on tv. Give me a slightly crude cartoon comedy over a reality show, tacky game show, chat show, "ride pimping" or antique valuation show any day.

I hear people quote Pulp Fiction all the time, but there is no way it will put me off of it.

IT'S WORSE THAN THAT TIME I DID _____ in

LIKE THAT TIME I ______ to ,

Rinse and repeat every 2 fucking minutes. McFarlane has absolutely no clue how to structure a joke. Let alone a funny one.

Crazy idea. Maybe humour is subjective?...just throwing it out there.

 

[Decabo]

Family Guy's humor uncreative and cheap. None of the jokes are related to the story, it's always "This is worse than the time I threw a spoon into a pool of root beer" or something. People who like the show just have a stupid idea of what's funny.

 

[Indecizion]

i dont think that its necessarily that the show makes you dumb more that dumb people are attracted to the show, that being said, NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA SPIDERMAN, SPIDERMAN, HERE COMES PETER ON THE CLOTHESLINE BUT HE IS NOT PETER HE IS SPIDERMAN, SPIDERMAN rofl, yes but i dont agree necessarily i dont mind family guy its good for some easy laughs though it is true that you dont exactly have to think hard to get the humour of it.

 

[BonsaiK]

I've seen it on this site and hundreds of message boards. Everytime someone talks about what they consider a stupid person, they seem to mention "Loves Family Guy." Sometimes, they'll mention how they can quote Family Guy or quotes Family Guy to thier friends.

I don't understand why this makes a person stupid. They don't seem to care if you quote anything else to your friends, but the moment you use Family Guy quotes, you've lost 400 IQ points. It might not be the hieght of wit and hilarity, but it is funny. I see no reason to call someone dumb for liking a simple cartoon show.

Quoting something from a TV show - ANY TV show - in conversation marks you out as someone who is unable to have original thoughts and think for themselves. Family Guy in particular cops a lot of flak because it is simply not that good a show - it's an inferior clone of The Simpsons in almost every single respect. The humour is duller and more obvious, the characters are poorer, it's not as original, it really is "The Simpsons for people who are too dim to understand the multi-layered humour of The Simpsons". So the general thinking of people is this: if you're going to be unoriginal and boring in your conversations, and crib lines from a TV show because you lack a personality, a sense of individuality or the ability to make witty remarks of your own, at least show people you have better TV-watching taste than Family Guy. That's the reason why people get criticised for it, as far as I can tell.

 

[Nazulu]

Another thing that's worthy of appreciation is the fact that Family Guy is one of few shows that actually has the balls to treat a good load of taboo topics that few other shows would dare to touch.

There are many many shows that have the same or even more balls than Family Guy, shows you possibly never heard of. Comedians always cross the border as well so this isn't new to the world. It started with George Carlin talking about the 7 bad words in the late 70s I think.

 

[RanD00M]

I've seen it on this site and hundreds of message boards. Everytime someone talks about what they consider a stupid person, they seem to mention "Loves Family Guy." Sometimes, they'll mention how they can quote Family Guy or quotes Family Guy to thier friends.

Are we talking about the same Escapistmagazine.com here.Because the one I frequently visit has never had any incident like that.Or at least not as far as I can remember.

 

[Mutie]

Earth and Sky... It's a fuckin cartoon. They don't give a damn how intelligent their audience is, the creators just like making rediculous scenarios. South Park rags on it because it is a completely different style of comedy which also pushed PC boundries and the simpsons rags on south park because it's a pile of idealistic wank.

At the end of the day, it's midnight: I've spent all day writting and I've just completed a few missions on Fable and maybe watched a good film on Film4 (unlikely as it maybe as the only good films they show tend to be on at about 2 in the morn). I don't want to watch a documentary or a drama, I was some mindless drivel with a few ball-shots at pop culture to lighten the mood; that is what Family Guy is for!!