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Leonard Gordon Ms. Bessire English 1010-099 6, April, 2014 Rhetoric Essay of Antonia Peacockes Family Guy and Freud: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. Final draft.

I enjoyed reading the essay, Family Guy and Frued: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, as I am an avid watcher of the show Family Guy myself. I remember when The Simpsons first started airing on The FOX Network, which started a steamroll of adult animated shows. It all started with a short on The Tacey Ullman Show and spawned into the longest running American sitcom. With Animation Domination becoming more and more popular and with The Simpsons and Family Guy leading the revolution, strong debates have risen on the content of the comedy within the show, but with the rise in DVD sells and viewer support, shows like American Dad, The Cleveland Show, King of The Hill, and Futurama, with their harsh and off beat type of humor, seem to be here to stay. Peacocke is a student at Harvard University majoring in Philosophy and wrote the article, Family Guy and Freud: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, just for the book, They Say / I Say: the Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Peacocke successfully uses her knowledge of Freud and valid reasoning to persuade her audience that jokes that have the most effect are the ones that are most personal, and the jokes within the show regarding stereotypes shouldnt be viewed as taboo.

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Peacocke makes her argument through logical explanation and factual support of her opinions. Peacocke brings up facts of Family Guy DVD sells and viewer support that has kept the show airing. Peacocke writes, It must be one of the few television shows in history that has been canceled not just once, but twice (300). Even though the show was cancelled twice, fan support brought the show back on the air. Peacocke writes, But then it came back with a vengeance (301). Her credibility is reinforced as, Antonia Peacocke is a student at Harvard University, where she is majoring in philosophy and received the Catherine Fairfax MacRae Prize for Excellence in Both English and Mathmatics. A National Merit Scholar (299). She appeals to the readers with logic as she begins her argument by making a connection between Freud and the popular show Family Guy. As Peacocke states, Those who dont often watch the program, as Dubner admits he doesnt, could easily come to think that the cartoon takes pleasure in controversial humor just for its own sake. But those who pay more attention and think about the creators intensions can see that Family Guy intelligently satirizes some aspects of American culture (303). It seems all the popular adult animated comedies are controversial. The Family Guy brand of humor can be over the top and it seems nothing is off limits when it comes to humor on the show as Peacocke states, It will come as no surprise that I was not alone in this view; many still denounce Family Guy as bigoted and crude. (300). The shows humor can be a racist, crude, edgy, over the top at times, but Peacocke persuasively argues, the show is very well written and the jokes can be somewhat complex with political and social satire undertones.

Though Family Guy has many naysayers and the shows humor can be offensive; Peacocke is very convincing throughout the article using her psychoanalysis skills to show how Family Guy intelligently taunts modern American society. Peacocke writes that some may think the show Family Guy takes pleasure in offensive humor, however, it portrays a similarity to the

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American culture of today. Peacocke gives an example of this involving Brian and Stewie, characters from Family Guy, where Stewie is reading a book simply because a celebrity (Oprah) reads it. While some may dismiss this as dumb humor, Peacocke again demonstrates the true satirical humor by stating, Brian and Stewie demonstrate insightfully and comically how Americans are willing to follow the instructions of a celebrity blindly and less willing to admit that they are doing so (304). This shows how Peacocke uses logical evidence and analytical skills to demonstrate the true nature of Family Guy.

Peacocke was very convincing in her argument through logical explanation, credibility, and writing technique to persuade her audience. I am a fan of Family Guy so I didnt need much convincing, but I can see how many viewers might be offended by Family Guys crude, edgy, and off-beat brand of humor. Family Guy isnt for everyone as Peacoacke quotes, Such viewers are not rats in a behaviorists maze, as Slate writer Dana Stephens labels modern American television consumers (304). You definitely have to watch the show with an open mind and not be easily offended. The upshot of all this is that its good to laugh at ourselves and I agree with Peacockes statement, Jokes all have their origins, and the funniest one are those that hit home the hardest (308). Not everyone has an open mind, and not everyone enjoys the same brand of humor, but we can all relate that television has become a huge part of Americans day to day lives and these crude and off-beat animated shows seem to be a permanent fixture of todays pop-culture. Peacocke was very convincing in her argument and used her knowledge and writing ability to persuade the audience that Family Guy exposes true aspects of American culture.

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Work Cited

Peacocke, Antonia. Family Guy and Frued: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. They Say / I Say: the Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Ed. Cathy Birkenstein, Gerald Graff, and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 299 311. Print.