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Is Violence Now The Family Way?

Animated television comedies are responsible for shaping an increasingly violent element in today’s youth, writes Kyle Romanowski.

The momentous and ongoing success of the Simpsons is placing increasing pressure on other popular animated television shows to differentiate themselves in menacing ways in order to survive. The very successful Family Guy and South Park that followed in the wake of the Bart and Homer sitcom, have explored risky and controversial themes in order to build up and engage a loyal youthful audience.
Even Seth Macfarlane, the creator of Family Guy, will admit he has gone too far. Consider for a moment the script where Peter, the animated sitcom's titular patriarch, needs a kidney. "We cut to the bathroom," MacFarlane says, "and Meg [Peter's daughter] is unconscious, lying in a bunch of ice, and he's slicing a kidney out of her. It just got a groan of disgust at the table read."
Despite the fact these shows are meant for older audiences, they can be easily accessed by young children and teenagers. In fact, by the time the average US child starts elementary school, he or she will have seen 8000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on TV [New Scientist, 2007]. These viewings can greatly alter an individual’s values, attitudes and beliefs, and actions later in life. According to a recent study by the American Psychology Association, “people who watch violent television as children behave more aggressively even 15 years later, with outcomes such as spousal abuse and criminal convictions.”
The success of the Simpsons can be attributed to its multiple layers of comedy and numerous links to popular culture. Like many other shows, the Simpsons boasts that it has no ‘sacred cows’, and uses character representation, sly moral messages and light-hearted humour to satirise these issues without offending the wider audience. Family Guy and South Park however, are less subtle, and combine graphic physical violence and language with tasteless storylines...