I decided to take a different approach to the posting for this week and why Jesus matters. I was recently watching Family Guy and noticed that the creator, Seth MacFarlane, presents Jesus in totally different manner than most Christians would see him as. MacFarlane is an atheist and approaches the traditional views of Jesus in a sarcastic way and pokes fun at organized religion. In this first video, he pokes fun at Christians and their belief in miracles.
In this second video, Jesus is rubbing the celebration of his birthday in the face of Vishnu.
In this third video, MacFarlane portrays Jesus as a jock who wasn't actually standing up for the weak.
I have seen this Family Guy episode, and I the point Trevor is making. I have watched Family Guy for a few years now, and while it can be funny at some moments, when they choose to poke fun at religion (especially the one I worship) I can never laugh. It is not funny when they make fun of Jesus and/or use him as a source of humor.
ReplyDeleteIn this episode “I Dream of Jesus”, the main character Peter buys a “Surfin’ Bird” record from a shop. Upon purchasing it, he realizes the guy he is buying from is “Jesus.” Jesus tells him he comes back every few years and to keep his identity a secret. Peter thinks it is amazing because he is hanging out with him. At the family dinner table, Peter has Jesus perform tricks for his entertainment. At the table Jesus also insults the daughter Meg by saying that she is “a little fella.”
The clip with Jesus against the jocks is in the episode “Go Stewie Go!” It is also disrespectful, as Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane portrays Jesus as someone who picked on others. Highly inaccurate and by no means funny, I did not find this remotely entertaining. Jesus helped so many people in his LIFE, and this clip acts if this never happened. In no way, shape, or form would Jesus have ever taken this side in a dodge ball match, as Jesus strove for true happiness. I know that on the other side this can be seen as “entertainment” and not to be taken seriously, but with all of Family Guy’s parodies of Jesus, I take this seriously.
I think all of these parodies of Jesus can be due to the fact that MacFarlane is an atheist, so he feels he can openly mock any religion he chooses. Personally I have no problem with MacFarlane being atheist, as it is his life and he can freely decide his own religion. But I think he takes it a step too far when he mocks other religions. Beside mocking Christians, he has made fun of Jews and Hindus to name a few. They are similar in the manner that Jesus is being mocked in.
In the second clip, Jesus rubs Christmas in Vishnu’s face. Not only did I not find this funny, but also Jesus actually cursed in the clip. As many people know, Jesus was never one to curse. He kept a clean mouth and spread the Lord’s word around as he made his journey.
This episode insults Christians very much and acts if Jesus was alive to perform tasks for his amusement and not focus on what he actually did. I felt very insulted and as a result I have refused to watch another re-run of it. In the past I have turned a cheek when they reference Jesus or any other religion, but with this episode’s central theme I cannot watch it. Family Guy is being disrespectful toward Christians and anyone who worships Jesus.
After re-watching the clips, I feel as if my attitude toward Family Guy has changed. I used to consider it one of my favorite shows, but even with some of its humor it disrespects my religion. It would be hard for someone to like something that disrespected a big part of his or her life. I am not saying I will never watching Family Guy again, but my attitude toward it is more negative. I hope they stop making fun of all religions, and go back to the other humor that actually makes it funny.
This blog post makes a very valid point. Christians do seem to attribute more to faith and miracles than can be proven. I have asked a few Christians what they think about faith, and every time they try to define faith, the definition somehow includes the word belief. I think that faith and belief are completely different. They usually tell me something similar to this: faith is the belief in something that is unprovable or unknown. I feel that those two words are completely different and cannot be used within the definition of one another. I attempted to create a metaphor in defense of my thoughts to try and illustrate to my Christian friends how I felt about faith versus belief. I described a glass of water and how that belief could be said as such: I believe that when I drink this glass of water, it will become empty. Faith would be more like I drink the glass of water, then it will miraculously fill itself back up. For it may not happen every time, a person must have the "faith" that it will in order for it to do so. Although it may be unrealistic, if you had faith that it would refill itself, it would. There is no way to possibly prove this to be possible, but that's the magic of faith. You must have faith in something without having had seen it with your own eyes. Therefore, belief is the act of witnessing the glass of water become empty from it being drank, and thinking that since you've seen it become empty and stay empty unless someone fills it back up, is a belief. You believe it will happen and therefore it does. Having faith is a much more ethereal thought that cannot be ever legitimate.
ReplyDeleteStating that Jesus created miracles could be an overstatement of the science and technologies of the time. People have faith that he created miracles, whereas some people believe he had miraculous acts for the time which they could not explain until science progressed.
Family Guy tends to take things out of proportion and place comedy into serious situations. They use Jesus to mock Christianity and create a bit of lightness with religion and faith. Television usually lets them get away with small attacks to beliefs but if they attempted such acts about 500 years ago, they would be tried with blasphemy. It may be funny for our time as it is now, but that would not always be true to society throughout humanities history.
I think popular portrayals of Jesus are really interesting as well. They are paradoxical; on one hand many people watching most likely are strong believers in Jesus seeing the popularity of christianity and these shows, there must be some overlap. On the other hand, these portrayals are very inaccurate to what the bible teaches Jesus was really like. It would be interesting to analyze the audiences of these shows and ask how they truly feel about this and if they feel any dissonance being entertained by something a church figure, such as the pope, would see as wrong.
ReplyDeleteThese videos also reminded me of South Park episodes. I can remember specific episodes where Jesus, Moses, and even God himself were shown in the shows. In South Park, the representations are even more offensive than in these Family Guy clips. Is there a line that practicing catholics draw when it comes to being entertained by inaccurate representations of biblical figures? I found this particular post as very thought provoking and an interesting spin on the typical conversations found on the blog.