Death+of+Brian



Death of Brian

In choosing a photo for this topic, it was important to find an image that could represent death while also maintaining a light-hearted tone. When viewed through a comedic lens, difficult topics such as death, can be wrapped in a shroud of humor which makes the difficult topic more palatable for the average person. Comedy is also an extremely reflective form of entertainment. It exposes and ridicules the insecurities and imperfections of the creator and the society of its creator in a way that is impossible for other forms of art or entertainment to do. Seeing as how comedy has this raw ability to tap into the human psyche and with death being such a taboo topic in American culture, I felt it was only natural to choose a photo from //Family Guy.// //Family Guy// was created by a New Englander by the name of Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane hails from what is known as the least vehemently religious part of the United States, New England. This means that people from the northeast typically have the best perspective from which to objectively analyze religion-related issues, like death. McFarlane’s television show takes the age-old image of the Grim Reaper and repackages it to make Death a middle-aged man who lives with his mother, drinks too much beer, and hates his career. Death’s lifestyle is a direct comparison to working-class life for many Americans. By making Death incredibly mediocre, MacFarlane and his fellow writers were able to downplay the inherent power that Death possesses and create a character that is able to be more easily processed and appreciated by the audience. When watching //Family Guy//, one does not intend to be presented with boring, technical analyses of American culture. The show attracts the majority of its viewers by giving delivering hilarious antics from a gaggle of strange and highly flawed characters. //Family Guy// appeals to a broad audience of people who enjoy animated comedy that is made for adults. Because they are watching an animated comedy, like //Family Guy//, which is known for its scenes of ridiculous events, the audience not only expects, but actively desires to see absurd caricatures of real-world happenings.By knowing all of this, we can have a better understanding of how the image that I chose came to exist. In the still image that I used for this essay, we are being shown the moment when Death appeared with his dog at Peter Griffin’s, the main character’s, house. They are there because Peter Griffin’s talking dog, Brian, was choking on a dinner roll. This is sort of surprising because typically the afterlife has only been extended to humans. The scene makes more sense after recognizing our national obsession with our dogs. A dog in the United States is treated as an integral part of its family. American dogs are treated like humans, hence the reason that Brian has human qualities like speech and walking upright. Brian’s entire existence on the show relies on an American’s seemingly-instinctual impulse to treat our dogs as humans. And as with people, we have a very difficult time discussing the death of our dogs. So it is not such a strange occurrence to see the dog of Death visit Brian. It is important to note, however, that Death’s dog is walking on all four legs as to contrast it against Brian’s bipedalism and humanity. The contrast reveals that Brian will be made the same as the other dogs in the after life and further cements Death’s reputation as the great equalizer. The image features many different elements that serve to add to the overall comedic tone of the scene. The most important elements are the characters who receive the most attention-to-detail in order to focus a viewer’s attention onto them. Surrounding the characters is a simple depiction of a living room wall with only two photos and a small table adorning said wall. There is also a small view of the outdoors but we only see a minimally detailed tree among other, even less detailed shrubbery. Also, the colors in the image are very simple and designed not to take away from the dialogue. Once again, this is to focus the viewer’s attention on the characters. The awkward encounter which the characters are having with Death and his dog is only made more bizarre when we notice that Peter Griffin is carrying a body which we can safely assume is dead. However, even more bizarre is that everyone’s attention is focused on Brian and the dog of Death and no one seems to notice, or maybe care, that Peter Griffin is carrying the dead body. It is interesting that the dead body is not the focus of the photo because it reinforces the lack of seriousness associated with //Family Guy//. Seth McFarlane is not someone who I would associate with ethos and logos because his television shows and movies have not been known for respecting ethics or adhering to logic. As such, //Family Guy// does make really powerful appeals to our emotions. With this particular photo, we are forced to confront our feelings and fears related to death, both human and dog. Although this show is very comedic in nature, it managed to portray a scene that, despite being ridiculous and bizarre, plainly lays out and challenges the taboos we have on issues surrounding death. Death is something that every single human being (and dog) will face at point. And though we may not want to discuss it or think about it, it is somewhat comforting to have portrayals of death that can make us laugh or feel less anxious about the topic. It is important that we, as humans, come face to face with things that make us feel uncomfortable. Only by doing so can we dismantle our traditional, yet irrational, taboos placed on such topics.