Family Guy:Stereotypes and Inferiority

After watching “Miss Representation”, a documentary focusing on the conflicts of the way media portrays women, I noticed an episode of a series I had watched in the past relates to the issues discussed in the documentary. In the Family Guy episode, “We Love You Conrad”, many hints of women stereotypes and their inferiority to men are shown explicitly. In the beginning of the episode, Brian Griffin is excluded from his ex-girlfriend’s wedding and begins to contemplate the accomplishments of his love life. After seeing that he has nothing worth acknowledging, he goes to a bar and meets Lauren Conrad, a guest-star in the episode. After their relationship is leaked, Brian is laughed at by both his family and the public for dating someone who is “famous for being famous”. After Brian realizes that Lauren is much more intelligent than he is, he leaves their relationship and attempts to get his unintelligent ex-girlfriend back at her wedding. Scenes from the episode that are relatable to the documentary go as followed:

Lois: Well, I think it's wonderful that you're datin' such a classy, well
educated girl like Lauren Conra ... ha ha. She's such an idiot, Brian.
She's such an idiot!

Brian: This doesn't make any sense. If you're so smart why do you hide it?

Lauren: Come on, Brian. You know America doesn't like smart people.

Brian: Alright, I can’t do this.

Lauren: Can’t do what?

Brian: I can't date someone who's smarter than I am.

Lois’ statement about Lauren being an idiot because everyone like her in media is unintelligent goes back to how a single stereotype about a group of people can result in the belief that a single trait shared by a small amount of people is applicable to everyone in the group. Similarly, a stereotype pointed out by the documentary would be that because women in media are mainly props to compliment the main character, women in reality must also be expected to be beautiful and obedient. Both stereotypes result in viewers and consumers to have a one-sided view without being exposed to different perspectives of the those in the group. Lauren excusing her hiding of her intelligence by claiming that “America doesn’t like smart people” shows how stereotypes can also limit our own characteristics. The way stereotypes shape our traits can be shown in the documentary when a group of teenagers change their appearances in order to seem more like women in media, the stereotypes of women. The reason behind Lauren accepting the stereotypes in the episode could be because she doesn’t wish to be excluded from the norm as an “outsider” for defying those stereotypes. Brian’s lack of acceptance towards Lauren’s intelligence indicates his refusal to be inferior to women, a group defined by stereotypes as less than men. “Miss Representation” defines this as the result of men believing they need to be more competent than women in order to be seen as a real man. Explaining how Brian refuses to date someone more capable than he is.

When I had first watched “We Love You Conrad”, I never gave much of any thought to the scenes involving stereotypes and inferiority. After watching it a second time with knowledge from the documentary, the episode seemed more clear and blunt than it had been before.