finally- family guy and Jews

I think this is really terrible, but have fun with it anyways, I guess.

Judaism and Family Guy: Should Jews be offended?

Cartoons for kids have been around forever, but now cartoons are not just geared towards them. The Simpsons started the trend on /air in 1989, but in recent years with shows like South Park and Family Guy, animation has proven that it can take on adult subject matter. One common subject of these adult cartoons is religion. Family Guy is not the first of these adult cartoons to take on religious themes, nor has it been the most controversial. But two episodes that make jokes about Jews, one which was originally scrapped from air (but later made its way onto Cartoon Network as a rerun and later Fox) and one that aired for the first time a few weeks ago, have left people uneasy instead of laughing. So what’s the difference between a joke and an insult- where is that thin vague line drawn?

Family Guy's storyline revolves around a family living in Quahog, Rhode Island. Throughout the series, many references are made to various religions, not just Judaism, and a handful of episodes are completely devoted to the topic. Many of the references are based completely in stereotype. Peter Griffin, the main character and family patriarch, embodies a stereotypical New England blue collar Irish Catholic man who drinks an exorbitant amount of alcohol. The most obvious and frequent Jewish stereotype that appears throughout the series is seen in the minor character Mort Goldman, who owns the local pharmacy and would best described as a total nerd who constantly seems to be anxious and/or complaining about random ailments. Given that all of the characters are based on stereotypes of all religions, Mort Goldman falls very low on the offensive scale.

One episode, however, literally may have tipped the scale- “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein.” The episode begins with Peter drinking with his friends at The Drunken Clam- they offer to pay because their stockbrokers, with the last names Greenstein and Rosenblatt, made them good money. Peter decides that in order to get more money, he also needs to find a Jew to help him with his finances so that he can make extra money. This realization is made through Peter singing a song, the tune of which is based on “When You Wish Upon A Star” (hence the episodes title), except Peter is singing, “I need a Jew.” Throughout the song, various Jewish images appear, like bagels, a dreidel, a menorah, and Murray’s Deli, which has a sign on it that says “closed on Saturdays.”

As if by fate, a man who introduces himself as Max Weinstein knocks on Peter’s door with car trouble. Peter is thrilled that he has found his Jew, and promptly begs him for financial advice. Max asks Peter, “How did you know I was an accountant?” to which Peter responds “Hello, Max Weinstein,” emphasizing the name to infer that due to the fact he is Jewish he is therefore good with money. “Let’s not deny our heritages. Your Jewish, you’re good with money. I’m Irish, I drink and ban homosexuals from marching in my parade,” Peter tells him.


This is the most frequently addressed stereotype in Family Guy- the idea that Jews are good with money. Peter frequently brings up this point, and seems to also think that all Jews are brilliant, while the other characters try to get him to realize that he is only examining a stereotype. Talking at dinner, Peter says to Max “Is there nothing you people can’t do? I mean besides manual labor,” to which Lois interjects and reminds Peter that the built the pyramids. Peter then decides they should convert to Judiasm so that he will become smart. Max tries to counter by taking Peter to Temple, where he learns of famous Jews- half of Lenny Kravitz, Optimus Prime (of Transformers fame)- but Peter only draws the conclusion that Jews are more genius than he thought, and as a result tries to convert Chris, his son, by having a quickie bar mitzvah in Las Vegas so that he will become smart and successful. The episode ends with Lois intervening last minute so that this doesn’t happen.

The second episode of the current season of Family Guy also dealt mostly with the topic of Jews. Called “Family Goy,” Lois learns when going to the doctor that her mother was a Holocaust survivor and a Jew. She approaches her mother about this, who confirms the information and says she hid it because of her husband and Lois’ father, who wanted to conceal it so they could get membership at a country club. Lois then invites Max Weinstein, from “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein,” over for dinner to ask him some questions about being Jews. Peter bounds in, wearing full Jew regalia- tallit and kippah- announcing he has chosen to embrace Lois’ heritage and he has changed his name to “Khh” (think of a really long ח ). Max and Lois try to explain to Peter that this is not really what Judaism is about, that he’s going about Lois’ heritage the wrong way, etc., to which he responds, “leave it to a Jew to take all the fun out of being a Jew. Now I like the hat and I like the scarf, so we’re doing this.”

The family starts to incorporate Judaism into their lives. Stewie is sent to Jewish day school, where he earns a trophy for his soccer “skills” simply for kicking the ball while the other children stare at it. At first he is confused by the change, but is quick to embrace it when he finds out Chanukah is 8 nights of gifts. But this all changes when the ghost of Peter’s deceased father returns; his father, who appears a few times previously in the series and is seriously devout Catholic, warns Peter that he must go back to his Catholic ways or face serious consequences. The next morning at breakfast, Lois offers him a bagel, which he promptly throws at her. Lois asks what’s wrong, and Peter declares that him and his family are done with Judaism. Lois tries to make him realize that he’s being ridiculous, to which he replies, “Jews are gross, Lois. It’s the only religion with the word ‘ew’ in it.”

Throughout the rest of the episode, Peter tries to terrorize Lois and any other Jews he sees. When Lois tries to get the mail, he starts shooting a gun at her. She freaks out just as Mort, Quahog’s token Jew, appears- Peter starts shooting at him. When Lois freaks out at Peter again, Mort says “No problem, that’s just how people say hello to me,” prompting Peter’s neighbor Joe to fire a shot, to which Mort responds by saying “Hi Joe!” In the end, Lois is holding a Passover Seder with her children, which Peter tries to drunkenly interrupt wearing an Easter bunny costume. Lois gets Peter to stop when Jesus appears and reminds Peter that him that he is in fact Jewish (Peter has him prove it by asking him a question about how much a tip would be on a bill, again relating Jews and money), that Judaism and Catholicism are not all that different, and that the Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder. When Brian mentions a connection to Islam, Jesus responds, “Let’s not muddy things up here.” After this warm fuzzy moment of religious harmony, Lois and Peter are confused about what religion their family should be. When Peter asks Jesus what religion their family should be, he responds, “They’re all complete crap.”

While these two episodes are full of controversial statements, innuendos, and pictures, Christianity appears much more throughout the series than Judaism does. G-d and Jesus are very often the subject of Family Guy’s frequent cutaway gags, usually involving G-d using his “powers” or a bad pick up line to get a girl but it goes horribly wrong, forcing Jesus to come and get him out of the situation (example: G-d tries to light a girl’s cigarette with a lightning bolt from Heaven, instead burns her death, G-d shouts“ Quick Jesus! Get the Escalade!” and Jesus does.) An example of how Family Guy looks at religion can be seen in the episode “Holy Crap.” Peter was raised by a devoutly Catholic father, and their relationship, along with his father’s religious views, are the subject of the episode and represents another stereotype along the Irish Catholic stereotypes Peter’s father is a nasty, bitter, G-d fearing man who is obsessed with hard work and constantly criticizes fat and dumb Peter, who tries constantly vies for his fatherly affection and approval. His religious devotion seems to serve as the basis for his bitterness, as his strict adherence to his doctrine prevents him from really forming a relationship with Peter (he constantly says Peter is not religious enough), and he spends a lot of time making fun of Lois, Peter’s wife for being Protestant. In “Holy Crap,” Peter makes a final attempt to get his father’s approval by devising a plan to kidnap the Pope. Upon kidnapping the Pope, Peter asks him if he thinks he’s a failure, to which the Pope responds that just because he’s not a perfect Catholic does not mean he is a failure in G-d’s eyes. When they finally meet up with his father, Peter asks the Pope to tell his father this so that his father will finally approve of him. Peter’s father merely responds that he always loved Peter, he just didn’t like him- and that there must be something wrong with the Catholic Church if they think Peter isn’t failure, because his life is full of sin.

The creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, has stated several times that his personally religious views lie with atheism. That being said, Seth MacFarlane seems to make fun of religion as a whole on the show instead of targeting of one religion. If he does seem to a target a religion, it is certainly not Judaism, as it does not appear nearly as much as Christianity does, and most of the jokes are based upon stereotypes about Jewish people (most commonly about Jewish people and money, having a lot of it and knowing how to handle it), and not necessarily stereotypes that are bad. When they make fun of Christianity, they make fun of Church practices, doctrine, and spend a lot of time poking fun at Jesus and even G-d.

Has Seth MacFarlane gone too far? Should people be offended by what’s meant to be a joke? Should Christians be afraid and not Jews, or vice versa? At the end of the day, I think there’s a reason why Family Guy is a cartoon- it’s all meant in good fun and not to target Jews. But I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether it’s offensive or funny.