As a fan of acerbic animation, I often find some of my favorite shows are the topic of controversy. It’s happened to The Simpsons, South Park and of course, Family Guy.
Family Guy is the latest to cause controversy, not by offending a whole group or association, but this time by offending one former Governor of Alaska.
If you’re not familiar with the situation, a recent episode of Family Guy featured a character with Down Syndrome who, while on a date with a main character, says her mom is the former Governor of Alaska.
Like most of Family Guy’s humor, this particular joke is an acquired taste. I’m not here to judge if the joke was funny or offensive. However, I do feel that this whole brouhaha is an excellent example of how media and politics have evolved.
Getting beyond the topic of the joke for just a minute, consider the view of this situation from a strictly media level. A program on the entertainment channel of Fox made fun of a person who has been hired by the news channel of Fox. The reaction of the Fox News Employee to the Fox Entertainment joke has become a story on a variety of TV, radio, and web-based media not affiliated with Fox.
As a result, people who don’t usually hear or see Sarah Palin have been able to see her, and from that exposure, may decide to try to watch more of her analysis. As another result, many people who didn’t see the Family Guy episode are now watching the episode on line and may watch the next episode, now intrigued by what they will do next.
Somewhere, Rupert Murdoch is laughing so hard that very expensive milk is shooting out of his nose.
See, Rupert Murdoch runs both networks. So if people are upset with Family Guy and decide to tune it out, but then decide to watch more Fox News Channel, he wins. Or if people now think Family Guy is very funny and decide to watch that program, he wins. And, considering that this whole process bought his networks countless minutes of free exposure on countless media outlets, he won again.
While Rupert Murdoch and Fox may seem like a singular example, mastering both sides of the equation is not unique to Fox.
Many other corporations have mastered this talent when it comes to politics. That’s why you’ll see the same major companies sponsor both major political party conventions. And while there are still a few organizations that rely on one party, like unions and oil companies, most corporations have learned how to play both sides.
The joke that usually makes me laugh the loudest is when one party claims that the other is in the pocket of Big Business. Every politician is in Big Business’ pocket and it’s been that way for awhile.
There’s a direct correlation between getting mad at a particular politician because of their association with Big Business and everyone’s reaction to the Palin/Family Guy situation. “Big Business” is just like Rupert Murdoch. They don’t care how angry you get or which party you’re going to vote for now, either way works for them.
Not a very funny joke, huh?