Lead Blog Response: Cutaway Gags

Although I do not watch much Family Guy anymore, I grew up with my older brother obsessively watching it. I remember being seven years old, laughing at Stewie's voice and his antics to kill Lois. Obviously I shouldn't have been watching Family Guy in second grade, but it's not like I understood all of the terribly offensive jokes anyway. I do remember that there was a frequent use of cutaway gags, although at the time I did not know what they were called. I just recall Peter referencing various celebrities/characters and cutaways to those people saying bizarre things or being in weird situations. Upon watching the video in Arnav's blog post, it brought back memories about the structure of Family Guy. Now being older and able to understand both the structure of the show and its content, I agree that the show seems to rely heavily on these cutaway gags. However, I do not think this is a bad thing. Especially with references to movies and other things in popular culture, these cutaway gags often enhance the joke. I watched The Shawshank Redemption over the summer, and although my brother had not seen it, of course he knew of the Family Guy parody. I found the parody to be hilarious and extremely well-done, and I think that the reenactment of famous moments in the movie definitely enhanced the humor. Another example of a successful cutaway gag in the clip is the first one, when Jesus tells Peter that "My dad just quit smoking and he's a little on edge". The thought of God smoking, then quitting and becoming on edge is funny in itself, but the cutaway gag of a bearded man in white complaining about loosing his checkbook and finding a pen cap with no pen brings this humorous statement to a new level. I do not think the majority of cutaway gags on Family Guy are just random sequences of events. Rather, I think they are well thought-out, comedic details which provide enhancing visuals to the joke.