Would you or would you not be nice to Meg?

Couchpotato: If you think the OP topic is so stupid, then, to quote yourself,

Do something better with your time. Like watching Family Guy.

This thread reminds me of why I dislike Peter and Chris so much. I'm not a big fan of Meg , but I hate seeing people (and characters) getting ostracized & bullied for things that aren't their fault (Meg being ugly). Heck seeing nice characters, male or female, getting teased for things that aren't their fault is a personal wall banger for me.

Peter and Chris remind me of those boys who make women feel bad for how they look, and I guess that's why I make the mistake of taking Family Guy too seriously and I have to remind myself that it's only a cartoon sometimes.

Now I'm not saying that anyone should dislike or like Meg, but the Aesops involving her get very annoying.

edited 25th Feb '13 11:24:32 AM by MsCC93

I would be nice to her, but she would probably annoy me. The girl thinks that "Hold On to the Night" is a kick-ass song, for God's sake!

I'm not a fan of Family Guy,but to it's defense,the Meg abuse thing really doesn't look like the writers are trying to advocate that woman/family abuse is funny.It seems like Meg is simply a victim of Zoidberg trope.The writers don't know what to do with her anymore and are tired of repeating teen-centric episodes,they notice she doesn't have alot of roles in the episodes and they brutally lampshade it.Meg isn't disliked by others for her looks,it's because she is an "extra" and the looks thing is just a nice red herring. It's important to remember what shock humor really is.It doesn't necessarly mean sociopathic,nor arethe people who enjoy it.The reaction is more of the lines of "Haha,did they really say that?!" rather than "Haha,this is funny".I don't think the viewers are laughing at Meg's misfortune,but the absurdity of the situation.

I'd be nice to her, but then again, I try to be nice to everyone, unless they've proven that they don't deserve it. Come to think of it, Meg's treatment on FG is exhibit A of why I dislike the Butt-Monkey trope; it all too often is used as a substitute for actual character development, which it shouldn't be. And call me a killjoy/stick-in-the-mud/wet blanket/whatever, but I don't find sociopathic "comedy" all that funny in general. The world is a nasty enough place as it is. But I digress....

I'd probably be as friendly to her as I would anybody else. But why does Meg have to have a special thread for her situation?

Hell, the entire existence of this one reminds me of this AT&T commercial comments below. I personally found the commercial funny. There are people in comments moralizing, worrying about the little girl's self-esteem and seeing the guy as rude. Still, it's not to meant to be taken seriously and neither are the Meg gags for the most part. There are exceptions such as episodes which show her reactions to it, but for most part, it's like guy above said about making fun of Zoidberg.

Comedy in general often involves suffering in some way, big or small. It's all about timing and what appeals to some people. If it doesn't appeal to you, it doesn't. Moralizing it however is just making a far bigger deal out of it than it really is.

edited 26th Feb '13 10:24:43 PM by Prime_of_Perfection

Oh man, that was a funny commercial.

But see that was funny, 'cause it was part of a joke. The Meg abuse is the joke... which isn't even a joke in the first place. So it just comes off as mean-spirited, I guess.

Not to me personally, I couldn't give two shits. But I can see where people are coming from.

Oh I fully understand that. I can think of examples where I know others went for things being funny and I just found it mean spirited. I just don't care to make a bigger deal out of it. It doesn't appeal to me, I move on. I'm indifferent to Meg thing and just don't see why she needs to be analyzed. I know this is a site for analyzing and I'm a fan of it, but I do realize that sometimes people over-analyze.

I wouldn't be nice to Meg. She's Meg. Ew.

@79 I understand what you see...I mean I heard that the writers don't like writing for Meg because they don't know how. I really don't mind if others think the abuse is funny or not, since everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions.

@Prime of Perfection: A little comedic suffering is fine; like you said, timing is everything. But flat-out sociopathy is just unpleasant and not very funny to me at all. But that's just me.