TV sitcom Family Guy has been praised for challenging ‘problematic stereotypes of dwarfism’ in a revealing new academic study.
The animated series, created by Seth MacFarlane, has long courted controversy for its near-the-knuckle humour, and has been the target of numerous taste and indecency complaints.
But Dr Erin Pritchard, a Lecturer in Disability and Education at Liverpool Hope University, suggests it sets an example for others to follow - because it pokes fun at outdated social attitudes, rather than making disabled people the butt of gags.
Writing in the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies this month, Dr Pritchard argues: “In all scenes included in this analysis, the characters with dwarfism were portrayed in an ordinary manner, dressed in everyday clothes, often partaking in everyday activities and thus were part of society. They were not portrayed in any tokenized manner akin to dwarfism, such as being humorous or mythical.
“The characters with dwarfism were not perceived as childlike or humorous, but rather other characters perceived them as such to make an implicit joke indicating that society’s perception of and interactions with people with dwarfism was the crux of the joke.”
The way the laughs are constructed in Family Guy, which is regularly shown on ITV2 in the UK, might also help to change attitudes for the better.
Dr Pritchard, a core member of Hope’s Centre for Cultural Disability Studies, argues: “Humour has the potential to expose common social attitudes experienced by people with dwarfism in society. This can help to educate people about dwarfism, especially when considering that living experience encounters are rare.”
The key scenes Dr Pritchard analysed showed how Family Guy works to ‘discourage the audience from laughing at disability whilst still including disabled people in everyday situations.’
One cut-away gag from Episode 10, season 5, sees a group of three ‘midgets’ in a supermarket asking a slightly-taller person with dwarfism if he would mind retrieving an item for them from a shelf too high for them to reach - something which makes the person with dwarfism extremely happy.
While Dr Pritchard takes great exception with the use of the term ‘midget’, she adds: “The scene subtly exposes the way nondisabled people usually feel good when assisting disabled people.”
A key element Dr Pritchard commends Family Guy for is portraying people with dwarfism as ‘ordinary people with ordinary lives’. And the series’ set-ups poke fun at members of the public who ‘infantilise’ people with dwarfism.
One gag in the show, from episode 9 season 4, sees character Joe Swanson - a policeman with his own disability - called to a domestic dispute involving a couple who both have dwarfism. Family Guy’s main character Peter Griffin and friend Quagmire accompany Joe to the scene. The argument between the dwarf couple descends into a Punch and Judy-style bust-up while Peter and Guagmire find the whole thing hilarious.
Dr Pritchard, of Hope’s School of Social Sciences, argues: “Immediately the scene exposes a common social encounter experienced by people with dwarfism, implicitly demonstrating that people with dwarfism are considered figures of fun by wider society.”
Another scene, from episode 10, season 7, sees a man with dwarfism, wearing a suit and tie, announcing the bombing of Pearl Harbour while standing on a chair behind a lecturn.
Despite the man delivering such terrible news, the audience he’s addressing begins to interrupt and shout, ‘He’s adorable!’.
Not only does the scene show how the ‘built environment is not size-suitable for people with dwarfism’, says Dr Pritchard, but it also highlights ‘society’s inability to see past a person’s dwarfism and some of the stereotypes associated with them.’
In another cutaway gag, ‘The old man and the midget’, two people are sitting at a bus stop - an old man and another younger male with dwarfism. The person with dwarfism is seen as just an ‘ordinary member of society’ going about his day.
But Dr Pritchard writes: “The older man is seen staring at the person with dwarfism who after a brief silence asks, ‘Sir, will you please stop staring at me’ to which the older man replies, ‘Where’s the rest of you?’ in a rather angry tone.
“While it’s true that a joke is made towards the height of the person with dwarfism, the scene simultaneously exposes social ignorance towards dwarfism and highlights some of the social issues they encounter, including being stared at and being asked intrusive questions.”
Dr Pritchard is speaking from experience as someone with ‘achondroplasia’, the most common form of dwarfism.
And while she admits that not everyone will share the same viewpoint on Family Guy, and will interpret the jokes differently depending on their world view, she adds: “I have dwarfism and have experienced the unwanted consequences of reductive representations of dwarfism in the media. For example, it is not unusual for me to be asked ‘where my six little friends are’ or to be called names relating to characters with dwarfism, such as ‘Mini-me’ and ‘Oompa Loompa’.
“This makes me increasingly critical of depictions of dwarfism in the media. However, when watching Family Guy I have noticed a difference in how people with dwarfism are represented in comparison to other shows and can actually relate to the characters and their situation. And I find the humour quite refreshing as it does not rely on crafting jokes from existing stereotypes of dwarfism.”
The positive appraisal of Family Guy by the Hope academic is likely to be welcomed by creator MacFarlane, with the series having previously been criticised by Former US Vice President Sarah Palin for an episode featuring a character with Down syndrome.
Meanwhile Dr Pritchard has also recently written scathingly about how people with dwarfism are employed as ‘dwarf-for-hire’ entertainers, being booked to attend events such as stag-dos and hen parties.
Writing in the Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, she argues that dwarfism should not be exempt from humour, but adds: “Why we laugh at people with dwarfism in society is directly influenced by the acceptability of being able to laugh at dwarfs in the entertainment industry.”
She also explains: “Throughout history, from the time of ancient Greece, it’s been okay to laugh at dwarfs. And people associate being small with a lack of intelligence. They say, ‘You can’t become a teacher, so become an entertainer instead’.
“It really annoys me when people say, ‘well, it’s a job for them’. It’s so lackadaisical. The people who defend this type of entertainment are either the ones who laugh at it or the ones who profit from it.
“If you have to say, ‘It’s not exploitation’, it clearly is. I’ve had a dwarf tell me, ‘I educate people about our issues when they hire me out’. What? You educate them while wearing your clown outfit? It’s humiliating, people are laughing at you and not with you, and there are many people like me who don’t want to defend it.
“There are, sadly, a minority of people with dwarfism who still want to live in the Victorian era. And I’d argue that negative attitudes in society towards people with dwarfism have actually deteriorated in the last ten years, rather than improved.”