I would disagree - about both shows.
I can't stand watching South Park because all of their humor seems so mean-spirited. All it does is point out the flaws in anything they can get their hands on.
Family Guy, on the other hand, tends to explore different viewpoints. Instead of just making fun of and parodying something, it uses different characters to show all sides of an argument. Some of the episodes that come to mind in this respect are the OJ Simpson one, the gay marriage one and the one about immigrant workers. Even though episodes are build around an argument, it never end with saying one side of the argument is correct, it just states it's opinion on the matter, and it doesn't force you to believe the same thing.
That's why I don't thinks it's anti-religious at all. It may criticize religions (all of them, not just Christianity), but it won't condemn them. They always make sure to point out the strengths as well as weaknesses. Everything really earns it's right to be parodied, because everything good and bad attributes. You can't just keep saying all celebrities and pop-culture icons should be made fun of.
As for the Jesus (why do they filter that?) date-rape thing, that just sounds like one of the points where most people get confused whether it's a joke or a show of opinion. Of course that's a joke! The idea is so absolutely ridiculous and absurd that it becomes funny. It's not criticizing religion, or trying to insult anyone, at all.
I can understand how you could get hung up on that, though. From what I've seen, a lot of Christians are just so sick of being made fun of, that they jump to conclusions whenever they see anything that could possibly be making fun of them again. I have that same reaction with FG, I'm so tired of people saying it's stupid and I'm stupid for liking it, that I go and do something like this.
Just as something to add in here, I feel I should mention something I saw in an interview with Seth MacFarlane once. They brought up South Park parodying Family Guy. MacFarlane mentioned that The Simpsons parodied them, too, but that was fine because he is friends with The Simpsons creator, Matt Groaning, so he knew it wasn't a mean-spirited attack. But the South Park thing - it was mean-spirited. MacFarlane never fought back, to my knowledge.
Message Edited by 55 on 04-05-2009 05:17 PM
man march incedent
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