Saturday 6 November 2010

Disability representation - Joe Family Guy

Joe Swanson 








































Example of typical mockery of Joe Swanson 




The character Joe in Family Guy is paralysed from the waist down, his job is as a Police officer.
In episodes of Family Guy there are different stories as to how Joe became disabled, including falling off a roof whilst trying to catch the Grinch. 
He is mocked and shown in situations that he can not cope in as a disabled person, it is normally intended to be mocked in a comic manner, there are many gags pulled by other characters in vein of Joe, in fact there is rarely a scene with Joe where his disability is not mentioned or taken the mick out of. 
Joe Swanson is shown in quite a negative manner and sometimes you feel that the jokes may have been taken too far and the show can only really get away with it because it is a cartoon and not taken very seriously, I can't give an opinion from a disabled perspective but I do imagine that sometimes a person in a wheelchair may be offended by some of the more distasteful jokes used in the show. 

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