American Dad, Sadism, and Anti-Masculinity

[AustinJames]

I watched my first episode of American Dad, and was greatly disturbed that such levels of sadism and anti-masculinity have become, not just prevalent in, but the crux of mainstream entertainment.

 

In this episode, a vicious storm descended upon the family's home town.  The title character claimed to have taken preventative measures against natural disasters (sealing the house against water, fire, chemical attacks, etc.), but all these fail.  The failure of these measures, and the failure of the father figure to render viable solutions to subsequent problems become the prime point of ridicule for the duration of the episode.  The man's wife is constantly skeptical of his methods and solutions, but the man overrides her protests with adamant refusal to negotiate, or engage in a rational discussion.  The consequences of the man's actions are catastrophic, and the criticisms of the wife always prove to be well-founded.

 

I was especially disturbed by the interaction of the family's alien character with a girl.  The girl was in 'puppy-love' with the alien, but her advances were met with sociopathic indifference and sadism.  At one point, the house capsizes and the girl is hanging from the floor, and the alien tells another character just to ignore her desperate cries.  In the next moment, she falls from the floor and is impaled by a chandelier.  The depiction was quite graphic, and the alien was initially distressed; but the punch line is that he was only distressed at the soiling of his sweater, which she was wearing.  Later, we learn the girl clung to life, only to be murdered by the annoyed alien.

 

Upon seeing this, my stomach turned.  I was shocked and sad, and it took a minute to clear my head of the image of the girl impaled by the chandelier.  After the sensation had passed, I was strangely happy and proud of the level of empathy that I have cultivated that would elicit the reaction that I experienced.  I was then saddened by the question, "this is supposed to be funny?"

 

It seems more and more entertainment depends upon an intellectually limited and empathetically numbed audience.  Why is this funny to people?  Can anyone explain it to me in a way that doesn't require suppressing empathy?  Is this show a good barometer for social sadism?  Any guidance on this would be appreciated.  I would particularly love a reason not to be discouraged by this blatant glorification of sadism and anti-masculinity.

[Aaron727]

American Dad is generally making fun of how fucked up the world is. The show isn't saying look how virtuous the characters are, its the opposite. A lot of the time comedy lets us talk about fucked up shit that were not comfortable talking about in normal life.

[AustinJames]

I wonder if there are ways to counter propaganda such as this with like force.  Is it possible to create a cartoon comedy series depicting virtue, that would become as popular?

[Omega 3 snake oil]

 @ AustinJames  I'd say you should watch older Simpsons (1-10) and some South Park seasons (maybe 4-8). Those shows have the effed up humour (more SP actually) but ultimately had a moral compass. Actually King of the Hill might be a better example--moral compass and not really effed up.