Week Three: (1,2) Bringing Quagmire and Lois into the Classroom

1. “Blind Ambition”, Family Guy episode, Season 4. Viewable at http://www.familyguy.com/
Animated series are an important part of our popular culture. In this episode of Family Guy, the sequence opens at the Quahog bowling alley. Lois is watching the boys bowl, and proceeds to announce her need “to tinkle”.

(Description) The chosen scene begins with an establishing shot of Lois walking through the ladies room and entering a stall. The bathroom is absolutely quiet; the sound of the stall door closing is magnified to highlight the lack of background noise. A solid shot of Lois placing toilet paper on the seat is shown for a few seconds. Breaking the silence, audiences hear the “Gigidy, Gigidy” noise closely associated with Quagmire. Lois stops and listens closely, but no one has entered the scene. As she continues to cover the seat, another “Gigidy, Gigidy” is heard in the background. Lois stops again for a few moments, starts to cover the seat again, and hears, “Will you just sit down already?” She makes a large gasp, followed by a low angle shot of a smiling Quagmire in the ceiling above the bathroom stall. A medium shot of Lois is shown for about half a second, quickly replaced with a close up shot of Lois screaming. As soon as this close up shot appears, the “Dant Dant Dah” suspense melody is played loudly to end the scene. Immediately following this scene, the sequence continues with a cameo shot of the newscast announcing the arrest of a “peeper in the local pee'er”.

(Purpose) In this specific scene, the lighting does not change at all. However, sound has a significant impact in the humor associated with this scene. Similar to Hitchcock's shower scene in Psycho, the audience knows something is going to happen. However, the silence works to build suspense and the familiar climax music helps to close the scene. Additionally, the low angle shot of Quagmire highlights Lois' perspective while adding to the “awkward creapiness” of Quagmire's position in the women's bathroom. This “awkward creapiness” carries the humor in the scene, coupled with the ongoing perverted personality of Quagmire (fans of the show expect this type of behavior from Quagmire). His location (hanging on to the top of the ceiling) also establishes a polar relationship associated with a man in the women's bathroom.

2. Teaching film/media editing techniques would help to highlight the reactions/emotions deeply associated with media products. Each type of shot has a distinct purpose (establishing shot gives an overarching visual, close up centers the audiences' focus) in the scene. Examining these shots will help to identify the creators' purpose and intended reactions. In English literature, we often ask “What was the author's purpose?” This is mirrored in film studies when we ask, “Why does the creator present this shot?” Additionally, we often ask, “Why did the author choose these words?” and could also question, “Why did the creator pick this music?” Learning, identifying, and evaluating film techniques is simply an extension of perspective and author intent in an English classroom.