Difference between South Park and Family Guy
These days, the world has a huge obsession with seemingly funny people running their lives in the most dysfunctional ways. We all have a hunger for peering into other people's lives as reflected on television and in pop culture. Such is the case with insanely popular animated sitcoms such as Family Guy and South Park. The cute characters may seem pretty playful and harmless, but wait for them to open their mouths and you'd realize how deceiving they all could be; politics, celebrities, family issues-if you're looking for a smart gag, delivered with snappy humor, you name it, they've done it. Let's take a look into the anatomy of Family Guy and South Park.
Plot Structure and Characters
Family Guy is a cartoon series that focuses on the lives of the Griffin family, all of who are seemingly dysfunctional in their own disarming way. There is
- Peter, a blue-collar employee
- Lois, his wife who came from a wealthy family but chose to give it up in the name of love
- Meg, the sad, unpopular teenage daughter
- Chris, the overweight, self-conscious adolescent son
- and Stewie, the youngest child who is impossibly intellectual and irritatingly obsessed with power
South Park on the other hand centers on the humorous lives of a group of young guy friends:
- Kyle, a Jewish boy who happens to be very intellectual
- Stan, a sensible boy who happens to be Kyle's best friend
- Erik, the schemer
- and Kenny, who is known for dying in almost every episode
The Creation
An animator and voice actor named Seth McFarlane conceptualized Family Guy, as well as another similarly-themed sitcom called American Dad. In 1997, he took inspiration from two short films he had earlier created entitled "The Life of Larry" and "Larry and Steve", and merged these ideas to come up with Family Guy.
In that same year, voice actors Trey Parker and Matt Stone came up with South Parkafter the creation of their two short stop-motion films entitled "Jesus vs. Frosty" and "Jesus vs. Santa" and gained popularity through Internet-sharing. Off the record, Trey and Matt, being best friends, loosely based the characters Kyle and Stan on themselves.
Channels
Family Guy debuted for Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox, for short) while South Park aired on Comedy Central. Both channels are from the US but these shows have already been broadcast worldwide, and fans come from several countries. Although airing on different channels, both animated shows exhibit similar themes that generally incorporate toilet humor and cultural or religious references for comic effect, which have helped them gain notoriety and controversy, but this has not stopped both sitcoms from garnering more fans and followers.
Similarities and Differences
- Family Guy and South Park are just two of the many animated sitcoms that have grown popular because of their humorous references to flawed human nature and life in general.
- Despite the crude humor, they remain to be a popular choice for viewers, primarily because such shows have an escapist nature yet can still be tied in with realism.
- Although both are created in the United States, the universality of the shows have gained them a big number of fans worldwide.
