Peter Griffin
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This article is about the Family Guy character. For other uses, see Peter Griffin (disambiguation).
| Peter Griffin | |
|---|---|
| Family Guy character | |
 Peter Griffin | |
| First appearance | Death Has a Shadow |
| Voiced by | Seth MacFarlane |
| Information | |
| Full name | Peter Löwenbräu Griffin |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Safety inspector at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory Brewery shipping clerk Fisherman |
| Spouse(s) | Lois Griffin |
| Children | Meg, Chris, and Stewie |
| Relatives | Thelma (mother), Francis (adoptive father), Mickey McFinnigan (biological father) |
Peter Griffin is a fictional character of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the patriarchof the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998. Peter was created and designed by MacFarlane himself. MacFarlane was asked to pitch a pilot to the Fox Broadcasting Company based on Larry and Steve, a short made by MacFarlane which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. After the pilot was given the green light, The Griffin family appeared on the episode "Death Has a Shadow".
Peter is married to Lois Pewterschmidt and the father of Meg, Chris and Stewie; he also has a dog who is also his best friend named Brian. He has worked at a toy factory, as a fisherman, and at the Pawtucket Brewery.
Peter's appearance was a redesign of the protagonist Larry from MacFarlane's previous animated short films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. The Peter Griffin character has received generally mixed reviews from critics. He has appeared in several pieces of Family Guymerchandise, including toys, t-shirts and a video game, and has made crossover appearances in other shows, including The Simpsons, South Park and the Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show.
Role in Family Guy
Peter Griffin is a Catholic with a prominent Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts accent.[1]Peter is also Mexican by birth.[2] He's the husband of Lois and the father of Meg, Chris and Stewie. He is the son of Thelma Griffin and Mickey McFinnigan, and is the stepson of Francis Griffin. Peter and the rest of the Griffins live in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Islandwhich is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island.[3][4][5] Peter primarily worked as a safety inspector at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory, until his boss Jonathan Weed choked to death on a dinner roll; he then became a fisherman on his own boat, known as the S.S. More Powerful than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk Put Together. with the help of two Portuguese immigrants, Santos and Pasqual, until his boat was destroyed.[6][7] He now works in the shipping department of the Pawtucket Patriot brewery.[8][9] Peter is also shown in various jobs for single episodes and cutaway gags.
Family Guy uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not age much, so the show is always assumed to be set in the current year. However, several of the characters, such as Meg Griffin and Chris Griffin, have aged two to three years since the show's pilot episode, while others, such as Stewie and Brian, have remained the same age.[6] In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, although this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes.
In a running gag, storylines are randomly interrupted by extremely long, unexpected fights between Peter and Ernie the Giant Chicken, ananthropomorphic chicken who serves as a rival to Peter.[10] These battles parody the action film genre, with explosions, high-speed chases and immense devastation to the town of Quahog.[11]
[edit]Character
[edit]Creation
When he was still in college, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane created a cartoon short called The Life of Larry.[12] The short centered around a middle-aged man named Larry and his anthropomorphic dog Steve.[13] He made a sequel called Larry & Steve, which Cartoon Network broadcast in 1997.[14] In 1999, MacFarlane was working for Hanna-Barbara Studios, writing for shows such as Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, and Cow and Chicken.[15] The short caught the eye of 20th Century Fox representatives, who asked him to make a TV series revolving around the characters.[13] MacFarlane received a US$50,000 budget to develop a pilot for the show, which was about one twentieth of what most pilots cost.[15] MacFarlane claims to have drawn inspiration from several sitcoms, namely The Simpsons and All in the Family.[16] Several premises were also carried over from several 1980s Saturday morning cartoons he watched as a child, namely The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, and Rubik, the Amazing Cube.[17]
In three months, MacFarlane created the Griffin family and developed a pilot for the show he called Family Guy.[18] Brian's character was largely based on Steve from the Larry and Steve cartoon, with Larry serving as the primary basis of the Peter character.[19] The character's personality was also partially inspired by a friend of his father who fell asleep while watching the 1993 film Philadelphia.[20] The network executives were impressed with the pilot and ordered thirteen episodes, giving MacFarlane a 2 million dollar per-season contract.[18]
In "Peter's Two Dads", it is revealed that Peter's biological father is an Irishman named Mickey, which is based on the heritage of MacFarlane's biological father.[13] MacFarlane said, "When I was growing up, my father had lots of friends: big, vocal, opinionated New England, Irish Catholics. They were all bursting at the seams with personality, and Family Guy came out of a lot of those archetypes that I spent years observing."[13]
[edit]Voice
"Part of it was the fact that there was no money, initially. Part of it is that it's just the way I like to work. I like the freedom of being able to just get in there and do it myself. To look at a storyboard and be involved with what the visual acting looks like, as well as the voice acting, is nice. It frees me up to do jokes that are maybe unconventional that need to be done an exact, specific way, that can only be done by involvement with both parts of the process."
The voice of Peter is provided by the show's creator MacFarlane who provides the voice for Brian, Stewie and Quagmire, MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time only characters, most prominently those of news anchor Tom Tucker, Lois' father Carter Pewterschmidt, and Dr. Hartman.[22] MacFarlane has been part of the main voice cast from the beginning of the series including the pilot, as well he has been voicing Peter from the start.[23] MacFarlane chose to voice Peter and the rest of characters voices himself, believing it would be easier to portray the voices he already envisioned than for someone else to attempt it.[17]MacFarlane's speaking voice is not very close to Peter's as his normal voice is used to voice Brian.[17] MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while he was attending the Rhode Island School of Design.[24] MacFarlane who voices many of Peter's ancestors which share the same type of voice.[23]MacFarlane noted in an interview that a reason that he voices Peter and the rest of the characters he voices is because they had a small budget. But that he prefers to have the freedom of to do it himself.[21]
There have been several occasions were MacFarlane does not voice Peter. In the episode "Family Gay", (season 7, 2009) in this episodeSeth Rogen provided a guest-voice as Peter under the effects of the "Seth Rogen gene".[25] "Road to the Multiverse", (season 8, 2009) instead he was voiced by Japanese actor Jameson Yang, who was required for a scene where everything in the world was Japanese.[26]
[edit]Personality
Peter, a stereotypical blue-collar worker,[27] frequently gets drunk with his neighbors Cleveland (until Cleveland moved to Virginia in 2009 with his son), Joe and Quagmire at "The Drunken Clam," Quahog's local tavern.[28] After taking an I.Q. test, Peter discovered his low intellect falls slightly below the level for mental retardation.[29] Peter is known for his brash impulsiveness, which has led to several awkward situations,[30]such as attempting to molest Meg in order to adopt a redneck lifestyle.[31] He is incredibly jealous of other attractions Lois has in her life, an attitude which has led to extreme situations, such as when he assaulted a whale that kissed Lois at SeaWorld.[32] In the third seasonepisode "Stuck Together, Torn Apart", Peter and Lois split up because of Peter's jealousy, only to discover that Lois has the same character flaw and the two decide to live with their mutually jealous nature.[32] Peter has a very short attention span which frequently leads him to bizarre situations, as Chris points out in "Long John Peter", after Peter's parrot dies "He will get over it pretty quickly and then move on to another wacky thing", to which Peter finds a pipe organ and forgets about his parrot (Peter then destroys the pipe organ within seconds and then finds the deed to a cattle ranch).[33]
Peter has complex relationships with all three of his children. He normally makes fun of Meg and treats her badly. In "FOX-y Lady", (season 7, 2009) where Peter, Meg and Chris try to create a cartoon and they exclude Meg and her ideas.[34] Though in some episodes Peter has had a good relationship with Meg- in Hell Comes to Quahog, (season 5, 2006) Peter almost tells Meg that he loves her and in Road to Rupert, (season 5, 2007) he told Meg that he would treat her badly in front of the family, but that he would be her friend in secret.[35][36] Peter and Stewie had their adventures when he took him to Walt Disney World Resort in the episode "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", (season 4, 2006).[37] With Chris, Peter communicates well, but at times when in need of advice or in an adventure Peter tells Chris to do the opposite of what he should do, like in "Long John Peter", (season 7, 2008) where Chris is asking for advice on dating and Peter tells him to treat women horribly.[38]
[edit]Ancestry
"Head of the Griffin family is Irish-American Catholic Peter, an obese and bespectacled man who is just a big child – and has other roots beside his Irish ones, including African-American, Spanish, Scottish and German."
James Bartlett, The Great Reporter.[13]
Before Peter was born, his mother Thelma went to Mexico to have an abortion.[2] However, she gave birth during the procedure, and smuggled him home to Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent his childhood.[2][39] Peter was raised by Francis and Thelma Griffin in the Roman Catholic faith.[40]However, in "Peter's Two Dads", he discovers that his biological father is anIrishman named Mickey McFinnigan.[41] Peter visits McFinnegan, who neglects him at first, yet eventually accepts him as his son after beating him in the "game of drink". The game of drink referring to matching shots until one passes out.[41] Peter has also referred to a large number of ancestors throughout the series, stating, "the Griffin family history is a rich tapestry".[42] Famous ancestors of Peter include Moses Griffin, who led the Jews out of Egypt; Willie "Black-Eye" Griffin, Peter's great-grandfather, a 1920s silent film star; and Peter Hitler, the flamboyant brother of Adolf Hitler. Peter's ancestor Nate Griffin, an African American slave from Virginia, was owned by Lois' ancestors. He fell in love with their daughter, and secretly raised a family with her. Nate's family was eventually discovered and they escaped.[42] Although he may not really be descended from all these people after finding out he was not Francis Griffin's son.
[edit]Reception
[edit]Commendations
"Many of the show's funniest moments come courtesy of Peter's shenanigans. Peter practically invented the "manatee joke," those signature cutaway gags that usually have nothing to do with the episode's plot but offer plenty of laughs anyway. These jokes have revealed, among other things, that Peter wasn't born a man, that he only recently graduated the fourth grade, and that even he doesn't find the comedic stylings of Paul Reiser funny".
MacFarlane has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in theOutstanding Voice-Over Performance category in 2009 for voicing Peter.[44]The song "Shipoopi" from the 1957 musical The Music Man was performed by Peter in Patriot Games ranked number 1 in IGN's top 10 musical moments inFamily Guy. Peter has also sung several other songs that have appeared on the list, such as I Need a Jew, Can't Touch Me and This House Is Freakin' Sweet.[45] In IGN's list of the top 10 fights on the show, he ranked number 10 for the fight versus a giant robot of handicapped men in No Meals On Wheels, number 9 for his fight in the episode Long John Peter, number 6 for the fight on the episode Lethal Weapons, number 4 for the episode Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air and other three times for his constant fights with Ernie the Giant Chicken.[46] Peter ranked the third spot on IGN's Top 25 Family Guy Characters, in the list it was stated that many of the shows best gags come from Peter and his shenanigans and that "Peter practically invented the "manatee joke".[43]
[edit]Criticism
In the episode The Cleveland-Lorreta Quagmire, (season 4, 2005) featured a sequence titled "You Have AIDS", in which Peter Griffin dances and sings in a barbershop quartet fashion around the bed of a man with end-stage AIDS about his diagnosis, drew protests from several AIDS service organizations.[47] In the episode "The Son Also Draws", (season 1, 1999) Peter states that "Canada sucks", which inspired anger between Canadian viewers of the show, which took them to send hate mail to the show's producers.[6] Peter has been criticized for being similar to Homer Simpson. In certain episodes of The Simpsons in which Peter has appeared, he is depicted as a Homer Simpson clone or is accused of plagiarism.
[edit]Cultural influence
The episode "Patriots Games" features a two-and-a-half-minute rendition of the song "Shipoopi" from the 1957 musical The Music Man, conducted by Peter and performed by the Patriots and people in the stadium.[48] Peter and the other Family Guy characters have been an influence to the idom as in an episode the curse word clemen was introduced, many viewers looked up the word on the Internet to try to find a definition. MacFarlane stated in the episode's DVD commentary that if someone invents an obscene definition for the word, the show will have to stop using it (it has not been used since this episode).[49]
[edit]Appearances in the media
Peter has had several television appearances outside Family Guy, often in the form of directparody. Peter has appeared in two episodes of The Simpsons, referencing how the two shows are frequently compared to each other. In the fourteenth season episode "Treehouse of Horror XIII", Peter is depicted as one of Homer Simpson's clones,[50] and in the seventeenth season episode, "The Italian Bob", a photo of Peter is in a book of criminals, which says he is wanted for "plagiarismo".[51] Peter, and most of the central characters on Family Guy, also appeared in the pilot episode of the show's spin-off The Cleveland Show.[52]
[edit]Merchandise
Peter is also featured on the Family Guy: Live in Vegas CD,[53] and plays a significant part in Family Guy Video Game!, the first Family Guyvideo game, which was released by 2K Games in 2006.[54] MacFarlane recorded exclusive material of Peter's voice and other Family Guycharacters for a 2007 pinball machine of the show by Stern Pinball.[55] In 2004, the first series of Family Guy toy figurines was released byMezco Toyz, each member of the Griffin family had their own toy, with the exception of Stewie, of whom two different figures were made.[56]Over the course of two years, four more series of toy figures have been released, with various forms of Peter.[57] Alongside the action figures, Peter has been included in various other Family Guy-related merchandise.[58]
As of 2009, six books have been released about the Family Guy universe, all published by HarperCollins since 2005.[59] This include Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One (ISBN 978-0-7528-7593-4), which covers the entire events of the episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One",[60] and Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded (ISBN 978-1-4051-6316-3), a collection of seventeen essays exploring the connections between the series and historical philosophers.[61] which include Peter as a character.
In 2008, the character appeared in advertisements for Subway Restaurants, promoting the restaurant's massive feast sandwich.[62][63] Chief marketing officer Tony Pace commented "Peter's a good representation of the people who are interested in the Feast, and Family Guy is a show "that appeals to that target audience."[64] The Boston Globe critic Brian Steinberg praised the restaurant's use of the character for the commercials.[62] NFL News reporter Michael Fabiano felt it was a bad decision to have an obese character advertise for a chain of restaurants that based their advertisement campaigns on health.[65]
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