That little phrase-'music is better than words' is the key to his whole genius-and yes he is a genius, despite his many detractors and haters.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/hating-seth-macfarlane-a-timeline-20150629
http://grantland.com/features/dumber-than-your-average-bear/
He once stepped on the toes of Jon Stewart.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-seth-macfarlane-strike-video-2011-10
Nate Silver''s blog sort of praises MacFarlane with some faint damnation. Or is it the reverse? Something like this.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-consistent-slightly-above-average-schlock-of-seth-macfarlane/
For one of the most bitter reviews of Ted 2 see here.
"In the 19th century, satire highlighted the intrinsic absurdity (and brutality) of having to argue that slaves were human in the first place, let alone make a beloved bear “speak” in order to attack bigotry. Today, comedies such as “Ted 2″ only find humor in the stupidity itself — and then gleefully celebrate it"
“Americans don’t give a crap about anything,” the “Ted 2″ voice-over purrs with whimsical disdain. Yes it is all a joke, ha ha, and summer is for silly. Nobody watches a film with a talking bear hoping for a big dose of downer reality or brutal historical context. In real life, however, everyday fights over personhood, civil rights and racism in America continue to wrench hearts left and right."
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/30/the_social_satire_history_behind_ted_2_is_rich_and_deep_%E2%80%94%C2%A0and_seth_macfarlane_obviously_has_no_idea/
Paula Young-the author of those above scornful words seems to want her satire to be socially conscious. Indeed, his show, Family Guy, has been compared and found wanting to Norman Lear's All in the Family.
"Seth’s show “Family Guy” begins the same way “All in the Family” did: with a couple at a piano, bemoaning progress and singing about the loss of family values.
"You both explore society through its fools. But when Archie, or any of Norman’s bigots, said something racist or sexist, there was always another character to call him on it. The show told us what was right. It’s trickier today. On “Family Guy,” characters say horrible things, but no one corrects them. You leave it to the audience to know better. Is it passé to scold?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/style/norman-lear-and-seth-macfarlane-and-their-tv-families.html?_r=0
I think that's what bothers folks like Ms. Young above. They don't like any whiff of ambiguity. For me I feel different as I think the human condition is ambiguous, as is the very idea of human society.
What MacFarlane does is quite different from what Lear did but I think one big difference is that this is a different society-1970s America and American 2015.
I mean for the most part we don't need anyone to tell us that saying certain things are wrong-though sometimes we may still emjoy saying them. I think that's the difference.
Whereas people in the 70s really needed to be persuaded that these things are wrong. You have to understand that Family Guy can only exist in a Post Archie Bunker world.
I think a big part of the criticism of a Paula Young is that the audience isn't getting the right message which she thinks should be unambiguous. But even All in the Family was ambiguous in how the audience understood it.
"But that’s nothing new. A certain crowd was laughing at Archie, and another was right with him. You can’t control that."
Right that even happened with Stephen Colbert...
Again, the real genius is MacFaralne's understanding of music. Music is able to explain and sum things up in ways that words never quite can. It tells us about the nature of life and our society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHjH3lyad
Those who don't understand what this means will never be able to understand MacFarlane's genius. Like Noam Chomksy would never get it. I say this because he clearly based on some interviews he's done over the years has no ear for music at all.
Here are just a few of MacFarlane's music classics over the years. From Family guy
http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/When_We_Swing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deRgMFNpGT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q763lsP2NcIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPrbBwtCoPk
Then there was the music in Ted 2. I just have one thing to say about that movie: Mean Ole Moon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nWA8iZ7vjg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl8hiHKFOyA
Really this song made the whole movie for me. That's the truth: good music can make up for a lot of sins.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/hating-seth-macfarlane-a-timeline-20150629
http://grantland.com/features/dumber-than-your-average-bear/
He once stepped on the toes of Jon Stewart.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-seth-macfarlane-strike-video-2011-10
Nate Silver''s blog sort of praises MacFarlane with some faint damnation. Or is it the reverse? Something like this.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-consistent-slightly-above-average-schlock-of-seth-macfarlane/
For one of the most bitter reviews of Ted 2 see here.
"In the 19th century, satire highlighted the intrinsic absurdity (and brutality) of having to argue that slaves were human in the first place, let alone make a beloved bear “speak” in order to attack bigotry. Today, comedies such as “Ted 2″ only find humor in the stupidity itself — and then gleefully celebrate it"
“Americans don’t give a crap about anything,” the “Ted 2″ voice-over purrs with whimsical disdain. Yes it is all a joke, ha ha, and summer is for silly. Nobody watches a film with a talking bear hoping for a big dose of downer reality or brutal historical context. In real life, however, everyday fights over personhood, civil rights and racism in America continue to wrench hearts left and right."
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/30/the_social_satire_history_behind_ted_2_is_rich_and_deep_%E2%80%94%C2%A0and_seth_macfarlane_obviously_has_no_idea/
Paula Young-the author of those above scornful words seems to want her satire to be socially conscious. Indeed, his show, Family Guy, has been compared and found wanting to Norman Lear's All in the Family.
"Seth’s show “Family Guy” begins the same way “All in the Family” did: with a couple at a piano, bemoaning progress and singing about the loss of family values.
"You both explore society through its fools. But when Archie, or any of Norman’s bigots, said something racist or sexist, there was always another character to call him on it. The show told us what was right. It’s trickier today. On “Family Guy,” characters say horrible things, but no one corrects them. You leave it to the audience to know better. Is it passé to scold?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/style/norman-lear-and-seth-macfarlane-and-their-tv-families.html?_r=0
I think that's what bothers folks like Ms. Young above. They don't like any whiff of ambiguity. For me I feel different as I think the human condition is ambiguous, as is the very idea of human society.
What MacFarlane does is quite different from what Lear did but I think one big difference is that this is a different society-1970s America and American 2015.
I mean for the most part we don't need anyone to tell us that saying certain things are wrong-though sometimes we may still emjoy saying them. I think that's the difference.
Whereas people in the 70s really needed to be persuaded that these things are wrong. You have to understand that Family Guy can only exist in a Post Archie Bunker world.
I think a big part of the criticism of a Paula Young is that the audience isn't getting the right message which she thinks should be unambiguous. But even All in the Family was ambiguous in how the audience understood it.
"But that’s nothing new. A certain crowd was laughing at Archie, and another was right with him. You can’t control that."
Right that even happened with Stephen Colbert...
Again, the real genius is MacFaralne's understanding of music. Music is able to explain and sum things up in ways that words never quite can. It tells us about the nature of life and our society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHjH3lyad
Those who don't understand what this means will never be able to understand MacFarlane's genius. Like Noam Chomksy would never get it. I say this because he clearly based on some interviews he's done over the years has no ear for music at all.
Here are just a few of MacFarlane's music classics over the years. From Family guy
http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/When_We_Swing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deRgMFNpGT0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q763lsP2NcIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPrbBwtCoPk
Then there was the music in Ted 2. I just have one thing to say about that movie: Mean Ole Moon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nWA8iZ7vjg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl8hiHKFOyA
Really this song made the whole movie for me. That's the truth: good music can make up for a lot of sins.
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