I find Family Guy’s cut-aways very funny. The abrupt seconds long scenes are very cleverly written and executed. I appreciate how many comedies would usually just say “remember that time when…” and then continue on leaving the viewers with a mental image but never the real thing. Family Guy goes one step further providing the audience with a very humorous depiction of “that time when”.
Some may find these cut-aways very superfluous and a part of lazy writing, leaving the viewers with little imagination and food for thought. Critics of the cut-away may also say that these clips stray too far from the plot line and make the TV episode feel hap-hazard.
I think the creators of Family Guy are taking advantage of the freedom that comes with using animation in comedy. Most comedies filmed in real life are not able to make such ridiculous cut-aways. With animation, the sky's the limit. Episodes of Family Guy can include celebrities like Taylor Swift and Julia Roberts and can take place anywhere in the world. The logic of Family Guy is “If you can make it, put it in the show.” Some may call this frivolous but I think it is the important difference between comedy cartoons and comedy with real people. The ability to do anything with animation is something Family Guy takes advantage of especially with its cut-aways.
Yes, arguably this is the best use of the imaginative possibilities of comedy. By exploring all of the ways that an idea leads to other ideas, we have both a kind of "association" axis of narration and a more straightforward axis of narration.
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