G E R M A N : M E I N E F A M I L I E

S P A N I S H : M I F A M I L I A

F R E N C H : M A F A M I L L E

I T A L I A N : L A M I A F A M I G L I A

P O R T U G U E S E : M I N H A F A M Í L I A

A r a b i c s : ي ت ر س ا

J a p a n e s e : 家 族

K o r e a n : 가 족

C h i n e s e : 家 庭

Family Means Everything.By Victor Rios

W hat is a f amily? M y D e finition

Family doesn’t have to be blood related. It isthose that surround you, support you, love you,care for you, and are willing to be there for youwhen you need them. Time doesn’t break thebond and neither does distance. Family meanseverything.

A Tw o - P a r e n t B i o l o g i c a l F a m i l y

The Griffin Family-of-Origin

The Griffin Family is a hilariously odd family of middle-classNew Englanders living in Quahog, Rhode Island. Peter, 43,and Lois, 41, are happily married, with three children: 17-year-old Meg; 13-year-old Chris; and 1-year-old Stewie.Completing the family is Brian, the family dog.

Enmeshed Family; the Griffin Way.

The children, besides little Stewie,look up to their parents. Peter andLois are involved in their children’slife, whether it supporting Chris’ artor keeping up on Megs lack of sociallife.

Balance within the family is achievedby discipline. For example punishingStewie or grounding Chris and Meg.

As with all families, things aren’talways butterflies and rainbowswhich creates a very disengagedfamily.

For example when Meg dated aconvict without the familyknowing; Chris running away fromhome to avoid high school; Loistaking diet pills when shemodeled; Stewie leaving withBrian in search of who he thoughtwas his real father; and Peteravoiding spending time with Loisby going scuba diving or beekeeping in the middle of thenight.

At Times Disengaged

Peter Griffin

Peter Griffin (43) is the man of the house, but only bydefault. He speaks with a thick New England accent, andacts like he is smarter than everyone else, but really he'sclueless. He spends his free time drinking at the DrunkenClam with his buddies, Quagmire, Cleveland and Joe.Peter currently works at the Pawtucket Patriot Brewery.He is married to Lois, the woman he instantly fell in lovewith, when he first saw her one summer working as atowel boy. How Lois deals with his shenanigans isunknown to man.

“I've got an idea - an idea so smart that my head would explode

if I even began to know what I'm talking about.”

Peter’s Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns

• “Bread Winner” Peter keepsthe family afloat financially.

• Mentor and role model for hischildren; even though at timeshis behavior and actions aren’tappropriate.

• His shenanigans keep thefamily on their toes and lifeinteresting and fun.

• Intimate Partner with Lois.

Lois Griffin

Lois Griffin (41) is Peter's wife. She comes from a wealthyfamily and married Peter against their wishes. Lois is apiano teacher, singer, and stay at home mother. She'sconsidered to be a very attractive woman, which isproven by her short-lived career as a model. She may bemore sophisticated than Peter, but occasionally sheshares his low brow humor and lustfulness; as well hasaddictions and kleptomaniac episodes. Even with thatsaid, without her, the family would fall apart; sheprovides a voice of reason and sense.

“Together we can do anything: face any foe, overcome any obstacle.”

Lois’ Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns

• “The Glue” Lois keeps the familytogether, while keeping hersanity in check.

• Manages daily needs and is thesource of nurture for the family.

• A strong mentor and role modelfor her children. Although rare,her behavior and actions can beinappropriate.

• Intimate partner with Peter.

Chris Griffin (13) is Peter and Lois' eldest son. He takesafter his father, so he's not the brightest light bulb, buthe is a talented artist and rock singer. He admires hisfather and follows blindly into many of Peter'sshenanigans. Like most boys his age, he doesn'tunderstand girls, enjoys watching television, playingvideo games, and painting.

“Look! GI Joe, Transformers, Thunder Cats, He-Man. Yay!

Those shows existed!”

Chris Griffin

Chris’ Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns

• “The Apple doesn’t fall far…”Chris is very much like hisfather and looks up to him, andthey have a great father sonrelationship. He helps keep thefamily lively.

• A mentor and role model forhis younger brother Stewie…not to follow.

• Kinship bond with his siblings.

Stewie Griffin

Stewie Griffin (1) may be a baby, but he is as diabolicalone. Amazingly at such a young age he has developedthe abilities to speak and read; and is highly intelligent,technologically savvy, and always inventing something.According to Stewie the whole World is against him,especially his mother Lois, who he has tried to destroymany times, but has failed. Although the familyunderstands him, they ignore his aggressive commentsas silly baby talk. Also interestingly enough, Stewie hasan inner turmoil and confusion about his sexuality. Hehas fallen in love with girls, but seems to havehomosexual tendencies that even he insinuates in hiscomments and thoughts. Because of all this, little Stewiegets in all sorts of adventures and life lessons. He is ababy that’s growing up fast. All in all though, Stewie is ababy and like many babies he needs his mommyoccasionally and is very attached to his teddy bear,Rupert.

“Damn you all!”

Stewie’s Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns

• “The Baby” A family isn’tcomplete without a loveablebaby. The family thinks Stewie isso sweet, innocent, and helpless.Little do they know…

• Very strong friendship and bondwith Brian, the family dog. Theyexperience a lot together.

• Innovated and creative alwaysworking on some kind of plan orcontraption.

• Kinship bond with his siblings.

Brian Griffin

Brian is the Griffin family's dog. He seems to be thewisest and most sensible of all the characters. He’streated like a one of the family members and is Peter’sbest friend; he also loves Lois. Oddly enough he spendshis days drinking cocktails, writing, reading, dating dumbblondes, or singing. He and Stewie are usually againsteach other, or drawn together, somehow by an extremecircumstances, such as road trips and occasionalinvention mishaps. And Brian usually has to sort thingsout when Peter gets into trouble. Peter probablywouldn`t survive without Brian.

“Hey barkeep, who's leg do you have to hump

to get a dry martini around here? ”

Brian’s Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns

• “Man’s Best Friend”- A familyisn’t complete without a familypet; and Brian fills those shoes.He is Peter’s best friend andbrings the family together.

• Very strong friendship and bondwith Peter and Stewie.

• Support and a shoulder to leanon for the kids when they can’tgo to the parents, and vice versa;or Lois and Peter can’t go to eachother.

Meg Griffin

Meg Griffin (17) is the only daughter of Peter and Lois.She is frequently the butt of the family's jokes; yet shehas bonded with the each family member at one pointor another, even though they won’t admit it. She isconsidered to be unattractive and a loser. Although shewas given a chance to shine as a star when she had amakeover and became the lead singer for the family’sband, it was short lived. Like many teenage girls, she isconfused at times and her feelings bottle up, thuscausing her to act out sometimes in anger or lust; forexample when she had a crush on the neighbor andPeter’s buddy Joe Swanson.

“Oh you know from my boyfriend, Prince William,

I got this beautiful watch, and this diamond tiara, and a sceptre...”

[goes crazy and runs away crying]

Meg’s Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns

• “Nobody likes Meg”- The black sheepof the family.

• The family's punching bag, if anymember of the family is feeling down;Meg is there to help them feel better,but unfortunately her self esteem andemotions pay the price.

• Elder sibling, attempts to be a mentorand role model for her youngerbrothers, Stewie and Chris, but theydon’t respect her or look up to her.

• A source of conflict, because she isthe black sheep with bottled upfeelings.

The Many Layers of the Griffin Family

• Each member of the family iseffected by each others actionsor events, some more so thanothers. Creating a FamilySystem of Interdependence.For example, when Peterdecided to be a fisherman,with no experience, and waslost at sea with his buddies.The family thought he haddied.

• Within the family-of-origin there are complex relationships,systems embedded in the family system that is understood byeach member; such as the parents having authority, respect,and power over the children.

The Many Layers of the Griffin Family cont.

• The complexity of the family system may be seen throughmultiple subsystems. Every family contains interpersonalsubsystems made up of two or three persons and therelationships between or among them. Also, coalitions canform.

For example when Stewie and Brian have their adventures,when they went around Rhode Island, in search of Rupert;San Francisco, in search of Stewie’s father; the North Pole,in search for Santa; or when they were in the army andspies. As well as Stewie’s invention mishaps, such as goingback in time to Germany to save their neighbor Mort; andtraveling randomly through Multi Universes, such as theDisney universe and the “real world” universe

Brian & Stewie’s

Excellent Adventures

What is a Family with no Conflict?

Conflict: is an expressed struggle between at least twointerdependent parties, who perceive incompatible goals, scarceresources, and interference from the other party in achieving theirgoals.

The Griffin family is no stranger to conflict, both physical andmental. From Peter’s ongoing fights with a giant chicken, Stewiebeating up Brian for money owed to him, to Chris dealing withpuberty and fighting pimples; physical conflict finds its way into theGriffin Family lives.

Mental conflicts are constant, such as when Meg dated a convictshe had to keep it from the family (toxic secret); when Peter feltunattractive, so he had plastic surgery. When Lois got fat becauseshe felt unattractive; or when Brian felt unwanted because thefamily got a new dog.

Conflicts Resolved

No matter what problems arise, the Griffin Family finds away to resolve it as a family or as individuals; throughcompetition, collaboration, compromise, oraccommodation.

• Peter, 9 times out of 10 needs a collaborative effort whenhe has a conflict, he doesn’t have the mental capacity tosolve issues.

• Lois seems to always compromise a lot within conflictswith Peter.

• Chris just goes with the flow, so his conflicts are usuallysolved because they accommodate the situation.

• Stewie is competitive with his conflicts.• Brian uses them all; doesn’t use one more than the other.

Since Meg is the family“punching bag”, the majority ofthe time she deals with conflictscalled Covert conflict orsometimes called “guerrillawarfare” since feelings arehidden and messages areunclear. This is unhealthy andsometimes family memberscover up the hurt or expressanger indirectly. This was bestexpressed when Meg went toprison for harboring a fugitiveand came back a completelydifferent person. She releaseher years of anger on the family.

Conflicts Resolved cont.

The Bond that will never Break

The Griffin Family conflicts maybreak their bond momentarily,but it will never break their bondpermanently.

The Griffins share valuable timetogether and create newexperiences as a family. Fromtaking trips to New York, theGrand Canyon, and camping; tojust spending time at home,telling stories about their familyhistory, or creating stories forentertainment, these experiencesbring the family closer and build astronger bond with every event.

The Griffins: A definition of a true family

Works Cited: Galvin, Kathleen M. & Brommel, Bernard J. (2000). Family Communication: Cohesion and Change (5th ed). Addison Wesley Longman, IncFamily Guy Official Website @ http://www.fox.com/familyguy/