MacFarlane’s Ted: A Wolf in Teddy Bear’s Clothing
By: Parents Television Council
On June 29th, the raunchy R-rated film Ted – written, directed by, and starring Seth MacFarlane, creator of Fox’s disgusting Sunday-night cartoons Family Guy, American Dad,and The Cleveland Show – was released. And last week, the Los Angeles Times claimedTed is a “family film.” But is it?
In the past, the PTC has extensively detailed the unbelievably crass content on MacFarlane’s TV shows, which has included such disgusting matter as a baby eating horse sperm, and another character eating vomit and feces from a baby’s diaper.
Ted is of a piece with MacFarlane’s TV programming. Trailers for Ted make it clear that the movie is about an alcoholic, pot-smoking, sexually depraved, talking teddy bear. Even theTimes article itself admits that Ted is filled with “rampant drug use, crude sexual banter and profanity-fueled humor.”
Given this, it is obvious that Seth MacFarlane’s film can in no way be considered a “family film.” Certainly, the overwhelming majority of parents understand that MacFarlane’s film was inappropriate for children, and acted accordingly.
Box office receipts bear this out: on its opening weekend, Ted earned approximately $55 million, from a primarily adult audience. By contrast, both Madagascar 3 and Disney/Pixar’sBrave outsold Ted on their opening weekends, with audiences that largely consisted of children under 18.
That literally millions more children (and adults) have seen Brave and Madagascar 3 than have seen Ted is obvious…save, perhaps, toHollywood “insiders” enamored with promoting “edgier” fare. This once again proves that parents and families are desperate for, and will flock to, entertainment that can genuinely be enjoyed with their children. Yet,Hollywood remains reluctant to provide it.
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