This is a Powerpoint presentation for a class I am taking at USM; Communication in the Family, CMS 332. It is a look at one of America's favorite TV Family.

1. GERMAN: MEINE FAMILIE
SPANISH: MI FAMILIA
FRENCH: MA FAMILLE
Family Means Everything.
By Victor Rios
Arabics: ‫اسرتي‬
ITALIAN: L A MIA FAMIGLIA
Japanese: 家族
Korean:가족
Chinese: 家庭
PORTUGUESE: MINHA FAMÍLIA

2. What is a family? My Definition
Family doesn’t have to be blood related. It is
those that surround you, support you, love you,
care for you, and are willing to be there for you
when you need them. Time doesn’t break the
bond and neither does distance. Family means
everything.

3. 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

4. The Griffin Family-of-Origin
The Griffin Family is a hilariously odd family of middle-class
New 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.

5. Enmeshed Family; the Griffin Way.
The children, besides little Stewie,
look up to their parents. Peter and
Lois are involved in their children’s
life, whether it supporting Chris’ art
or keeping up on Megs lack of social
life.
Balance within the family is achieved
by discipline. For example punishing
Stewie or grounding Chris and Meg.

6. At Times Disengaged
As with all families, things aren’t
always butterflies and rainbows
which creates a very disengaged
family.
For example when Meg dated a
convict without the family
knowing; Chris running away from
home to avoid high school; Lois
taking diet pills when she
modeled; Stewie leaving with
Brian in search of who he thought
was his real father; and Peter
avoiding spending time with Lois
by going scuba diving or bee
keeping in the middle of the
night.

7. Peter Griffin
Peter Griffin (43) is the man of the house, but only by
default. He speaks with a thick New England accent, and
acts like he is smarter than everyone else, but really he's
clueless. He spends his free time drinking at the Drunken
Clam 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 love
with, when he first saw her one summer working as a
towel boy. How Lois deals with his shenanigans is
unknown 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.”

9. Peter’s Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns
• “Bread Winner” Peter keeps
the family afloat financially.
• Mentor and role model for his
children; even though at times
his behavior and actions aren’t
appropriate.
• His shenanigans keep the
family on their toes and life
interesting and fun.
• Intimate Partner with Lois.

10. Lois Griffin
Lois Griffin (41) is Peter's wife. She comes from a wealthy
family and married Peter against their wishes. Lois is a
piano teacher, singer, and stay at home mother. She's
considered to be a very attractive woman, which is
proven by her short-lived career as a model. She may be
more sophisticated than Peter, but occasionally she
shares his low brow humor and lustfulness; as well has
addictions and kleptomaniac episodes. Even with that
said, without her, the family would fall apart; she
provides a voice of reason and sense.
“Together we can do anything: face any foe, overcome any obstacle.”

12. Lois’ Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns
• “The Glue” Lois keeps the family
together, while keeping her
sanity in check.
• Manages daily needs and is the
source of nurture for the family.
• A strong mentor and role model
for her children. Although rare,
her behavior and actions can be
inappropriate.
• Intimate partner with Peter.

13. Chris Griffin
Chris Griffin (13) is Peter and Lois' eldest son. He takes
after his father, so he's not the brightest light bulb, but
he is a talented artist and rock singer. He admires his
father and follows blindly into many of Peter's
shenanigans. Like most boys his age, he doesn't
understand girls, enjoys watching television, playing
video games, and painting.
“Look! GI Joe, Transformers, Thunder Cats, He-Man. Yay!
Those shows existed!”

15. Chris’ Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns
• “The Apple doesn’t fall far…”
Chris is very much like his
father and looks up to him, and
they have a great father son
relationship. He helps keep the
family lively.
• A mentor and role model for
his younger brother Stewie…
not to follow.
• Kinship bond with his siblings.

16. Stewie Griffin
Stewie Griffin (1) may be a baby, but he is as diabolical
one. Amazingly at such a young age he has developed
the 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 destroy
many times, but has failed. Although the family
understands him, they ignore his aggressive comments
as silly baby talk. Also interestingly enough, Stewie has
an inner turmoil and confusion about his sexuality. He
has fallen in love with girls, but seems to have
homosexual tendencies that even he insinuates in his
comments and thoughts. Because of all this, little Stewie
gets in all sorts of adventures and life lessons. He is a
baby that’s growing up fast. All in all though, Stewie is a
baby and like many babies he needs his mommy
“Damn you all!”
occasionally and is very attached to his teddy bear,
Rupert.

18. Stewie’s Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns
• “The Baby” A family isn’t
complete without a loveable
baby. The family thinks Stewie is
so sweet, innocent, and helpless.
Little do they know…
• Very strong friendship and bond
with Brian, the family dog. They
experience a lot together.
• Innovated and creative always
working on some kind of plan or
contraption.
• Kinship bond with his siblings.

19. Brian Griffin
Brian is the Griffin family's dog. He seems to be the
wisest and most sensible of all the characters. He’s
treated like a one of the family members and is Peter’s
best friend; he also loves Lois. Oddly enough he spends
his days drinking cocktails, writing, reading, dating dumb
blondes, or singing. He and Stewie are usually against
each other, or drawn together, somehow by an extreme
circumstances, such as road trips and occasional
invention mishaps. And Brian usually has to sort things
out when Peter gets into trouble. Peter probably
wouldn`t survive without Brian.
“Hey barkeep, who's leg do you have to hump
to get a dry martini around here? ”

21. Brian’s Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns
• “Man’s Best Friend”- A family
isn’t complete without a family
pet; and Brian fills those shoes.
He is Peter’s best friend and
brings the family together.
• Very strong friendship and bond
with Peter and Stewie.
• Support and a shoulder to lean
on for the kids when they can’t
go to the parents, and vice versa;
or Lois and Peter can’t go to each
other.

22. Meg Griffin
Meg Griffin (17) is the only daughter of Peter and Lois.
She is frequently the butt of the family's jokes; yet she
has bonded with the each family member at one point
or another, even though they won’t admit it. She is
considered to be unattractive and a loser. Although she
was given a chance to shine as a star when she had a
makeover and became the lead singer for the family’s
band, it was short lived. Like many teenage girls, she is
confused at times and her feelings bottle up, thus
causing her to act out sometimes in anger or lust; for
example when she had a crush on the neighbor and
Peter’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]

24. Meg’s Roles, Responsibilities and Patterns
• “Nobody likes Meg”- The black sheep
of the family.
• The family's punching bag, if any
member of the family is feeling down;
Meg is there to help them feel better,
but unfortunately her self esteem and
emotions pay the price.
• Elder sibling, attempts to be a mentor
and role model for her younger
brothers, Stewie and Chris, but they
don’t respect her or look up to her.
• A source of conflict, because she is
the black sheep with bottled up
feelings.

25. The Many Layers of the Griffin Family
• Each member of the family is
effected by each others actions
or events, some more so than
others. Creating a Family
System of Interdependence.
For example, when Peter
decided to be a fisherman,
with no experience, and was
lost at sea with his buddies.
The family thought he had
died.
• Within the family-of-origin there are complex relationships,
systems embedded in the family system that is understood by
each member; such as the parents having authority, respect,
and power over the children.

26. The Many Layers of the Griffin Family cont.
• The complexity of the family system may be seen through
multiple subsystems. Every family contains interpersonal
subsystems made up of two or three persons and the
relationships between or among them. Also, coalitions can
form.
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 and
spies. As well as Stewie’s invention mishaps, such as going
back in time to Germany to save their neighbor Mort; and
traveling randomly through Multi Universes, such as the
Disney universe and the “real world” universe

27. Brian & Stewie’s
Excellent Adventures

28. What is a Family with no Conflict?
Conflict: is an expressed struggle between at least two
interdependent parties, who perceive incompatible goals, scarce
resources, and interference from the other party in achieving their
goals.
The Griffin family is no stranger to conflict, both physical and
mental. From Peter’s ongoing fights with a giant chicken, Stewie
beating up Brian for money owed to him, to Chris dealing with
puberty and fighting pimples; physical conflict finds its way into the
Griffin Family lives.
Mental conflicts are constant, such as when Meg dated a convict
she had to keep it from the family (toxic secret); when Peter felt
unattractive, so he had plastic surgery. When Lois got fat because
she felt unattractive; or when Brian felt unwanted because the
family got a new dog.

30. Conflicts Resolved
No matter what problems arise, the Griffin Family finds a
way to resolve it as a family or as individuals; through
competition, collaboration, compromise, or
accommodation.
• Peter, 9 times out of 10 needs a collaborative effort when
he has a conflict, he doesn’t have the mental capacity to
solve issues.
• Lois seems to always compromise a lot within conflicts
with Peter.
• Chris just goes with the flow, so his conflicts are usually
solved because they accommodate the situation.
• Stewie is competitive with his conflicts.
• Brian uses them all; doesn’t use one more than the other.

31. Conflicts Resolved cont.
Since Meg is the family
“punching bag”, the majority of
the time she deals with conflicts
called Covert conflict or
sometimes called “guerrilla
warfare” since feelings are
hidden and messages are
unclear. This is unhealthy and
sometimes family members
cover up the hurt or express
anger indirectly. This was best
expressed when Meg went to
prison for harboring a fugitive
and came back a completely
different person. She release
her years of anger on the family.

32. The Bond that will never Break
The Griffin Family conflicts may
break their bond momentarily,
but it will never break their bond
permanently.
The Griffins share valuable time
together and create new
experiences as a family. From
taking trips to New York, the
Grand Canyon, and camping; to
just spending time at home,
telling stories about their family
history, or creating stories for
entertainment, these experiences
bring the family closer and build a
stronger bond with every event.

33. The Griffins: A definition of a true family

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