Seth MacFarlane Helps LOC Acquire Carl Sagan Papers

dsinc writes with news of a but of altruism on the part Family Guy's creator. From the article: "Seth MacFarlane once included a gag on his animated TV comedy 'Family Guy' about an 'edited for rednecks' version of Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos,' featuring an animated Sagan dubbed over to say that the earth is 'hundreds and hundreds' of years old. Jokes aside, his admiration for Sagan runs deep. The Library of Congress announced Wednesday that, thanks to MacFarlane's generosity, it has acquired the personal papers of the late scientist and astronomer, who spoke to mass audiences about the mysteries of the universe and the origins of life. While MacFarlane never owned Sagan's papers, he covered the undisclosed costs of donating them to the library."

Comments

first knee

[Anonymous Coward]

sssshhht Ow. sssssssshhht Ow.

Deserves Praise

[MonsterTrimble]

No matter what you think of Seth MacFarlane's body of work (early Family Guy is good, the rest is meh at best) he should be commended.

Re:Deserves Praise

[Sarten-X]

Personally, I don't really like his style of humor, and haven't been able to watch a full episode of Family Guy in a very long time. It's obvious, however, that he's a guy with a deep sense of personal morals and an appreciation for intellectual pursuits - even if his work doesn't often promote such things. This strikes me as just the sort of thing Seth MacFarlane would do. He has a particular ideological goal (that Sagan's works should be preserved and public), and will use any mechanism at his disposal to bring it to fruition.

Mr. MacFarlane, I find your characters disgusting, but your character impeccable. Well done.

Re:Deserves Praise

[steelfood]

he's a guy with a deep sense of personal morals and an appreciation for intellectual pursuits - even if his work doesn't often promote such things

On the contrary. Family guy satires the lack of morals and intelligence. Not only that, but there are numerous gems spread across the show that hint at these qualities.

If you think Family Guy is only about some dumb family doing dumb shit (but with a brilliant baby and a smart dog), then you're not watching it correctly. The jokes may often appear to be off-color, but the humor isn't in the joke itself, but in the making of the joke.

I'd suggest you give it another shot, starting with some of the better episodes. Don't remember which ones off the top of my head, but I'm sure Google can solve that problem. Just beware of spoilers.

Re:Deserves Praise

[The Mister Purple]

I remember an episode where one of the characters made reference to Benjamin Disraeli. There is the obligatory cut to an animated Disraeli, who looks straight at the viewer and says, "You don't even know who I am." Beautiful!

Re:Deserves Praise

[fahrbot-bot]

I stopped watching after the episode where Stewie was seriously hurt, and instead of getting him to a hospital they kept on trying to cover it up until the whole thing turned into a dead baby sick-and-twisted animation.

On other words, you threw the bathwater out with the baby.

Re:Deserves Praise

[FrootLoops]

even if his work doesn't often promote such things [as personal morals and an appreciation for intellectual pursuits]

I don't think you've watched enough of it if to say that. Some counterexamples:
  * A Hero Sits Next Door: a disabled guy gets added to the cast; Peter reacts badly at first but becomes friends later
  * If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin': Peter starts a religion, Lois says it's wrong, God punishes him for his arrogance, Peter repents.
  * The Thin White Line: Brian gets addicted to cocaine and eventually takes responsibility for it by going to rehab

Some of the MacFarlane characters are pretty much immune to personal responsibility considerations, but they're portrayed as highly unrealistic--eg. Stewie (Family Guy), Roger (American Dad), partly Quagmire (Family Guy). The more realistic characters often have strong moral centers--eg. Lois and usually Bryan (Family Guy)--and I think these are the ones you're expected to identify with. For instance, I'm reminded of Lois in You May Now Kiss the... Uh... Guy Who Receives:

Lois Griffin: Wait a minute. Are you saying that two straight people who absolutely hate each other have more of a right to be married than gay people who love each other?!
Mrs. Pewterschmidt: Well, that's what we raised you to believe.

I'd say the audience is expected to identify with Lois and take her view on the matter, considering how poor the rebuttal is. The Carl Sagan bit is the same way, and there are numerous other examples where the audience is expected to take a particular (IMO good) stance.

Family Guy and American Dad morality is a mixed bag, though it's frequently (usually?) good if you throw out the unrealistic characters' lack of consequences. Intellectual pursuits really aren't promoted much though.

Re:Deserves Praise

[Anonymous Coward]

In all fairness, who amongst us hasn't been sexually molested by a dolphin? This is why I support the tuna industry. It's the To Catch a Predator of the sea.

should have been free?

[Sebastopol]

Is anyone else kinda ticked-off that this was even necessary?

Why weren't they just donated by the estate to the LOC? Is there something else at play here, or just a greedy estate?

Re:should have been free?

[janek78]

I am not so sure there is that much to be ticked-off by. Sagan's widow is quoted as saying that "...Sagan would have been thrilled to see his life’s work made available to the public." That does not sound like a greedy estate trying to get rich from selling stuff she inherited (not that there would be anything wrong with that). TFA is unclear on what the money went towards, I can imagine that transporting, sorting, filing and displaying the (large) collection is no easy feat and that the money is perhaps to be spent on that? Mrs. Druyan was not only Sagan's wife but also co-author, I don't see her as waiting for the highest bidder to auction off her inheritance.

Re:should have been free?

[fahrbot-bot]

According to TFA:

The papers — contained in more than 800 filing-cabinet drawers — include correspondence with other scientists, drafts of Sagan's academic articles and screenplay drafts for the movie "Contact," ... (emphasis mine)

The cost of donating them might include sorting, collating and preparing the documents to actually be viewable and or some preservation. Often charitable recipients can't or don't want to handle this for private donations. Yes the LOC could probably pay for this, if they're allowed to, which I don't know if they are. (Imagine some idiot right-wing Congress critter, who doesn't believe the Universe exists, complaining about the LOC wasting the taxpayer's money, blah, blah, blah...)

Also, he's the producer of the new Cosmos series

[spinkham]

Yes, the "Cosmos for rednecks" gag was good, but isn't it also worth mentioning he's currently producing the next Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ann Druyan?

Re:Also, he's the producer of the new Cosmos serie

[iluvcapra]

From Hollywood Reporter:

“Never more than at this moment in the modern era have we needed a profound reminder of the colossally important and exciting role that science, space exploration and the human quest for knowledge must continue to play in our development as a species,” said MacFarlane.

Quite a serious side to the man. Clearly, menstruation and holocaust jokes are just his day job.