F is for Family

When you want an animated comedy set in the 1970’s, F is for Family is for you. If you want something that is wholesome, this is not the show for you. In this show, the main family it is set on is the Murphy family. In the first episode titled “The Bleedin’ in Sweden”, Frank, the father of the Murphy family, tries to have his friends over to watch a fight. A new neighbor also invites them over to watch the fight on his new television which is bigger than Frank’s. In an attempt to keep his friend from going to the neighbor’s house, he promises to buy a bigger television. In doing so he makes an impulse buy and does not want the family to touch it. This causes a big disruption in the family dynamic. His son, Bill, while doing a school project sticks a magnet to the back of the television and ruins it. This infuriates Frank, because he thinks it was the stores fault. In an attempt to fix his mistake in an awful way, Bill destroys all the other televisions in the store with his magnet so his father can get a refund. This episode, being the first episode, lays out the family dynamic along with the personalities of the characters going forward in the series. The traits we can see from Frank are impulsive, needs attention, and easily infuriated. This episode really showed his stubborn personality in his long and embarrassing attempt to get a refund. His wife, Sue, is the level headed one of the family and she was embarrassed by her husband’s actions in the television store. Bill Murphy is a kid who frequently get bullied and is shy. We can see the shyness come in when he does not want to stand up to the rage of his father and confess that the television incident was his fault. Maureen, Frank’s daughter, is an intelligent girl who uses her intelligence to manipulate, which lead to very destructive behavior. The final member of the Murphy family, Kevin, is a delinquent who likes rock music. Even though he may be a delinquent at times, he still has a soft spot for his parents and a desire to better himself. The antagonist to Frank is his new neighbor, the Swede, Vic. Vic lives a very playboy style life with his wealth and womanizing tendencies. He is what Frank wants to be like him even though he knows he could not live his lifestyle. This was the main cause for problem in this episode. In the episode, Vic shows off his womanizing skill and also his wealth. You can see his wealth in the difference in his house from the rest of the neighborhood. The womanizing skills can be seen when Frank says that Vic is watching the fight alone and the we see into Vic’s living room with Vic’s back pointing toward us, on the couch, when two girls heads pop up with the insinuation of some sexual act going on.
“The Bleedin' in Sweden.” F Is for Family, created by Bill Burr, and Michael Price, season 1, Netflix, 18 Dec. 2015.