Why does Hayley always pretend she's such a strong woman who can make decisions on her own while she works for a fast food restaurant and still lives on her father with no plans to move up in life? Stan wasn't even wrong to stop her from having Jeff's baby, it would have a 50iq dad and a mom working a dead end job raised on his dime in his house.
McFarlane is a hack
Also leftists hate their fathers so they write characters like Stan and Peter. Stan is still a gigachad though
American Dad was a product of the Bush era, they had to drop the political aspect when he left office and rewrote the entire show in the process. The biggest change being Stan's point of view of politics. Instead of being a radical conservative, he's more like hank hill who actually admires some politicians on the left but is still conservative.
>more like Hank Hill
A genuinely good way to write a conservative, so based.
Yeah, the way they changed Stan still surprises me sometimes. Like when he talked about how cool Obama was. Like I don't think any conservatives had anything good to say about him even though in retrospect he was pretty milk toast. Like if Stan still had his original characterization he would have a huge hate boner for Obama like all the talk show conservatives had.
I like Hank and he is a good way to write a conservative but I feel like most conservatives are kind of unlikable especially American conservatives. The whole opulent minority must be protected from democracy mindset is pretty fricked up. I feel like a guy like Hank is an exception and not standard. But maybe I am just letting my own views get in the way. Sorry, I don't want to turn this thread into a big political debate.
Neither of them are parasites and Haily got a low-skilled job after her meme degree didn't get her anywhere. And even professors at her school can't make ends meat and need a second job working fast food just to stay afloat. Whether you agree with the messaging or not in American Dad the economy is not kind to even college professors and Haily would be struggling no matter what she did. Like realistically what job could Haily get where she could afford to rent let alone own a home? I mean there is that one episode with the spaghetti meatballs.
Side Note: It would be interesting and funny seeing Jeff open up a weed store. He could suck at the business side of things but have people skills and Haily could be the opposite. It would be a funny and interesting job the couple could share and would make many good episodes.
And that early show would never have a scene as cringe as this
>Stan was portrayed as strong and athletic, barrels over dozens of people and scales a school building in the pilot
>now he can't even ride a mountain bike
>lack of Family Guy shock value, like the guy who tripped and fell into a pig pen or the deliveryman who walked into a woodchipper
>didn't make Francine a complete moron or some badass
>didn't overuse Jeff, whose dialogue now consists exclusively of moronic shit
>Klaus not being just a punching bag, would frequently
>bait and switch humor
>Steve had a mean streak and was the clear leader of his group of friends
>Stan always abusing his CIA privileges for mundane shit
>Stan was actually funny instead of just things that happened to him
I like season 1
I always seem as the point is to criticize the far left that is always some spoiled rich white girl that has no idea what she is talking about, does only to piss her father off and acts holy than thou while making things worse for everyone being unable to live without the people she criticizes so much. She is a hippie because of that despite I don't think we still have hippies or they represent much, a more updated version of Harley would be a tumblrina of colorful hair that is also gay but not really, the "nonbinary". The show would cause so much butthurt if she was like that and changing absolute nothing else about the character.
But who Jeff would be outside the stupid stoner? Male feminist?
Maybe early on but there are quite a few episodes where the moral is that Stan needs to stay out of Hayley's business. He needs to give her space to grow, but she doesn't grow. She is marred to an idiot who lives in a van. But reading between the lines it's obvious Stan can't do that because he sees his children as an extension of himself and ultimately just wants the best for them. He wants Steve to be tough and date hot girls and Hayley to not be married to a broke stoner moron
The show drops the more political side early on in a way. Is really weird when all the characters archetypes are clearly meant to be political but the show itself stops being political after season 3 or so. So yeah, the same way Stan is meant to be some sort of attack on the conservative party and comes more like a selfish douche Harley is in the same, so a lot of later episodes are more about the family dynamics than any of those things.
It was always almost entirely about family dynamics
Not really, they have some pretty political heavy episodes like the episode about gays trying to enter the democratic party and is blatantly incredible political. But they do drop really early on for whatever reason so most of it is about family dynamics.
It was the Republican party and that episode is also about the values Steve learns from Stan
What is the difference?
Hayley being a hardcore lefty is not even relevant to her character anymore, she is just rude to everybody nowadays.
Maybe not a hardcore lefty but it's insane that she makes nothing but poor choices, still thinks she is an independent woman who doesn't need to listen to daddy, and is portrayed in the right.
Stan is a worse father than Jeff probably would be quite frankly. The number of horrible things he'd inflicted on his family is astronomical, but they always forgive him after he gives a little speech because the show needs to wrap up.
Stan and Roger are the useful but abusive characters that solve everybody problems and give them money, Francine, Steve, Klaus and Jeff are nice people but useless, Hayley is abusive AND useless
It's a realistic depiction of a 'modern strong woman'.
>Why does Hayley always pretend she's such a strong woman who can make decisions on her own while she works for a fast food restaurant and still lives on her father with no plans to move up in life?
Have you ever known a woman in early adulthood?
Not all women are this moronic and a lot actually go to real schools and make something of themselves
The thing is people who do usually aren't talking shit. They're usually just grinding it out.
The 'strong woman' is a unique case where society encourages braggarts.
We've all met men like this, but society properly tells them to frick off for being lazy c**ts.
Multi-generational houses are a good thing. Also with how bad the economy is now, it would be hard to move out even if they had good jobs. But also it would kind of ruin the show if Haily moved out with Jeff. Like the dynamics just work so much better with her living with Stan. I think a good compromise would be her living in a tiny house in the backyard or something it fits in with her whole hippy vibe plus doing an episode about tiny houses would be fun.
I do wonder if she had a baby if that would work with the show. Like would they allow a change that big? And if they did make that change would it add anything to the show of value? Would storylines of Haily raising a baby as the hippy she is be any good? God, I hope it doesn't talk. We don't need any more Stewy clones.
Jeff is kind of dumb but I think that's because he smokes way to much weed. And Haily is at least smart enough to get a college degree so their kids would be normal intelligence wise I think.
Lastly, whatever you think about current economic problems at the very least we can agree Haily believes that it's society's fault and not hers and that's why she believes she is a strong and smart woman.
>multigenerational houses are a thing
Yes, having lived in one where everyone but the underage or retirees work it's a harmonious arrangement as long as no one free loads.
>How bad the economy is now
DIdn't American Dad come out in the two thousands where the worst thing that happened was that the housing market fricked itself?
When the show first came out Haily was still a student in college plus back then people were hesitant to buy property because of the crash little did we know that it would eventually be considered an investment like a stock and there is a limited supply so now housing is double fricked.
The show exists on a floating timeline. So Haily didn't move out before because she was in college and now it's too expensive to move out. They even did a great episode about how minimum wage is not a living wage. It was the perfect balance between being a good family story and political satire.
Believe it or not, America used to have multi-generational housing before the invention of "suburbs" and the "Nuclear family". Where you are expected to live in a "single-family house". Pretty much modern zoning laws in both the USA and Canada have torn families apart and ruined the middle class.
Have you seen how American Dad portrays meme colleges? Roger became a professor at Hayley's community college just by lying in an interview and there were even two episodes where Steve goes to college
To be fair Steve is always portrayed as pretty smart when the plot doesn't need him to be just a horny teen or a pussy.
Steve did not even attend a single class at ASU. He just got hazed by Klaus and some frat bros for a week and graduated.
To be fair, colleges are fricking worthless outside of the STEM departments and most of them are trying to make it 'STEAM' now.
To be fair nothing, the show is not trying to portray all colleges as bad but just that Hayley is a lazy tree hugger and dependent entirely on Stan. You are talking about "STEAM" and what is happening now when this was written into the story almost 20 years ago
Multi-generational housing is a good thing but the cultures that practice it would have disowned Hayley for not living up to their high expectations. Strict Asian and Indian parents don't want their children working dead end fast food jobs.
Hispanic families also would expect her to marry off and to be a good house wife.
And it isn't multi-generation housing when it just becomes a parasitic relationship. No matter how expensive housing is Hayley has done nothing to get ahead and has just wasted her entire life
Haily works and so does Jeff. It's not really parasitic. What is Jeff really capable of besides fast food? As for Haily, she had an office job once but it paid the same as working her current fast food job. She fell for the boomer advice of just getting a degree in anything and you'll be set for life. She could be doing more but what she is doing is reasonable.
Is the A for "Art"? Let me guess they added it so they could increase the number of women without actually doing anything.
Yes. STEAM is a concept that was invented for K-12 (I think in private schools first, but do not quote me), since not all kids like all the same subjects and the main point is to get them engaged on some sort of skill so they'll focus on at least one facet of schooling. Learning to draw, write, paint, etc is easiest when you're young.
Anyway, as far as I know, the main reason for it is to dilute the normally very rational and meritocratic STEM.
I remember talking to a kid once on discord. I was talking about STEM and I think he got it confused with STEAM. Very understandable mistake and he told me how his school said STEM included art and when I corrected him he felt embarrassed and I felt bad for him and really all the kids at school. Stem are brainy jobs that pay well. Adding art is stupid. Art is like entertainment very hard to break into and very unstable. Unless you're doing corporate art and not stuff you care about and that doesn't pay well unless you somehow become a storyboard artist or have an art job that is also very technical.
Like I said, the point of STEAM is at the K-12 to give more engagement. Basically, if we get two extra kids a year to graduate since we motivate them with a good art department/classes, we did our job.
You are correct in your assertion that STEM is more profitable than art, but if a kid doesn't finish school at all they're even less profitable than someone who gets their high school diploma and pursues no future education.
It's a bit like instituting grade requirements to be on sports teams: it's primarily a way to get kids to pass high school.
Yes, less relevant now than it used to be since schools don't like to fail anyone even if they really shouldn't be allowed to graduate, but...the concept is sound even if it's useless now.
She works for a fast food restaurant. That Jeff can't do anything else and can't provide for his daughter is exactly why Stan hates him
Jeff only works when the plot demands it
Meh maybe. Like I don't want this thread to turn into pol but pretty much every conservative I met was pretty unlikeable and the only crappy lefties I met were the rare extreme freaks. Most left-wing people seemed normal and something was off with conservatives. But I guess everyone's experience is different.
Hayley's entire personality can be summed up with three words: "FRICK YOU, DAD!!!"