The eldest child of Peter and Lois Griffin on the hit TV Show "
Family Guy." A complete wallflower, Meg is routinely used as the
butt of everyone's jokes. This stems from her social awkwardness, and supposed unattractiveness. Over the course of the series, Meg's unpopularity has evolved from being just a gag, to being the focal point of her character.
Meg is even mocked by members of her own family. Every now and then, when Meg tries to speak, Peter will simply tell her to "shut up", and then carry on with the conversation. It has also been shown that Peter and
Lois don't know how old Meg is, when her
birthday is, or that she is deathly allergic to peanuts. Brian, the family dog, instantly vomits when
Chris lifts up Meg's shirt.
Friends of the family seem to share similar feelings about Meg. In one episode, Cleveland Brown tells Peter, "Meg is my least favourite of your children."
Other Meg jokes throughout the series include: in one episode, she is captured in a net, and mistaken for a manitee or "sea cow"; after seeing how "ugly" she is, two
people douse themselves in gasoline, ignate themseleves, and jump out a window; to avoid a date with Meg, a boy at school shoots himself in the stomach with a nail
gun; another boy kills his own
brother to have an excuse not to go to prom with her; in a cutaway gag, her teddy bears come to life and run away. one of the bears jumps in front of a truck rather than go back and be with Meg; Peter tells
Lois on one occasion that they agreed if they could only save two they'd "leave Meg"; on one occasion, it is implied that Meg masturbates with hotdogs and pretends they're the New York Knicks; on numerous occasions, Meg is mistaken for a boy.
To look at Meg as a social commentary, the argument could be made the she is a parody of the
awkward, unpopular teen stereotype, taken to the extreme. The jokes about Meg's obesity can also be seen as social commentary. Meg is only shown to be slightly overweight, and she isn't as ugly as she's made out to be by the other characters. This could be seen as a social commentary on American
society, and how those
people who fall
short (even slightly) of the percieved ideal, face persecution, and are made to feel
bad about themselves.
Meg is voiced by Lacey Chabert in the first season, and by Mila Kunis in all subsequent seasons.
