Family Guy has become such a stalwart of western culture that people tend not to question the absurdity of it all. Not only is there a talking dog in the programme, but there is also Stewie. Of course, Stewie has gone on to become one of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time, but when you think about it, he is a talking baby with a British accent who seems set on world domination.
However, while little has ever been revealed about Stewie and his backstory, the most recent instalment of Family Guy has let viewers into the mind of the character and they have re-emerged with fresh insight into why he behaves in the manner that he does.
The episode, called 'Send in Stewie, Please', featured Stewie in a near-half-hour therapy session with the school's child psychologist, Dr Pritchfield (voiced by Sir Ian McKellen). While in the session, Stewie delivers a long monologue in which he reveals the details of his life and goes down a long path of self-reflection.
However, the real surprise came when Stewie revealed that his British accent was simply "a coat of armour to get me through the day... an image I cultivated so I could feel special".
It turns out that Stewie's real accent is that of an innocent little American boy, "It’s a glimpse behind the Clockwork Orange that is Stewie," says Family Guy executive producer Alec Sulkin, while fellow showrunner Richard Appel sums up: "Stewie probably learns more about himself in a 25-minute analysis session than Woody Allen has learned in 25 years."
Gary Janetti, the writer behind the script, was looking to do something different with the character. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the writer said: "I’ve always wanted to go deeper with Stewie."
"I've always wanted to write a really long monologue for Stewie, and it never naturally happened.
"I had just worked with Ian McKellen in London on the show Vicious, and I wanted to bring him in. I thought, 'Well, what better way than to do a therapy session? It's just Stewie talking to Ian for a half hour, where he can just talk to somebody in a way that he has never talked to somebody before.'"
Deciding to delve into the character of Stewie, Janetti decided that the episode should look at Stewies (fake) accent, something which Janetti said he was worried Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane wouldn't be a fan of.
"I didn’t know if Seth would go for it," says Janetti.
"[But] when he read it, it was hilarious, because he instantly read that voice that he does in the episode, which is this normal kid voice, and it's very disarming.
"Like all kids can, when you feel like you're an outcast, and you feel like you don't fit in any place, you construct a bit of a façade to protect yourself from the world. His is just extraordinarily sophisticated.
"What would that mean if he could release it and be more authentic — and himself? Does he want to?"
It's not known if Stewie will adopt his real accent in further episodes or whether he will continue to talk in his British quip. But, given the nature of Family Guy, whatever happens to Stewie will more than likely make little-to-no sense.
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