Monday, May 11, 2009

Seth (Family Guy) MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane appeared as a guest on Bill Maher's "Real Time" on Friday night. He's an animator, composer, writer, producer, actor and voice actor, best known for creating the animated sitcoms "Family Guy" and "American Dad", for which he also voices many of the characters: Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Glenn Quagmire and many additional characters.

Multi-talented? I guess so!

We watch "Family Guy" repeats quite often, The series has now come to an end, but repeats go on for ever in the USA. Stewie's Rex-Harrison-type English accent is a hoot. The humor and satire in the episodes often hovers around the border of acceptable and not acceptable, this is just part of its charm. Later seasons of the show seem to get more and more risque, certainly not fare for faint-hearted, strait-laced religiously oriented mortals.






When Seth MacFarlane appeared recently in a TV commercial, for HULU, and lapsed into the Stewie accent, I was completely taken aback. I'd felt convinced that some retired English actor from the West End stage was responsible for Stewie's lines.

Astrologically, I'd been expecting to see versatile Gemini (often a great mimic) featuring strongly in Seth MacFarlane's natal chart. I was wrong - unless Gemini is his rising sign (which can't be established without a time of birth). The chart below is set for 12 noon on his birth date: 26 October, 1973, Kent, Connecticut.





Just as MacFarlane has a surprising combination of talents, this chart has a surprising combination of Yods, aka Fingers of Fate. (A Yod is a planetary configuration made up of two planets in sextile aspect (60*), both linked to another planet via quincunx (150*), forming a sharp arrow-like shape.

Astrologers consider that these formations are reflected in the personality by the characteristics of the sextiled and harmonious planets blending and being channelled through the planet at the apex, via its own characteristics. A complex concept!






There are three Yods in this chart (as shown). That's fairly rare, I'd say. The Yods are themselves linked too, by Neptune forming part of each one.

Saturn/Mars~apex at Neptune = work/career/energy channelled via imagination and creativity.
Neptune/Jupiter ~ apex at Saturn = Imagination/exaggeration channelled via career and work (almost the mirror image of the previous Yod).
Neptune/Pluto ~ apex at Mars = Imagination/Passion/Darkness channelled via enthusiasm and energy.
The planets involved are exactly right for describing what Seth's career has turned out to be.

MacFarlane needed lots of energy and strong work ethic to get his projects off the ground and accepted by a primetime TV channel. These attributes comes via Saturn and Mars in the Yod configurations. His oddball characters are product of his Neptune links with a splash of Jupiter's excess. Pluto's appearance in one Yod, sextiling Neptune reflects the occasional satirical darkness of some of his storylines.


In general, apart from the trio of Yods, He's a Scorpio/Sagittarius type - intense yet with an outgoing enthusiasm for life and fun. I think he looks Sagittarian.


There are close square (90*) aspects in his chart: Sun to Jupiter to Mars, linked by the resulting opposition Sun to Mars which makes up yet another triangular configuration known as the T-Square. In this case the configuration links his core self (Sun) and two other planets in Fixed signs, bringing in an element of stubbornness and determination to add to the tension indicated by a T-square formation. But this formation does provide a special kind of dynamic tension - that which is is so often a pre-requsite for success.

In a lengthy and interesting interview at IGN.com (here) Seth MacFarlane admits that he was stubborn and determined about keeping to his initial vision when Family Guy first came to the TV screen. He was unwilling to delegate much to his team at first, but said that he later eased into trusting his team and loosening the reins. This connects to his Fixed and controlling Scorpio planets easing under the influence of his Mutable Sagittarius planets (Venus and Neptune).
MACFARLANE: When Family Guy started as a series, I was very, very controlling....... out of sheer paranoia, because all of our writers had come off of live-action sitcoms. My first thought was, "Oh God, these people have never written for animation before." And really, by the end of the series, I could not have come to a more opposite viewpoint. It got to the point where you just rely on these people. Really, what I found was that good writers are good writers.



6 comments:

Laura said...

I just finished watching the new 'Three Kings' episode of Family Guy. Seth MacFarlane is a genius. He may have taken some stick from South Park but I think that was all in good taste. He has influenced TV for the better. I agree with you about the voice - to see him speak and hear what comes out of his mouth is freaky. Very talented guy. Great post!

Shawn Carson said...

Awesome breakdown of a very complex chart. Yods configurations are difficult to get a handle on. I have several and they seem to make me bounce around a lot from one thing to the next. Seth has lots of aspects to the Sun, which is said to show high intelligence.
very cool, Twilight

Wisewebwoman said...

My g-daughter introduced me to this and I've enjoyed its outrageousness and satire. She got hooked on it at her dad's house at far too young an age, much to my daughter's consternation, but it has fed well into her own satirical sly wit.
XO
WWW

Twilight said...

Laura ~~ I haven't seen that episode yet - looking forward to it. Yes - he's amazing. I wonder what he'll do next ?!

Twilight said...

Shawn C. ~~~ Thanks. :-)

Yods always seem important, whenever I spot one (or more) in a chart. somehow they create harmony out of disharmony - that's how I see 'em anyway.

Most people with "splash" type natal charts have lots of different chart patterns to play with (I do). It's hard to know what, if any significance they all play when there are so many. I pick out those which stand out - usually Grand Trines, Yods, Grand Cross.

Twilight said...

WWW ~~~ LOL! Glad you enjoy it too. It certainly is outrageous at times. I think I do prefer the earlier, sillier, shows to the more recent risque ones. It's probably good that the series came to an end before things went really over the top!