Peter Griffin’s “It insists upon itself” criticism for The Godfather has really taken off online, so the original creator behind Family Guy revealed the real origin story behind the iconic line. In the Season 4 episode, “Untitled Griffin Family History,” the Griffin Family hides away in a panic room in the attic (as Peter was inspired by watching The Butterfly Effect and wanting to get away from the movie), and Peter passes the time by telling the story about the Griffin’s family history. But the most iconic scene comes towards the end as the Griffin Family thinks they are all going to die.
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In Peter’s final confession to the rest of his family, he states that he did “not care” for the famous Francis Ford Coppola feature film, The Godfather. When the rest of the family asks him why, Peter’s defense is that he feels it “insists upon itself.” This clip had been gaining more traction on social media as one fan thought it was a proper critique to use, and Family Guy series creator Seth MacFarlane explained on social media that “It insists upon itself” actually came from his college film history professor.
“It Insists Upon Itself” Scene Explained
“Since this has been trending, here’s a fun fact,” MacFarlane stated on X. “‘It insists upon itself’ was a criticism my college film history professor used to explain why he didn’t think ‘The Sound of Music’ was a great film. First-rate teacher, but I never quite followed that one.” The scene has been a fairly popular one since it was first seen back in Season 4, and has been popping up online here and there. It started taking off again when a fan had claimed it was a good argument to make, and MacFarlane’s explanation of the origin seems to indicate the opposite. That Peter looks foolish for making such an argument when he hasn’t even finished seeing the movie.
It always seemed to be the core of the joke that Peter was dismissive of The Godfather despite the rest of the family trying to tell him about all of its good qualities, and it even was one of the rare scenes where the rest of the family can hear and understand Stewie as they all join in on the argument. This scene in particular has even returned to Family Guy as one of the many hallucinations that Peter had when he was in a coma during the Season 18 episode, “Coma Guy.” So even after all these years it seems the Family Guy team loves “It insists upon itself” just as much as fans do.
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What’s Next for Family Guy?
Family Guy is finally scheduled to be making its comeback with new episodes later this Winter. Family Guy Season 23 was originally slated to return with many of the other Animaiton Domination favorites on FOX in the Fall 2024 season, but had been moved to the Winter 2025 midseason schedule instead. Now after much waiting for these new episodes, they will finally be making their debut with FOX on Sunday, February 16th at 8:00PM EST (temporarily taking The Simpsons’ spot in the FOX Sunday evening line up).
As Family Guy celebrates its 25th anniversary, you can currently catch up with all of the episodes released thus far now exclusively streaming with Hulu. The streaming service also has an exclusive Halloween and Christmas special that released last year as well, so Family Guy still has quite a lot for fans to enjoy before the new episodes hit next month.
