Marcel Winatschek

The Gravity of Peter Griffin

Peter Griffin had an Instagram account—peterpumpkineater69—and what he posted with it was exactly correct: his bikini bridge (which, on Peter Griffin, is less a delicate negative space and more a continental shelf situation), a close-up of one of his toes, and his ancient nemesis the Giant Chicken appearing somewhere in the background like a feathered ghost who will never let it rest. This is Family Guy content translated into the language of fitness Instagram, and it is perfect.

The internet spends most of its time being exhausting. But occasionally it produces something like a fictional slovenly cartoon man treating himself as an object of desire, posting thirst traps with absolute zero irony, and somehow the joke lands on Instagram and on everyone who takes Instagram seriously. The platform deserves it.