Seth MacFarlane Explains Origins Of ‘Family Guy’ Meme Of ‘The Godfather’ & “It Insists Upon Itself” Quote

Social media is inundated with Family Guy memes, and a particular one involving The Godfather resurfaces occasionally.

Seth MacFarlane, creator and star of the long-running animated series, recently took to social media to explain the origins of the “it insists upon itself” meme that fans quote.

“Since this has been trending, here’s a fun fact,” MacFarlane shared on X, the microblogging platform formerly known as Twitter. “‘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.”

In Season 4, Episode 27, titled “Untitled Griffin Family History,” Peter Griffin shares with his family that he did not care for The Godfather.

“How can you even say that, Dad?” Peter’s son Chris asks.

Lois adds, “Peter, it’s like the perfect movie.”

“And this is what everyone always says,” Peter adds.

Chris then lists the actors in the film, like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall.

When Lois asks Peter why he didn’t like the film, Peter says, “It insists upon itself.”

Lois doesn’t understand the phrase and asks for clarification, to which Peter then explains, “It takes forever getting in, and then you spend like six and a half hours, and then… You know, I can’t even get through it. I can’t even finish the movie. I’ve never seen the ending.”

Peter gets some pushback for having a hard opinion on a movie he hasn’t watched through. He then cites the “scene where all the guys are sitting around on easy chairs as “not a great scene,” adding, “I have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s like they’re speaking in a different language. That’s where I lose interest, and I go away.”

Chris tells Peter they’re speaking Italian, and Lois adds, “The language they’re speaking is a language of subtlety, something you don’t understand.”

Peter then finishes by saying he likes The Money Pit, the 1986 comedy directed by Richard Benjamin, which stars Tom Hanks and Shelley Long.

The phrase “it insists upon itself” has generated a lot of debate among movie buffs, who are trying to decipher its meaning. Many fans understand the phrase to be about a pretentious movie.

Watch the scene in the video below.