Reflections on MTV's Jersey Shore

Reflections on MTV's Jersey Shore

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Culture_Voyeur

Monday, January 25, 2010 at 9:26:00 AM EST

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In honor of my birthday, my friends Alice and Sarah decided the most appropriate way to celebrate would be to take in a day long marathon of MTV’s Jersey Shore. Having been a little too involved recently with the teenage melodrama of Degrassi, I had remained oblivious to the latest reality TV craze that swept the nation.

Watching the antics of Snooki and her compatriots, I couldn’t believe that MTV had finally done away with all subtlety and crafted a show so unapologetically sleazy that it makes The Real World look like “MacBeth.” And as someone who has never been to – nor has any desire to go to – the actual Jersey Shore, I can’t help but wonder how the people of New Jersey ever allowed MTV to get away with such an over-the-top generalization.

For weeks, I had been hearing rumblings of this phenomenon through feminist blogs and the Hollywood gossip mill. Everything from housemate Angelina’s declaration that “slut[s] deserve to be abused” to the infamous Snooki gets punched incident; the cast of Jersey Shore seem to have done their very best to play into every stereotype of Jersey-born, Italian Americans that exists – even going so far as calling themselves “guidos” and “guidettes.”
Not surprisingly, feminist groups have decried the violence and objectification of women on the series, while the Italian-American service organization, UNICO National, has called the show inflammatory and built on exploiting stereotypes. And of course, all of these accusations are correct.

What I found most intriguing about Jersey Shore are indeed the extreme characterizations each of the cast members play in to. On The Real World, every person can easily identify which role they’ve been hired to fill – the gay one, the black guy, the virgin – and with Jersey Shore it’s really no different. The casting call clearly sought to find individuals who fit a certain mold, and the cast undoubtedly knew to play up these traits during filming. How else can you explain such nicknames as “The Situation” and “JWoww” (yes, with two w’s)?

Although the outcry from Italian-Americans and self-respecting Jerseyites has been all but ignored by the young public who tuned in each week, it’s clear that the series is nothing more than a glorified minstrel show. Never in a million years would MTV be allowed to produce a reality series following the lives of Chinese-Americans as they run a Laundromat. And although Bravo has gotten away with it on more than one occasion, even effeminate characterizations of gay men are becoming less and less acceptable (just look at the “straight-acting” gay men cast on The Real World).

Regardless of the criticism, MTV has stood by its goldmine of a show, commending itself for “documenting various subcultures” and complimenting the cast for taking pride in their heritage. But if MTV really believed this, why would they bow to pressure from feminist and anti-violence groups and pull the video of Snooki getting punched from the air? The network clearly believes that it can act as a cultural referee, dictating which groups are free game for laughs and which ones are off-limits.

Season 2 of Jersey Shore will air later this year.

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I refuse to watch this show. I've heard enough about it to know why I would not be interested in watching it, or any show like it. Regardless, it is a very popular show and people that I know and respect flock to their tvs to watch it weekly. I don't quite understand why we live in a society that promotes negative stereotyping, among many other things... I'm an Italian-American, and someone that happens to be 4'11 (because come on, you know that has some part in Snooki's image), so the show is perpetuating a lot of stereotypes that we should be working against and stereotypes that affect me personally. Without those factors, however, the show works to enforce a lot of negative things, like traditional and potentially harmful gender roles. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only person with this sentiment about the show, and I'm glad to see you blogging about it! Keep up the good work.

# Posted By cmartin626 | 1/26/10 09:44 PM | Report | Reply

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