Column: Jersey Shore not representative of Italian Americans
Published May 4, 2010
When I began watching Jersey Shore it was with abject fascination. When I ended the episode it was tinged with a healthy dose of dismay.
Maybe this dismay stemmed from my faulty expectations of the show. I originally thought it would be a Hills-esque program following 20-somethings as they laid out on the beach, provided the capital for Christian Audigier's next yacht and backstabbed each other.
This was not to be. If anything, Jersey Shore is the anti-Hills.
Regardless of the asinine nature of the Hills and the questionable morality of those involved (I'm looking at you, Speidi), you are never without the idea that you are watching aspirational TV.
The camera lovingly stalls on their white beauty norm faces, panning their outfits to allow time to discern brands. You are, hate them or love them, still supposed to want to be these people.
This is not the same with Jersey Shore.
The impression here is that these people are supposed to be your punch line.
Music drops at the most groan inducing quotes allowing you to mull over the pure stupidity of what was said. No matter what my stance on the personas of those involved (I mean let's be for real, one guy calls himself "the Situation," how is that even a nickname?) it is uncomfortable to see these people played for laughs.
MTV can be almost callous in their treatment of the cast. A current Internet furor has arisen after MTV decided to include promo footage of the castmate, Snookie being hit in the face at a bar. And by hit, I mean punched in a way that makes her head snap back viciously by a man that all but towers over her. It's disturbing for someone like me, who has never had to experience firsthand the trauma of violence against women.
To rub salt in the already raw wound, MTV places this clip in a montage that simultaneously normalizes violence (the clip is placed among other clips of roommates hitting each other) and characterizes Snookie as a crazy, obnoxious drunk who possibly got what was coming to her. She didn't. Regardless of her actions (most of which I've seen happen at various parties within my college experience, and if we're being honest here then I've been guilty of some), she was brutally attacked, and no one deserves that.
After the violence and gendered language used around the house, one would think MTV could not pack more fail into a single series.
All the housemates are proud Italian Americans, and the house is decorated with various allusions to this.
But this is not the issue. The issue lies in regards to Italian Americans convoluted with the "guido-ette" subculture (a term which I was surprised to see used because I had always considered it a slur).
MTV could had made a distinction that these men and women are not intended to represent the varied experiences and lifestyles of Italians in our nation, but they did not. This is even more problematic because it is airing during a time when criticism of the Italian justice system is being expanded to include Italian culture, and then subtextually, Italians themselves after the Amanda Knox trial (an analysis for another day).
MTV responded to the criticism by some Italian advocacy groups with something along the lines of "but you're missing the point."
As if this sort of cultural voyeurism is really by night, a conceptual art. As if this show has a point.