- by Pat Rafferty
I am by no regard immune to the effects and draws that pop-culture has to offer. I am 26, overweight, over-indulged, and completely infatuated with any type of entertainment that can provide me with a modicum of a chance to escape from the everyday stresses, as minute as they may be, that accrue in my life. That being said, I find that the show Jersey Shore may be one of the most harmful sorts of entertainment and pop-culture I have witnessed and believe it may negatively affect generations to come and the one I am presently a part of.
I could in no way be considered conservative, so my enmity for this show does not stem from some ideology that people should behave or act more appropriately so as that our culture can attain a higher standard of morality. I hate this show because I think it encourages idiots to continue being idiots and that it may influence or skew the impressionable minds of teenagers into thinking that the way the ‘stars’ of Jersey Shore act is actually cool.
The fault of this show being popular falls on the shoulders of its viewers and not its participants. These viewers fall into two separate categories by which both can take equal parts of the blame. The first being teenagers who actually admire people like Snooky and The Situation and watch the show as some kind “How to Get Laid” instructional video in which they regularly mistake obviously scripted ignorant chatter as thoughtful lingo . The second being people of an older age, who happen to be the key demographic that advertisers like to target, watch for the entertainment, outrageousness, and weekly moronic happenings.
Younger viewers watch these repugnant horny Neanderthals on JS with a certain fervor that is frightening. If they look at these characters as social role models we can only expect that the generation will be void of any kind of ability to interact with one another on a, dare I say, romantic level that is anything less than primordial. Thanks to the glorification of the life styles the members on JS live, the up-and-coming generation won’t have to worry about wooing potential lovers with any kind intellectual conversation because most likely they will be in a club that has obnoxiously loud dance music. And no need to worry about your ability to dance either, just slam your dick and balls or ass into the other person until one is drunk enough to allow you to take them home and probably give you an STD. I’m not saying that these kids need to read Shakespeare or should be spending the time they would be watching JS watching a biography on Charles Dickens, though it couldn’t hurt, I’m saying that they should be exposed to reality a little bit more and that they should be encouraged to be educated not exploited. Please don’t worry that if these kids achieve some kind of social enlightenment that they will miss out on the pleasures of being young and single, I’m sure they will still find a way to dance to terrible music whilst rubbing their boners and sweaty asses against each other.
The older viewers of JS are at fault because the sheer numbers of them that watch JS attract advertisers who pay outrageous amounts money to get their commercials played in between Snooky rubbing lotion on her ass and some steroid using asshole proving his male dominance by throwing furniture around like a caveman. All the money this show generates ends up in these sexually retarded cast-members’ pockets and keeps the show on, and at prime time hours too. Is Jackass not enough for these people? The great thing about Jackass is they don’t try to evoke some kind creative genius in their stunts or try to pawn it off as some kind of commentary of social behavior. They kick each other in their nuts because they know it will make us laugh and they keep on finding new ways of doing it to keep us watching again and again.
I do understand the allure of the show though; I too was Snooked when I first viewed an episode. MTV knows what they are doing; they know that this show can in no way be credited with any form of creative genius, yet they will keep it on and milk it for as long as they can.
These Snookys, These Situations will soon be gone, but like the grease in their hair and aftermath of their “smooshing” it will leave a stain that will take some time to clean from our social fabric.
awesome
ReplyDeleteI liken this crowd to that of the disco crowd of the 70's. Thankfully they are gone and all that's left are John Travolta and BeeGees Halloween costumes. I can't wait for one of them to get hooked on drugs (Pauly D already is but I can't wait for it to become public), and for one of them to go into an alcoholic downward spiral when he realizes that he has already peaked and has no job skills to speak of (Ronnie). The girls will do nothing because they will be beatin around by some abusive Jersey boyfriend and fizzle away into obscurity. My only hope is that the Situation is the same exact person he is in 30 years because I'd enjoy the hell out of him then too.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if people realize it or not, but the 'Jersey Shore' is 'The Real World' but with strictly Guidos as house mates. I wouldn't be surprised if the guys who pitched this show literally said, "hey, real world has been dying off for the last 9 years, we have a show that is pretty much the same exact thing, only instead of 8 different kinds people, we'll use 8 of the same kind.". I personally love watching this stuff, mainly because these people are close to or the same age as us, and look at the shit they do! This show is legitimately their job, I'm not sure how much they make per episode, but it's probably more than most of us make in a year. So you gotta take it for what it's worth, these people do this for a living, they have to keep it fun, exciting, scandalous, and as dramatic as possible. It's only a matter of time until another new group will break on to the scene so get as much milk from the tit as you can, that's what I would do too.
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