Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Jersey Shore vs. New Jersey

          Oh Jersey Shore. You have enthralled MTV's young target market and made the names Snooki and The Situation common knowledge in our culture. You portray a group of young people simply living their lives in a house in New Jersey, but how real is this reality? People flock every Thursday to watch Jersey Shore, which is labeled as reality TV, but is this how life really is in Jersey? The shore gang spends most of their time, as documented on camera, either at the clubs, getting into shenanigans at their house, or, as they say, "GTL" (gym, tan, laundry). They rarely work, and when they do they often show up late, sleep on the job, or even leave altogether. If this was actually reality, they would obviously be fired. They also live a lifestyle disproportionate to the amount of income they would make based on their T-Shirt sales job. They are paid to be on the show, which obviously prevents them from being completely the same as if they were not being paid, nor on camera. I'm not trying to just bash Jersey Shore, I've watched it just as much as they next person. The only problem with reality shows like this, is when they are taken as true reality. It's important for us to distinguish between our views of New Jersey and the portrayals on Jersey Shore. Everyone is not always, drinking, fist pumping, and yelling, "Yeeeaah buddy," but if we take Jersey Shore as real, we might assume that of New Jersey. When we watch reality TV, our expectation is what it should be, reality. But in actuality, reality on TV is far from true, although it appears to be. As long as we take Jersey Shore for what it is, as simple entertainment instead of an informational documentary, we can avoid a skewed sense of reality.

Below is a short clip of my personal favorite Jersey Shore character, Pauly D.


1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with you. "Jersey Shore" definitely does not portray reality. I find it incredibly interesting that as a society we come so engaged in what can really only be called valueless entertainment.

    ReplyDelete