In some ways, seminary puts you in a time-warp. It’s hard to keep with everything and since finishing last year, I’ve been trying to catch up on some of my pop-culture. I remember where I was when I heard someone say, “Jersey Shore is awesome!” (I was driving the church van). Having seen bits and pieces of the first season and consequently changing the channel, I had thought that everyone knew it was lame but were watching more out of a “guilty pleasure”. In the parts that I saw, I caught the egotism of “The Situation”, heard Snooki’s voice and saw how they danced – I really assumed that everyone was laughing at them. Again, I could not believe that some thought they were cool so this season, I decided to see what I was missing.
I watched every show of this third season, including this past week’s reunion show. It was all pretty regrettable with bits of entertainment. Now, I sleep at night believing these people are not real, but rather, characters based on caricatures they created out of their personalities. I am often told that I am wrong about this but this is how I see it.
I am not sure anything could have prepared me for just how egotistical “The Situation” really was (and what a terrible friend). I could not believe how much respect Snooki actually got (She’s on the cover of Rolling Stone!!). Her friend, Deena is unstable to put it mildly. JWoww seems to be the most “normal” but I lament the way she objectifies herself. Vinny has the personality of a mannequin and I am not even sure what to say about Ronnie and Sammie. Someone said they reminded them of the high school couple that would break up and get back together. I’d like to apologize to every high school couple that was included in that comparison but let it be a warning, this is what people think you look like :). Had I known to eat a cannoli every time one of them said “I’m *&$%#@ done with this!!!”, I’d be bigger than Vinnie Pastore (Sal on the Sopranos). No wonder people are always trying to beat them up when they go out – they’ve watched the show and it’s terrible! About halfway through, I found the show funny. But not funny because of their humor (although if you can get past the hair and the fact that he’s 30, Pauly D is funny and I liked his fake voicemail prank – that was the highlight of the season), but funny that this has become such a popular feature of pop-culture. I can’t get over it and I’m obviously curious.
I also thought that by watching the show, it would create some conversation with some of my students (I already knew many could not have cared less but I have quite a few that genuinely enjoy it). What it really did was create a reference point counterbalancing the Christ-centered self-sacrificial humility with than exaggerated super-ego creating drama for the sake of self-fulfillment (more on this part later).
Now for those watching because it satisfies a need for entertainment in the way that movies and sports do for me – hey, to each his own. But the problem for me is that in everything we “consume”, there is a trade-off, in many cases, a worldview that we are being exposed to and my goal is to attempt to interact with some of these ideas in future posts.
One of my hopes is that the all the cast members are really brilliant at making themselves look “this way” (interpret that however you like). And the only reason I say that is in the beginning, they all pull up in BMW’s, Benz’s and a Lincoln. In the last scene they all leave in their great cars reminding the viewer that you, the viewer, is the real loser. Not because you don’t have a car like this, (hey you might), but because the viewers created the audience that created the revenue that allowed for this dysfunction that created a series of paychecks. In some way, we created this and I truly hope that these people are self-aware enough to capitalize on society’s voyeurism; not because money is the ultimate reward, but because it would demonstrate some self-awareness. Please tell me that these people don’t “really” exist. Again, I know many of my friends think I am very wrong about this.
Got a bit more to say but feel free to comment – are these people real? is this show any good?
Never saw the show, probably never will. Good comments you make all throughout (“exaggerated super-ego creating drama for the sake of self-fulfillment”…why am I suddenlty thinking of Charlee Sheen)…it amazes me that people watch this show.
I fall back on the definition / breakdown of the word “amusement”. To MUSE is to think…the letter A as a prefix negates the meaning of a word….A-Muse-ment….TV just provides people with alot of opportunities to not think. This show is just one of many.
Compare the people exhibited here to those seen in “Secret Millionaire” – that kinda sums it all up about who people are and what they stand for.
What’s worse (especially for a youth pastor) is that many of these MTV shows are perpetuating adolescence. You don’t have to grow up–you can be like Snooki. You don’t have to work hard–you can party all the time. You don’t have to commit to anyone or anything–you can go tanning and sleep with whomever you want. I personally find it frustrating.
On a less of “venting” note, do you think people watch it more because it is such a “trainwreck?”
thanks for that. I never got through the initial 2 minute preview of the first season without feeling much needed brain cells dying. That Christmas it was all my young cousins could talk about and I was befuddled. Evidently its a funny show with fascinating interpersonal drama – according to a fellow clinician. At the end of the day I just cannot watch it, but I do appreciate you calling out the truth by saying: “the problem for me is that in everything we “consume”, there is a trade-off, in many cases, a worldview that we are being exposed to”
I can’t stand Jersey Shore, but I have my muses that are equally lame. I call it “junk food tv” because I find it as mentally nutritious as junk food is for my body, which is why I also try to limit the intake. Which I think is the bigger point here, not so much if the characters are real or not, but the effect it has on a consumeristic society, which is clearly not a good one.
That’s funny, because I share your questions about whether or not they are simply characters they create. Out of the few episodes that I have seen, I watched how they seemed to pick a big fight out of very small problems. And, I would think to myself, “They have to be acting.” I mean, people love this stuff, so they must be perpetuating the drama for the money and fame.