Thursday, January 27, 2011
Has "Jersey Shore" gone too far?
It was recently decided that the next season of "Jersey Shore" is to be filmed in Italy. Italians are supposedly outraged, and it has also been said that the show will reflect very poorly on not only Italian Americans, but the American people as a whole. Yet, the recent phenomenon is a ridiculous, humorous reality show, and many also believe it is harmless. What is your take on the controversy? Do you believe this show should be taken lightly, or do you believe Italians have the right to be offended? Do you believe the fact it is reality TV makes it less or more offensive?
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Being Italian and a consistent follower of the show I have mixed opinions on the topic. I believe Italians have the complete right to be offended. This reality show is filled with so called "Guidos and Guidettes" who have little to no depth in their personality. They all care about there appearance more than most would ever even think about. The guys want to pick up chicks and the girls want to bring home juice-heads. They are an embarrassment to Italians. I know, personally, I don't want people using Jersey Shore as a model for what Italians are like. And to add the icing on the cake they are planning on putting these people in the heart of Italian culture. This not a good plan. Now, on the other hand I don't get wrapped up in arms about it because personally I watch the show for simple comedy. When I watch I don't get all fussy about how they are displaying Italians because I watch for the laughs. It may seem like contradicting views but its true. I don't want people judging Italians and I also love watching the show for its hilarity.
ReplyDeleteI think Italian Americans definitely do have a right to be offended over the image that Jersey Shore has created. Although it’s just a harmless TV show that should be taken lightly, because of it’s popularity the show certainly does make an impact on people’s perceptions. I also believe that the show not only reflects poorly on Italian Americans, but on Americans as a whole. The behavior shown in the program is not the only issue, just the fact that it is so popular can be seen as a problem. It reflects poorly on our society as Americans that watching Jersey Shore is what we value as entertainment. The fact that it has gained so much popularity and media attention shows a very tasteless audience in my opinion. The fact that it is “reality” TV just makes in worse because of the exploitation of the people on the show. Although I do acknowledge the harmless side to this silly and entertaining show, I certainly believe that it reflects very poorly on Italian Americans and also on Americans as an audience.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do understand the viewpoint of Italian Americans I also believe that it shouldn't be this big of a deal. I understand that the cast of Jersey Shore is serving as a "bad image" but if action were to be taken upon this show then the same should be taken for a lot of television shows that don't neccesarily promote the best behavior. It can't be that bad if people are continuing to give these shows the ratings they need to keep them going. Just think about it, the show Real World, usually the cast is a bit diverse but they all act out technically making people of their race or background "look bad" and in my opinion this is no different. Just because the show is actually going to be in Italy means nothing to me. I bet that some of those same Italians are watching the show and loving it. This whole being offended thing doesn't apply to all Italian Americans it just speaks to some people's perspectives.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said I also want to say that these reality TV shows are in a way staged anyway. They pick certain people to get good ratings and to get people to watch them so as a viewer you know what you are getting when you watch reality TV. It ISN'T reality tv because if it was they wouldn't cut anything and it would all be out in the open. The fact that Jersey Shore is "reality tv" shouldn't have anything to do with people being offended. I look at it like this:
It's only offensive and giving Italians a bad name because its on TV but I bet that some of these same things that happen on the show happen off camera so are those people who do the same kinds of things off camera also giving Italian Americans a bad name as well? In my eyes everyone has to look out for themselves. I mean I've seen black people do things that in my mind give black people a "bad name" but thats them. Whether its on TV or not it still happens. Everyone is going to do what they want to regardless.
Finding the show utterly ridiculous and unappealing, I feel as if the expansion to an international setting is unifitting. The partipants in the show lack social integrity and their precense should be shielded from those that are easily influenced by what they are watching on TV.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, adding Italy as a new "home" for the show, there will be a large addition to the viewing population, but will fortunately backfire in favor of present society. As Americans have found nothing else more appealing than belligerent, immature adults and their staged lifestyle, hopefully other nations may have more decency and force MTV to retreat back to American soil, where the low-standard viewers are abundant, and will continue to flourish.
Well unlike my counterpart Mr. Zac Hanson i really enjoy tuning in to MTV every Thursday night at 10pm central time to watch my favorite guidos on the planet. I feel like Zac has no idea what he is talking about and thats just because he is Italian he has a biased view.
ReplyDeleteI really think there is no reason for there to be a controversy over the cast of Jersey Shore taking there experiences to Italy. I view it as them just going back to their roots. Even though the Ronnie and Sam and Vinny and my boy Pauly D might be from Jerrseyy, their family and relatives actually are from Italy so there should be no problem. Yes i think that this "problem" should be taken lightly, it's really not a big deal at all. And the fact that "The Jersey Shore" is a reality show does not matter. Im sure that there are reality shows in Italy already and I really dont think that the Italians will have a problem with the Jersey Shore cast inhabiting their country
The image that Jersey Shore has created is grotesque. I don't watch the show and I don't plan to. If this show is an indiction of our generation then Italian Americans shouldn't be the only ones that are offended. These "characters", I refuse to believe that these are real people, are trashy and have questionable morals.
ReplyDeleteItaly is beautiful and culture-rich. Just because our culture is deteriorating doesn't mean we should forces others to. So to answer the question, yes jersey shore has gone too far. They shouldn't be putting this like this out there for teenagers, and younger kids, to see. And we especially shouldn't be bringing this to other cultures to pollute them.
Personally, I do think Jersey Shore has gone too far. It’s currently the largest and most successful TV show depicting Italian Americans, and I think it is possibly one of the primary sources of the stereotypes around Italian Americans. They’re portrayed as stupid people who only care about their appearances and attracting the opposite gender. In addition, the terms guido and guidette are in and of themselves offensive terms to Italian Americans, and the show’s use of those terms only serves to teach others that using these words is okay. This leads to more and more ignorant people using these terms without realizing the negative connotations.
ReplyDeleteMoving the show to Italy only reinforces negative stereotypes about Americans as well. The majority of the world already views America as uncultured, and the prevalence of shows such as Jersey Shore does not help this image.
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ReplyDeletePersonally, I am one of those people who have tuned into this hit series Jersey Shore from day one. I think one thing that was so appealing is the excitement, drama, and comedy of the show. The show keeps me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what comes next and if a show can keep me interested then I watch it. However, I think the Italians have the right to be offended because of some of the things that they say or do. Such as, the words DTF which is bad connotation for girls that they just bring home after the club to have sex with. I could see why the Italians would be offended because they probably don’t want people to think that this is the way that all Italians act.
ReplyDeleteWith that I think it is a bad idea to but these so called "Guidos and Guidettes" in the heart of there culture. However, it may not be such a bad idea because then this may give them a chance to learn about their culture and who they are as people, not just reality show celebrities. In my opinion I don’t think that people should really stress about the show displaying a bad image because the main reason why people watch the shows is for comedy and drama. This is what people like to watch and even though they it isn’t promoting the best image, we enjoy this stuff. More than 50% of the shows that are on TV promote bad behavior but this is what we like to watch because we like something that will keep us wanting more.
-Maya Sirmons
This is absolutely ridiculous, and that is why the television producers are going there. They don't really care how others are viewed just as long as they get people to watch people like snookie completely embarrass themselves on national television. I only expect the Jersey shore cast to have total disrespect for italian culture and heritage, not to mention completely embarrassing themselves infront of the italians and presenting all americans as stupid arrogant people who are best represented by a South Park episode. (thank god they don't air that show in europe.)
ReplyDelete