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Television Analysis Of Jersey Shore

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Media
Wordcount: 2239 words Published: 4th May 2017

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The Jersey Shore is a reality TV show that has become one of the most popular shows in television today, and the producers are working on a season three. The show began in 2009, and since has had two seasons, which were widely viewed by many people. Some question, “What is this show all about,” and I reply that it is a show consisting of eight young people; Paul DelVicchio, Nicole Polizzi, Michael Sorrentino, Sammi Giancola, Ronnie Ortiz Magro, Jenni Farley, Vinny Guadagnino, and Angelina Pivarnick. All these people are young Italian people that come to a beach house, and basically just have fun. They all party, go out to clubs, drink alcohol uncontrollably, have sex, and just act like the “stereotypical young person.”

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Jersey Shore is not a survivor type reality show, or even a fear factor type reality show, but in my opinion, it is a bunch of young people that act immature, do bad things to have fun, and just make fools out of themselves in front of the whole country. However, Jersey Shore tries to make it seem like they are really good people because they work some of the time on the show in minimum wage jobs, but the times that those scenes are shown, the time frame is very minimal. Thus, this shows that the show is trying to show that they are doing something productive, but then again it shows the bad things more often because those are what are most interesting to society. So, the Jersey shore is a show that portrays young people to be the “stereotypical young person,” and in a sense persuades the people of America that this is how young people act. Additionally, the show portrays genders in ways that seem to be stereotypical as well.

Gender Roles on the Jersey Shore (female)

Females are often criticized by men that if they don’t look like a “real woman,” then they’re not worth talking to. Meaning, if they do not wear makeup, dress up to show sex appeal, wear high heels, do their hair, they are not worth the time. However, this does not exist in the Jersey Shore because that is exactly what all the women do on the show. For instance, before they go to the club in basically every episode there will be a scene being shown that shows them getting ready, and that includes the women putting on makeup, “sexually appealing clothes,” and doing their hair. For instance in Episode 12, Season Two you see all the girls getting ready and Nicole “Snookie” Polizzi says “We got to get ready and make sure we look good before we go to the club,” (mtv.com) Thus, the show portrays the female as if they have to look good to go out, and wear nice clothes, and make sure their hair is done, which in my view, is really not the way most women are.

Furthermore, when looking past that idea of the way women are “supposed to look,” I discovered that the show also portrays women to be the type that just want to have sex all the time and find good looking males. For instance, in just about every episode the women are always talking about the places to go to see all these good looking men, and how they would like to have sex with them. Additionally, when they go in the clubs, they dance rather sexually and get very close to their male counterparts in the club. So, perhaps, the Jersey Shore is trying to send the message that if you are going to clubs, you will meet women like this, and I find that to be a very stereotypical bias because not all women go to the clubs to simply dance dirty, and have sex. Hence, I believe that the Jersey Shore portrays women to be sex objects that love going out and showing off their bodies.

Gender roles (male)

Male gender role in the show is portrayed differently from women, but it does have a similarity. Men on the show are shown to be huge ripped guys that are very clean looking. That is where the similarity comes in between the male and female roles because they both are being portrayed as what people “want in a man or woman,” based on the media portrayal in this society. Additionally, the show stereotypes masculinity because Jersey Shore makes it seem like you have to look this way to be masculine, which means having a six pack, or being ripped. Moreover, the show does not only show “male masculinity” to be a role, but also shows male dominance to be a major role. For instance, in Season Two, Episode 11, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino says to Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi when they are in the club that “I’m the man of the house, and when I say it is time to go, and then we go. I’ve always done this when we have gone out. I always round people up”(mtv.com), but words can only express so much, so you would actually have to see it before your very own eyes to see how he believes he is dominant over Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.

In contrast, I believe that the show also shows men in a feministic way. The reason I say that is because the men on the show are often doing things typical of a woman. For example, the guys will go out and get a tan at a tanning salon, which is often seen being done by women. In addition, the guys, like the women, spend a lot of time doing their hair, getting dressed, and basically they just spend their time on themselves. However, I believe this is done purposely to show that they are clean, and that the male gender can too care about his body. Although they do that purposely, I believe viewers will still question how truly realistic is this “reality” show. So, gender roles in the show are portrayed in an way that intentionally try to attract viewers, but knowledgeable people will be able to tell that these are not the way all men and women are.

Negative influence on young people

Jersey Shore is a show that heavily stereotypes young people, but in my opinion, they do not take into consideration the negative effects they can have on the younger crowd. The younger people in America are often brainwashed by the media and believe everything that is being told or broadcasted. Therefore, Jersey Shore is a prime example of a show that can have these negative effects. The effects it might have differ between the genders, but when you look at the bigger picture it is quite similar. It is similar because most young people that are watching the show might now believe that they should act like these “stereotypical young people” are acting. However, they might not realize that this is not truly a hundred percent correct, and that this can possibly have a negative influence on their lives if they choose to act this way.

In my opinion, I believe that what they do on the show will have a negative influence on a younger person’s life because they would now start drinking more, clubbing more, having sex more, which all could result in negative outcomes. For instance, drinking could lead to an alcohol problem, clubbing could lead to sex, which can ultimately lead to a sexually transmitted disease that can be life threatening. So, younger people are potentially in danger when absorbing these false ideas and actions being portrayed on the show, and this can cause a number of problems in society itself to increase just because of one show. Alcohol addiction can increase, number of minors entering clubs can increase, and the most devastating thing would be if sexually transmitted diseases increase, which already seem to be on the rise.

So, I have said what the show can do to people, but this is mainly considering people that already do these things. However, a bigger problem could be the effects it has on the people who do not do these negative things in their lives, and that is what could cause a significant increase in those areas I mentioned above. Thus, I believe that this will in fact affect the young people who do not already do these things, and that could be very bad for society. It could be bad for society because when you look at the long term effect this can have it can seem quite terrifying. It can seem terrifying because imagine the death rate increase due to some of these issues, and that can cause emotional problems, family problems, and to think this could be the long term effect all because of one show is just horrible. Therefore, I believe that the Jersey Shore presents many stereotypes that can have very negative outcomes on people’s lives if they try to imitate these people.

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Unrealistic Message of Partying

Some might argue that this is all that is done on the show, but some might disagree, but partying seems to happen quite frequently on Jersey Shore. In every show the crew gathers up at least once at night and goes to the club and parties. However, it is done so often, it starts to seem unrealistic. It begins to seem unrealistic because it is portrayed as if “All young people have time to do is go out and party all the time,” but that is definitely not true because people that are in school, or who are young parents, or working a full time job will in most cases, not have the time to be partying like they do on the Jersey Shore. So, with that being said, I believe that if America believes that this is how young people are in this country, then I have proven my point that the media brainwashes society.

Furthermore, Jersey Shore portrays partying as “fun,” which shows that they are generalizing the idea that partying and clubbing is fun. However, once again Jersey Shore is showing another way it tries to bring in the viewers of America. Although they portray clubbing to be fun, but that does not mean everyone thinks that it is fun. Sometimes, people say that “clubbing is for young single people just trying to find a partner,” which I agree with. Additionally, this relates to the show stereotyping young people because they are assuming that all young people like to go partying and clubbing, which is also not true, and I am a prime example of that because I do not like partying or clubbing, and I believe there are better alternatives to meet people or find a partner, such as attending an event of some sort. Therefore, I believe that Jersey Shore intentionally attacks these stereotypes to attract a person in this society who does not know much about media, and believes everything that is portrayed by them. Therefore, many people that are like this will watch the Jersey Shore, and did for the past two seasons.

Advice for watching

Jersey Shore is a show that you should watch with a stereotyping in mind. That Stereotyping is used so much in the show you might even forget how many times it appears. So, when you are watching this show, don’t believe everything that you see, and try to mock these people. They are a bunch of people who getting a high salary to act like this because this is what the producers believes America wants to see based on the medias portrayal of young people in today’s society, which you can argue is true because it is the most watch show on MTV in years. However, I do advise you that if you start to act like these people it can have very negative effects on your life.

For example, if you start drinking like this, you could possibly become an alcoholic, which can lead to severe liver damage, family problems, and even a self addiction problem that may be very hard to overcome. Additionally, if you start having sex as frequently as these people do, you will eventually get a STD because these people are kissing, touching, and doing all those lustful things with many different people, and statistics show how easy it is in today’s world to receive an STD when you are with numerous partners. As a result, you might receive a life threatening STD, such as aids. All in all, the main advice I would give you when watching the show is watch it as a show. So, watch it as a TV show and not as a reality show because the things being presented in the show in my opinion are just not real. So, watch this show for pleasure, but don’t try to imitate these people because they would not be able to spend all that money on their hair, clothes, clubs, etc, if they did not get paid by MTV. So, I know most people will not listen to my advice, but ultimately I think it needs to be said.

Conclusion

Jersey Shore’s main point is to portray young people that are “good looking, cool, and what people want based on stereotypes.” Jersey Shore was a show that brought MTV back on its feet because MTV was a show that was showing steady decline in its viewers for the past several years until the Jersey Shore aired. Thus, I believe that the producers came up with a good idea that would pull viewers in and watch this show. However, what they’re doing cannot only affect the young minds of America, but cause an increase in other problems such as alcohol addiction, underage clubbing, and most of all sexually transmitted diseases. So, I believe that Jersey Shore has accomplished its goal by stereotyping young people because many people in this country watched the show, and still do. In conclusion, the effects this show can be negative, or could be positive, but it is your decision to watch, so with that being said, will you watch.

 

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