It's a Thursday night, and I'm preparing myself to become virtually mindless for an hour. It's something of a tradition- my friends all come to my room, we make popcorn, forget about the Physics test we took this week that may not have gone ideally, forget about the homesickness we feel and the homework due in the morning we haven't started, forget about that guy we met at the frat last weekend whose "playing mindgames with me." We all crowd on my bed and watch the clock, and once it reads 10:00, our complaints and our laughter are silenced. We are settling down to watch Jersey Shore.
Jersey Shore is...interesting. The appeal is strange- why do we get so excited to spend an hour of our lives watching these future skin cancer victims shout bleeped-out obscenities at each other and others? They aren't intellectually stimulating, they make no political statement and are a very poor, skewed cultural representation (yes, I am Italian.) They aren't producing anything like other reality shows- there will be no fancy cake at the end, no remade home for a family in an unfortunate financial situation, no dress to be worn on the runway. They are not trying to reach any goal- there are no tests of physical endurance or attempted weight loss or trivia questions to answer. They are just a group of individuals with sub-par intellect who have a penchant for going to the gym, tanning, and doing laundry. Oh, and pre-gaming all day then heading out to the club around midnight.
I have to wonder...what about these people has captivated me? Why do I block out 10-11 every Thursday night just to watch their melodramatic lives unfold?
The answer, I believe, lies in a populist appeal. The targeted audience of the MTV viewer- most likely in the pre-teen to early-twenties range- are clearly interested in MTV's other, equally unintellectual classics- Teen Mom and Super Sweet Sixteen among them. This audience has shown that they enjoy watching "average" people deal with problems that could be considered somewhat believable. Conversely, they also enjoy watching rich kids party all the time and lead lives free of commitment (see Laguna Beach and The Hills). Jersey Shore is a manifestation of both- though these people are (somewhat) ordinary, it is also clear money is no object and their commitments are minimal. Their ordinariness lies in the problems they undergo: Sammi and Ronnie are constantly fighting, which many adolescent couples can relate to. They also work at their local t-shirt shop, which gives them a relatable quality. These characters are not the rich brats we saw in Laguna Beach or Super Sweet Sixteen, nor are they facing the real problems of the Sixteen and Pregnant crew. They are solely interested in having a good time, and isn't their life something of every college kids' fantasy? Sleep til' noon, go to the beach, drink all day, go clubbing at night, repeat. Admittedly, the lifestyle would get tiresome. But not tiresome enough to not keep me entertained every Thursday night from 10-11.
I'm probably just about the only person in our age group but I have never seen Jersey Shore. I have heard a lot about it because everyone seems to love to watch it. I definately agree with you that the audience is people in their late teens and early twenties based on what I've heard about the show. With the drinking and such it would appeal to college age kids for sure.
ReplyDeleteI have only seen Jersey Shore a few times. (enough to know who the people are, what GTL is, etc.) I agree that is more of a hit because it is more of the idealized lifestyle of its viewing audience while at the same time more relatable than other MTV shows. What I don't understand is the difference between Jersey Shore and The Real World. Is it because the "cast" of Jersey Shore is all Italian?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your assessment of Jersey Shore. I am not a regular watcher, though most of my friends are, but I like watching it when I have an hour and want to do something mindless. Like you said, I probably do watch it because, though the situations are dramatized, the cast goes through pretty ordinary issues. It is fun to watch and see what problems the cast gets into each week.
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