With such controversy over MTV's new show 'Jersey Shore', I felt as though I had to write and give my point of view to those of you reading this from all over the country. Living only 35 minutes away from the Jersey shore, I've spent all of my summers there vacationing. There are many different beaches that make up the Jersey shore, some of the most popular are located in Pt. Pleasant, Long Beach Island, Belmar, Long Branch, and Wildwood. Then there is Seaside Heights which is where the show takes place. Seaside Heights was always very popular. But, like all good things, some must come to an end, and while as a kid many of us enjoyed Seaside Heights for it's amazing boardwalk with tons of games, rides, food, and shops, it seems as though it is its own little world now popular to the tweenagers to twenty-somethings looking for an ummm "good time".
I think the outrage from New Jersey residents, comes from the fact that WE know (and I put myself in that category being that I am now 31-years-old life long resident) of a time when things were seemingly innocent. The beach was a place where you went to build sand castles and play in the waves and the boardwalk was where you went to grab a slice of pizza or where the kids would run around in to the arcades or hop on the big merry-go-round. It was a family place. Generations of summer vacations for many. While we've all witnessed this area go downhill for the past several years as Seaside started to earn the nickname 'Sleazeside', we've still held on to hope to a degree. Well, say goodbye to hope and hello to dirty Jersey as it's being magnified and exaggerated times a billion with this fist-pumping show! Many of us wish they had picked one of our many beautiful beaches to have a show based out of, but had MTV picked one of those spots along the Jersey shore, you would not have had the same raunchy setting for Guidos Gone Wild (and I say that with love)!
Italian-Americans are most upset with the show that was obviously type-cast having eight "guidos and guidettes" living in one house for the summer. It's even been stated by some big news authorities that death threats were received for it to be taken off the air (this was not confirmed however). Tempers do flair on both sides of the screen it seems. At any rate, while some of these characters are your traditional Italian boys and proud of it, others have a different persona where it seems as though they may've fell off the boot of Italy somewhere and left their class at the heel. As an Italian-American girl, I don't want to be classified as to what some of these tasteless "bambinas" are portraying. I want to have my own commercial/warning prior to the show that states "What you are about to see is in no way, shape, or form what REALLY goes on in Jersey. All of the actors you see here are fake from their hair to their tan. This is a dramatization. Do NOT try this at home". (On a side note, these people are mostly all from New York, so they are technically not even true New Jersey Shore people, but vacationers instead. Maybe that's why they are not such a good representation of it). What this new generation of out-of-towners knows is that the strip of Seaside is hook-up central. A place to go where you "don't fall in love", but surprisingly take your clothes off at "hello". Kinda gives "you had me at hello" a different meaning actually.
Eighty percent of the castmates have no interest in working, are not loyal, get in to fights, and show disrespect. While this drama all makes for good TV, you have to understand why some of us are cringing while watching. That's just the problem though. If you're like me, you probably can't stop watching. haha. There are some really great quotes and hilarious moments that came out of the very first show alone making me want to tune in for more laughs. Just as you would fall in love with the cast on Real World, you find yourself inviting these people in to your home too and making them your new BFFs. It's just that while they are painting a picture of skankdom, most of us want to show you what the Jersey Shore is REALLY about. I will give them props though for saying grace before dinner which is not something you see twenty-somethings doing often.
Can you imagine what the people of MTV's other reality show 'Laguna Beach' thought about this show and Jersey in itself? I must say that believe it or not though, people LOVE the show! One of Brody Jenner's friends thinks it's the best show EVER and Brody says through tweets that it's all everyone is talking about! I'm seeing reaction from girls around the country who are falling for these Jersey or um New York spikey-haired, muscley guidos. hehe.
I say "fuggedaboudit". Keep the show on the air. After all, it is VERY entertaining! Solve the problem by changing the name of the show to "Seaside Nights-Italians Do it Best" and get a laugh out of it instead of taking it to heart. These are young kids who are unfortunately doing what all of the other young kids out there are doing. Don't categorize it with our beautiful Jersey shore or our nationality as a whole.
I think the outrage from New Jersey residents, comes from the fact that WE know (and I put myself in that category being that I am now 31-years-old life long resident) of a time when things were seemingly innocent. The beach was a place where you went to build sand castles and play in the waves and the boardwalk was where you went to grab a slice of pizza or where the kids would run around in to the arcades or hop on the big merry-go-round. It was a family place. Generations of summer vacations for many. While we've all witnessed this area go downhill for the past several years as Seaside started to earn the nickname 'Sleazeside', we've still held on to hope to a degree. Well, say goodbye to hope and hello to dirty Jersey as it's being magnified and exaggerated times a billion with this fist-pumping show! Many of us wish they had picked one of our many beautiful beaches to have a show based out of, but had MTV picked one of those spots along the Jersey shore, you would not have had the same raunchy setting for Guidos Gone Wild (and I say that with love)!
Italian-Americans are most upset with the show that was obviously type-cast having eight "guidos and guidettes" living in one house for the summer. It's even been stated by some big news authorities that death threats were received for it to be taken off the air (this was not confirmed however). Tempers do flair on both sides of the screen it seems. At any rate, while some of these characters are your traditional Italian boys and proud of it, others have a different persona where it seems as though they may've fell off the boot of Italy somewhere and left their class at the heel. As an Italian-American girl, I don't want to be classified as to what some of these tasteless "bambinas" are portraying. I want to have my own commercial/warning prior to the show that states "What you are about to see is in no way, shape, or form what REALLY goes on in Jersey. All of the actors you see here are fake from their hair to their tan. This is a dramatization. Do NOT try this at home". (On a side note, these people are mostly all from New York, so they are technically not even true New Jersey Shore people, but vacationers instead. Maybe that's why they are not such a good representation of it). What this new generation of out-of-towners knows is that the strip of Seaside is hook-up central. A place to go where you "don't fall in love", but surprisingly take your clothes off at "hello". Kinda gives "you had me at hello" a different meaning actually.
Eighty percent of the castmates have no interest in working, are not loyal, get in to fights, and show disrespect. While this drama all makes for good TV, you have to understand why some of us are cringing while watching. That's just the problem though. If you're like me, you probably can't stop watching. haha. There are some really great quotes and hilarious moments that came out of the very first show alone making me want to tune in for more laughs. Just as you would fall in love with the cast on Real World, you find yourself inviting these people in to your home too and making them your new BFFs. It's just that while they are painting a picture of skankdom, most of us want to show you what the Jersey Shore is REALLY about. I will give them props though for saying grace before dinner which is not something you see twenty-somethings doing often.
Can you imagine what the people of MTV's other reality show 'Laguna Beach' thought about this show and Jersey in itself? I must say that believe it or not though, people LOVE the show! One of Brody Jenner's friends thinks it's the best show EVER and Brody says through tweets that it's all everyone is talking about! I'm seeing reaction from girls around the country who are falling for these Jersey or um New York spikey-haired, muscley guidos. hehe.
I say "fuggedaboudit". Keep the show on the air. After all, it is VERY entertaining! Solve the problem by changing the name of the show to "Seaside Nights-Italians Do it Best" and get a laugh out of it instead of taking it to heart. These are young kids who are unfortunately doing what all of the other young kids out there are doing. Don't categorize it with our beautiful Jersey shore or our nationality as a whole.
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