One nation under Guido

Our culture’s propensity to propel something utterly idiotic into the collective consciousness is actually nothing new, but the success of MTV’s hit “Jersey Shore” is a perfect example of the phenomenon.

As someone who is both Jewish and an Italian citizen, I would imagine, but cannot in any way confirm, that the chances of me growing up anywhere other than New Jersey are quite low. In fact, I was raised in the land of Garrison Keillor, far from the glorified hair gel, Bumpits and tanning beds of the state formerly known as “the armpit of America.”

The antics of the eight housemates on the show should only serve to confirm the less-than-favorable characterization of the Garden State but are in fact so fascinating and entertaining that I estimate I spent equal parts of winter vacation watching the show and studying for the LSAT.

Hopefully, the brain cells I lost while examining whether or not Snooks actually uses a Bumpit were rebuilt by those torturous hours of logic games, but I doubt it.

A satirical column in the New York Times last week suggested five not-so-serious reasons why the MTV hit isn’t as bad as it seems. But the sarcastic knocks at the show all but obscure the real reason why the stars and producers are making bank. These television geniuses, without even expecting it (really, who could have foreseen?) have perfected the ratio of cultural stereotypes, alcoholics, catfighting and stupidity needed to produce the perfect reality series. The real reason to love “Jersey Shore” is that it’s incredibly entertaining.

I believe its broad appeal must be understood on multiple levels. There are those who take the characters seriously, empathizing with the crew’s barely masked jealousy of Sam and Ronnie’s somehow continued relationship, or perhaps themselves taking up the suggested regimen of Gym-Tanning-Laundry. On the other hand, the comedic value of the show cannot be underestimated. I personally laughed my way through the entire hour of the sixth episode, only to surprise myself by the slightest twinge of a genuine “awh” when Ronnie won back Sam for what must have been the 15th time in six episodes. As a proud Italian myself, I hope the easy mockery of these self-proclaimed Guidos and Guidettes maintains its comedy without taking on any real ethnic or cultural bias against the nationality that brought all of you pizza, pasta and my own preferred brand of overpriced bottled sparkling water.

Finally, Jersey Shore has created an entire nation of cultural anthropologists. The group of intellectual Ivy Leaguers with whom I welcomed 2010 with were actually willing to put up with my insistence on watching the New Years Eve special only because they could apply every sort of anthropological and ethnographic analysis to the unique customs and group norms portrayed by the characters. It takes a pretty decent television show to appeal to the wide swath of American viewers that “Jersey Shore” has drawn in – in my opinion, that’s the real reason that 2010 promises to be the year we live as one nation under Guido.