Paul Gill
Culture plays a prevalent role in prejudice and stereotypes. People constantly get judged by society in today’s world, whether its because of their ethnicity, religion, social class, or other reasons. Culture plays as an important contributing factor on the subject of prejudice because people with similar cultures tend to socialize with one another best. They tend to get along better if they are in the same culture because they have the same things in common due to their background. In the Cast of Jersey shore, a group of Italian Americans are made to live together and go clubbing and party every night. This show is very popular because it is appealing to the younger generations, but stereotypes have been exploited, and new ones have been made by Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore portrays a culture of “guitos” or Italian Americans that love to gym, tan, and do laundry. This show is very stereotypical because it is showing a group of people that share the same ethnic background, do certain things which makes them a symbol of Italian Americans today. Although one may get offended at the jersey shore because of its rather outlandish behavior, most look past the stereotypical oddities and enjoy the show for its excitement, style, and lively drama. However, people subliminally form misconceptions of the show and towards the characters, which tend to then be shown towards Italian Americans.
Jersey Shore is basically a show about a group of Italian Americans that have internal conflicts and they love to party. Relationships constantly get torn apart and put back together. The endless drama allows the audience to let go of their own problems and watch these peoples hysterical drama. They claim to be rich in their Italian culture, which makes the public believe that all Italians are like that, therefore, creating stereotypes. Their lack of knowing the Italian language, excessive hair gel, and sparkly clothes make it hard to believe, however, that all true Italians are actually like that. I myself am not Italian, therefore I cannot depict what I feel a true Italian is like, but the point is that no one should judge someone because of the stereotypes hey are categorized in. For all we know, the root of Italian culture may be “gtl”, (gym, tan, laundry) but who are we to judge.
Paul, I agree with you in the fact that people are judged based on where they came from, religion, age and their gender. This show does give off the image that all Italians party,buy expensive things, aren't very smart and have horrible relationships. For me, this is hilarious because I, myself, am 50% Italian and i couldn't be further from the "Jersey Shore" image. It doesn't really show the true side of Italians how they have such a passion for family and food and I know for sure the culture isn't based off of "GTL". I feel that this show does mock the Italian Heritage and we shouldn't categorize a whole culture off of one reality show.
ReplyDeleteJersey Shore puts a negative stereotype on all that it touches. J-Woww and Snookie aren't even Italian and yet they claim to be as such. With so many young adults watching it, who knows who would take this idea to heart?
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