RTV Final Draft: Jersey Shore

       

Jersey Shore: Is it Just Entertainment or Can You Actually Learn Something?

           

       

The original Jersey Shore cast.

               Does entertainment television only have to pertain to entertainment or can you actually learn a valuable lesson from it? Jersey Shore is a relatively older reality Television show that had its last airing in March of 2012. That had a pretty large following and  impact on television. It took just nine episodes to earn MTV record-breaking ratings 4.8 million viewers watched the Jan. 21 finale. Also it became so popular to popular culture so that even President Obama referred to the cast during May's White House Correspondents' Dinner[ Anderson p. 5]. Now this particular Reality TV show focuses more on the entertainment side of reality television. The show is based on following around the lives of eight young people of an amateur status all with larger than life personalities. This show's producers do emphasize on the amateur status throughout the course of the show. These cast members were chosen after hours of casting and rigorous interviews hoping the find the right fit for the show. The producers take these eight people and place them into a house together to spend and entire summer in Seaside Heights located along the Jersey Shore coast. The entire cast is unable to access and form of social media or mobile devices. Along with this to pay for the price of living in the house they must work at the Shore Store, which is a small t-shirt shop owned by the leaser of the building.                  
           
             

                You can begin to see early on that they seemed to be placed in certain high stress situations in which alcohol and testosterone seem to take control. Which as you could've guessed made for some high tension and explosive situations, which the show is pretty notorious for. There is numerous alcohol fueled fights, along with a certain conflict being presented in the house in pretty much every episode. This added with a preview to the next weeks episode where a seemingly great problem or conflict arises. These strategies simply add together to give the audience a taste of something they cannot get enough of.


                Now saying this to the contrary of popular belief, I believe Jersey Shore does have a purpose and point on Television. Even though the show was created just for the purpose of audience entertainment the show does have some valuable life lessons displayed in certain episodes. Which I believe people from all walks of life can learn something from. Some of these lessons pertain to friendship, some about family, some about love, and some even pertaining to how to take life in general. The people who are at first strangers develop a true friendship and almost a family bond toward the end of the first season. You can start to see them doing certain thing for the benefit of one another, rather than just for themselves which was the case during the start. Occasionally you even catch the cast even stepping out into harms way for one another. Such as Pauly getting into an altercation with a random person who had struck another cast mate Vinny.

The entire cast having their weekly Sunday Dinner.

         

            One example that supports this statement is the lesson of the value of friendship. This is displayed early on in the first season of the show when one of the main characters Snooki is causing a good bit of tension between the housemates. Which leads to her becoming depressed and considering leaving the show. Now it is only when one of their own is hurt that the entire cast begins to show the value of true friendship. Which in this case they show this when Snooki is assaulted by a much larger man in a bar, after this ordeal the entire group gathers together in support of her and let their problems be of that in the past. This showing that friendship can truly succeed over personal problems. Also another example would be the traditional Sunday dinner the housemates have in which they all attend. Most of the time it leads to them hashing out all their differences or current problems between each other. This just further proving the value of friendship can be taken from the show Jersey Shore.
     

The cast posing for a photo shoot on top of the shore house. 

           Another example of a lesson to be learned from the show would be that of love. To anyone who has seen the show they may not exactly call the relationship between housemates Ronnie  and Sammi exactly love. Now if you refer to the very first episode Ronnie states that his ''number one rule is not to fall in love at the Jersey Shore''. He than states later on in the season that he had broke his number on rule and that he truly loved Sam. This just backing up that there truly is something to gain from watching this show. Another example would be even though the relationship wasn't ideal, and even seemed destructive at times. They both throughout the length of the show kept falling back for each other over and over. Along with forgiving one another for their mistakes in hopes to move forward together. Now a person can examine this situation and take a lesson from it in several different ways. Such as you'll always be lead back to the one you truly love, or the more negative aspect of the situation as don't settle for any less than you truly deserve. Either way the value of love in this show is taken it still supports the claim that Jersey Shore can serve a valuable purpose of being on Television.  

Sammi's input on a fight related to infidelity with Ronnie.

Lastly I believe Jersey Shore gives off the important lesson to take opportunities when they present themselves, and not to take life too seriously all the time. Sometimes you need to experience the fun and exciting things rather than being uptight and closed off to situations that are out of your comfort zone. This is not only to have these as fond memories, but to learn from them as well. For example without taking this opportunity some if not all of the cast members would not been able to reach the height of fame they did, along with the wealth they obtained along the way. Such as Jenni who obtained her own Reality TV show after the shows finale, along with racking up a net worth of over 3 million dollars. This yet again proving Jersey Shore does serve more than just an entertainment purpose in reality TV. Another example would be the cast member Vinny, he as well gained a talk show after the shows last airing. Also the last example would be Pauly who gained a very impressive 20 million dollars net worth from the show, along with starting his own DJ service and clothing line[DJ Pauly D]. These examples just further supports the earlier claim that Jersey Shore truly does serve more than just an entertainment role on television. So I guess the overall point I am trying to make is that entertainment television does not only have to remain pure entertainment a lesson or value could be taken from anywhere.

Work Cited

Anderson, Jacqueline S. Pixy Ferris, Sharmilla. "GENDER stereotypes and the Jersey Shore: A Content Analysis." Gender Stereotypes 4.1 (2016): 1-19. Communication Source. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. 

DJ Pauly D Net Worth. (2014, September 23). Retrieved February 13, 2017, from http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-djs/dj-pauly-d-net-worth/

O' Shaughnessy, Sharon. " RICO, GTL(GENERAL TORT LIABILITY), AND JERSEY SHORE: THE REALITY OF "THE SITUATION"." Seton Hall Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law 22.1 (2012): 129. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

Sastre, Alexandra. "The “Guido” Situation: Minstrelsy, Parody, and Ethnic Performance on MTV's Jersey Shore." Communication, Culture & Critique 7.3 (2014): 356-70. Communication. Web. 8 Feb. 2016.