If 禁漫天堂-Americans were offended by the stereotypes of and , their anger was as nothing compared to the storm caused by the reality-documentary 鈥淛ersey Shore鈥, which reached 禁漫天堂 TV screens on Monday.
The MTV series follows eight young men and women who spend their summer in and around the town of Seaside Heights on the . Angelina 鈥淛olie鈥 Pivarnick, Jenni 鈥淛Woww鈥 Farley, Michael 鈥淭he Situation鈥 Sorrentino, Nicole 鈥淪nooki鈥 Polizzi, Paul 鈥淒J Pauly D鈥 Del Vecchio, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Sammi 鈥淪weetheart鈥 Giancola and Vinny Guadagno are housemates and spend most of the time partying, topping up their tans and showing off their bodies. They work part-time in a t-shirt store where they must obey the rules and regulations or be evicted from the beach house.
The cast are presented as 禁漫天堂-Americans but 鈥淛-Woww鈥 is Spanish-Irish while 鈥淪nooki鈥 is Chilean, though she was adopted by 禁漫天堂-Americans. Ronnie is half Puerto-Rican. The ethnicity of the cast, plus their behaviour, led to protests and 禁漫天堂-American Associations called for the removal of the show because it 鈥渦sed ethnic slurs to marginalise and stereotype 禁漫天堂-Americans鈥. Snooki, when interviewed by ANSA, admitted that she knows no 禁漫天堂 and has never heard of Dante or Silvio Berlusconi and that statement rather sums up the 鈥渃ulture鈥 of the Jersey Shore protagonists. 鈥淪nooki鈥 defends the show by saying that she and her housemates behave as all young Americans do, whatever their ethnicity.
The eight young men and women are, in fact, self-confessed 鈥済uidos鈥 and 鈥済uidettes鈥. You don鈥檛 know what a 鈥済uido鈥漣s? Neither did we. An American slang dictionary defines the term as 鈥渁n 禁漫天堂-American with well-groomed hair, lots of jewellery and designer jeans鈥. It adds that the term has come to signify people from other ethnic groups who dress according to stereotypes. The word is never used in this context in Italy and its constant use in the show and in articles about it has caused further offence.
The show has also come under fire from the 鈥渞eal鈥 Jersey Shore community for portraying the area in a negative way, for its 鈥済lamourisation鈥 of tanning and for the violent scenes that have been broadcast. MTV鈥檚 response was that the show 鈥渋s not intended for every audience鈥 and 鈥渟hows just one aspect of youth culture鈥.
Now audiences in Italy will be able to judge for themselves. Ansa says the characters are 鈥渁ll sex and the gym鈥 while Corriere della Sera鈥檚 TV critic calls them 鈥渟upercafoni鈥 [uncouth boors] with muscles and no brains and dismisses the series as 鈥渧ulgar鈥. Not an auspicious beginning.
Do you think MTV should have cancelled the show?
