Comments on: Compulsory Masculinity on The Jersey Shore

By: amanda

amanda — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:44:45 +0000

Thanks so much for bringing the ROLLING STONE profile to my attention!

By: Jennifer Clark

Jennifer Clark — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 05:01:26 +0000

Amanda,
Your post is particularly timely, considering the Rolling Stone interview with Snooki, in which she discusses the production context of the show. (In case you haven’t read it, she discusses the stress and exhaustion she feels in the house/set and the misrepresentation of her drinking and chalks it up to the production and post-production manipulations of living conditions and editing). Given this, I wonder if the female talent experiences this labor differently from the male talent, which would then result in a onscreen versions of bodies, hygeine, alcohol consumption, emotions, etc.?
–Jennifer

By: amanda

amanda — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:07:23 +0000

Hi Jon
I don’t just study GTL, I live it. After all, if you don’t tan, you’re pale. This is the truth.

I absolutely agree that relying on stereotypes offers reality show producers the quickest and easiest way to create “characters” and “drama” on the show. But I also think that this is about audience. The Situation was not cast for JERSEY SHORE because producers thought “This guy is going to really challenge the way people view Italian American men who tan and fist pump.” The Situation was cast because he fulfills the audiences’ expectations about what a “guido” is supposed to be. Boy, does he ever!

By: amanda

amanda — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:57:40 +0000

Hi Melissa
Thanks for reading. And that’s a great question re: the women of the show. With the exception of Sammi, who spent the majority of her days in the house gazing at her reflection in the mirror, the women are less invested in their physical appearances than the men (or at least, that’s how the show depicts them). J Woww definitely hits the gym, but we don’t see her there as much as we see The Situation. My guess is that this plays into the stereotype of the “gorilla juicehead” and so MTV’s cameras are more invested in showing the men working out. As for the cooking and cleaning, I too am baffled. The women seem perfectly content to wallow in their own filth and eat take out, but this is not the case for the men. For whatever reason, they seem more tied to tradition than the women.

By: Jon Kraszewski

Jon Kraszewski — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:06:50 +0000

Amanda,

Very nice post. I’m shocked that someone else could quote Mike’s “If you don’t do laundry, you ain’t got no clothes” line. I thought I was the only person who memorized that. It’s a profound insight.

I think your points raise an interesting issue about reality TV: do enforced stereotypes become stand-ins for scripts? In the midst of fast-paced productions, stereotyping people seems to give producers a ready-made script. On Jersey Shore, guido + Karma=episode.

Your critique of gender roles on the show is right on.

Jon

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 01:27:44 +0000

I’ve actually never seen the show, but your article piqued my curiosity (I may have to watch now!). Why do you think the women on the show get a “pass” on certain gender roles (fresh clothing and Sunday dinners, for example) and the men “pick up the slack?” Wanting to be seen as a guido helps explain why the men would engage in beauty regimens, but I’m baffled by the Sunday dinner. Thanks Amanda for an interesting analysis!