Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun

Regular readers of Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun understand that MTV’s Jersey Shore, which is a lot like the Real World, except with all guidos and in Seaside Heights, is the exact type of show that I would watch and love. It premiered on Thursday, and lived up to every expectation I could have ever had, but since tonight also marks the triumphant return of the Gossip Girl Running Diary, I won’t subject you to a blow-by-blow accounting of my impressions of the show. Instead, let’s discuss a fascinating real-world subplot involved with the show. Namely, Italian American groups lambasting MTV and encouraging boycotts of the show’s sponsors.

I’m not sure what it was like where you all grew up, but back in Bayonne, ethnic identity was a big deal. It was never uncommon to be asked “What nationality are you” or, more often, just “What are you?” In retrospect, it’s kind of funny that most people had a definitive answer to that question, since it had to be asked in the first place. If you came across Tommy O’Sullivan over in Dublin, there’s no doubt as to “what he is.” Whereas if you came across a guy by the same name back in Bayonne, he might tell you that he’s half-Irish, half-Italian, or half-Irish, a quarter Polish, and a quarter Scottish. Or some other melange. Everyone was interested in what you were.

Which I understood, but also found a little odd. I mean, when a kid told you he was half Irish and half Italian, what he was really saying was that his grandparents or great-grandparents on one side of the family came over here from Ireland, and his grandparents or great-grandparents on the other side came over here from Italy. Is that kid really Irish? Or Italian? Or both? It always seemed to me that a kid like that was American more than anything else. Incidentally, that’s how I saw myself (you know, American), but I would never say that. For some reason, saying you were American was a dodging of the question. All I knew was that my ancestors must have left Poland, or Lithuania, or Czechoslovakia, or whatever other Eastern European backwater, for a reason.

Which is not to dismiss anyone’s sense of ethnic identity. If that’s the sort of thing that’s important to you, that’s fine. And it’s true that there are people who took their ethnic heritage seriously. (An important sidenote here is that I’m talking mostly about the white ethnic heritage of third- and fourth-generation Americans; I also knew plenty of kids from Asia and Latin America and the Middle East who were living lives much closer to the original immigrant experience.) All I’m saying is that this strong sense of ethnic identity isn’t something that I personally grew up with, but I saw it plenty.

Why I find this flap with UNICO and the National Italian American Foundation so fascinating is because it speaks to a favorite pet issue, which is the conflict between a prescriptive or a descriptive view of culture. On one side, you’ve got these organizations representing the established view of a monolithic Italian American Culture. On the other, you’ve got a group of young kids (I’ll use the term “kids” even though Pauly D is 29 effing years old. Oof.) actually out there living what they see to be Italian American Culture.

Don’t mistake my criticism here. I think UNICO is right to be upset if it feels MTV is exploiting a particularly offensive caricature of Italian Americans. I happen to think that claim is a little off-base, but it’s a valid complaint for an organization like UNICO to make. My bone to pick is the statement that UNICO’s president, Andre’ DiMino, made: “[The cast members] are an embarrassment to themselves, their heritage and their families.”

Pardon?

Mr. DiMino may see the kids on Jersey Shore as an embarrassment to their heritage, but they’re also his legacy. I mean, this is the younger generation of Italian Americans, identifying as Italian Americans, living what they see as Italian American lives. Ethnic heritage is something that gets passed down, and if the older generation isn’t pleased with how the younger generation lives out that heritage, well, they bear a certain amount of responsibility for that.

The gripe that not every young Italian American is like the kids on this show seems sound, but it’s a straw man. It may be MTV, but I sincerely doubt there are many people out there in TV land thinking that they’re watching a serious documentary on Italian American life. And while the cast of Jersey Shore is obviously composed of the most extreme examples of the so-called guido subculture, it’s not like that subculture doesn’t exist. Anyone that’s been to Belmar or Point Pleasant Beach or Seaside Heights knows that many people like the people on Jersey Shore exist. That’s not a value judgment. It’s just a statement of fact.

What you’ve got here is an older generation of gatekeepers prescribing what a particular culture should be, and a younger generation out there living a culture despite those prescriptions. As I’ll someday flesh out more when the David Foster Wallace Fortnight recommences, I’m a descriptivist. The fact is, the guys that run UNICO got their chance to define what Italian American culture is. And they’re in a seat of authority now, and of course there’s a back-and-forth between generations, and these younger kids can take what their elders say into account. But by and large, it’s the kids’ boat now. The culture is their’s to define for their generation. That’s the way it’s always been.

And honestly, I wouldn’t be too worried if I were the elders of the Italian American community. Bad haircuts, bad clothes, bad music, and bad attitudes toward socialization aren’t exclusive to Italian Americans, and they certainly aren’t exclusive to the youngest generation. Meanwhile, and you all will think I’m crazy, I think there’s a lot that’s positive in the kids on Jersey Shore. We laugh at them because they’re clowns, and they are clowns. And the way they socialize and hook-up could seem grotesque. I don’t think the men on the show have a particularly healthy attitude toward women, but the truth is, the women on the show play the same game as the men, so let’s consider the gender politics to be a wash. The women, for the most part, are strong, in the “I don’t take shit from anyone” sense. And everyone has a strong sense of loyalty to their family and friends. In the end, the haircuts will get more acceptable, the jobs will get more legit, and the important stuff like loyalty and strength of character will remain, and what you’ll have is another generation of grumpy old folks complaining about whatever it is their crazy kids are running around doing. Happens every time.

Tags: generational strife, Jersey Shore, MTV, TV

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 11:33 pm and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.