during my first semester of college, i took a class called "writing about reality television". i signed up for it because frankly, ive always been a big fan of "junk" television. for better or for worse, my parents had a real aversion to certain elements of western culture, and so being 8,9,10,11 years old and watching MTV in secret was something i found thrilling and fun. my mother would always tell me western television would rot my brain and cause me to act immodestly in the future, but i didnt really care XD. i loved the dazzling, indulgent proclivities of the people who took their cars to xzibit on "pimp my ride", i loved the familiar appalachian twang that the girls had on "teen mom", i felt a strong kinship with the despairing, hand-wringing families on "intervention". i even liked the girls on "my big fat american gypsy wedding" and their big, bouffant, sequin-cursted wedding gowns. i knew those girls weren't real gypsies, and that show probably did more harm than good for us as a people, but i still loved the pretty pink outfits and banquet hall theatrics. growing up in a home that was somewhat conservative, it was fun to imagine a life where being a gypsy was a life reckless abandon and wild summer nights in the heart of appalachia.
most of all, though, i loved "jersey shore". i loved the pumpkin-orange tans, the off-beat dancing, the girls with tangled hair extensions, the pretty pink wardrobes, the animal print that most people say is tacky, the god-take-me dramatics, the intimate moments the cast would share hungover in their sweatpants eating cold ham and drinking hawaiian punches. i loved the men with their visor sunglasses, popped collars, and ed hardy jeans. i loved "GYM TAN LAUNDRY". i could go on for hours. i loved it all.
for better or for worse, "jersey shore" was the thing that introduced me to the concept of a found family. episode after episode, these strangers turned friends turned family would- in the words of popstar katy perry- "fight then break up, kiss then make up". they would laugh together, cry together, cook big italian dinners even though most of them weren't italian at all, get thrown out of clubs, pick fights with strangers, and dance like no one was watching. in the chaos of "jersey shore" i found peace and balance. no matter how scripted everything was, i always felt that "jersey shore" was still honest. it looked exotic to me, a little gypsy girl growing up in a broken home in appalachia, but even so i never shook the feeling that "jersey shore" said something fundamental about american identity, and the human condition overall
in another sense, "jersey shore" epitomizes the end of the 2000s. it reminds us of a time before corporate partnerships and tiktok influencers and career youtubers and content creators, who create soul-killing aspirational content in their concrete-colored houses, wear colorless clothes, and empty all of their foods and spices into identical colorless containers, get the same modest amount of lip fillers or botox, appropriate the same hair, makeup, jewelry, and fashion staples of black and brown cultures. "jersey shore" evokes the era of paris hilton, lindsay lohan, and young kim kardashian galavanting around in juicy coture sweatsuits and dancing barefoot on leather sofas, an era where being famous still looked fun and exiciting instead of something out of a boring cyber-dystopia. so here's to hairbumps, duckfaces and duckphones, coin laundry, pink zebra print, and fur lined uggs. here's to guidos, grenades, and the jersey shore forever.
craziest moments O.o
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