AEGL – 101
Prof. Wall In our innovative and technical society, pop culture has flooded entertainment. The result is a talentless genre of television called reality TV. This exhausted genre of television has taken a new approach to attempt to show outrageous and extreme scenarios to keep a grasp on its’ viewers. Rather than providing true entertainment, there reality TV shows often display a talentless, annoying cast. As well as fill their shows with product placement; allowing the cast members to get wealthy off of endorsement products and become living advertisement. In Salman Rushdie’s essay “Reality TV: A Dearth of Talent and the Death of Morality,” he states that “people are becoming famous for doing nothing much at all, but doing it where everyone can see them” (216). By analyzing several shows, Rushdie’s statement can be proven correct. One of the most popular, yet tragic examples of reality TV is the “Jersey Shore”. This “cast” consists of six guido’s and guidette’s whose only purpose is to drink, fight, party and have sex. Each episode consists of the cast living their lives while they do nothing but go out and bum around. Tanning, sleeping until two pm every day, and hooking up are among some things that this cast does. The oldest member of the show is Mike; is a thirty-year-old man who’s obsessed with his body image and his only job is the “Jersey Shore”. What a great role model! A man who has reached his thirties and only success in life has come from famous on a reality TV show.
The show is aired on MTV, whose viewer’s range from young teens to young adults. The current and upcoming generations are bombarded with a false image of what it means to be an adult. In the real world, you can’t go out every night of the week, get black out drunk and then wake up with a fat check in your bank account. Nor can you make thousands each week without a higher level of education and a real job. Rushdie states that being “Famous and rich are now the two most important concepts in the western society” (216) and he couldn’t be more right. This assertion couldn’t be any closer to the truth and is validated by trash TV, such as the Jersey Shore. These six “adults” have become the most popular and widely known people in America; which is truly terrifying. Who knows, the cast of Jersey Shore could be smarter than we think. But their actions and low morals hide any chance of that being slightly believable.
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