MTV's
Jersey Shore is labeled as entertainment. We consider it
Anti-Italian, as do many other Italian American organizations. The
facts are simple: any show about any other ethnicity labelling them as
"negros", "beaners", "micks", etc. would never have been allowed to
air. But, Italians are the media's old reliable. We've written about
how the media
has been allowed to showcase Italians as buffooons ( Joey
Tribbiani of
Friends, Joey Russo of Blossom), gangsters (The Sopranos, A Shark's
Tale) , generally violent ( Tony Monero of Saturday Night Fever), and
womanizing (all of the aforementioned depicitions and then some). We've
covered this heavily in our blog, especially in our and discussions.
This
Anti-Italian slant in the media then manifested into Anti-Italian
reality programming. Shows like Growing Up Gotti began, in our
estimation, a new stereotype for Italians: Mafia and Guido idolatry.
Growing Up Gotti thought nothing of showing the Gotti family trying to
act in manner consistent with John Gotti- a known head of a Mafia crime
family. Many of the episodes even ended with Victoria Gotti talking and
looking at her father's picture above her mantleplace.
After Growing Up Gotti was allowed to run rampant on the airwaves, the
media went a step further and plainly labeled Italians as Guidos in
MTV's Jersey Shore. Guido has long been a derogatory term to Italians
in general. It is demeaning and offensive. However, once MTV was
informed that this label should not be used, MTV issued the statements
that "The show isn't for everyobody" and that "The cast is proud of
their ethnicity." At no point did MTV apologize for its use of the word
to describe Italian Americans. Imagine a world where MTV came out with
an all African American cast and labelled the cast as "crazy negros."
Can you now imagine that show staying on the air without some type of
repercussions for the network? Didn't think so.
What we have here is a prgression of how far the media is willing to go
to defame Italians. If Italians fail to act now the media will progress
to the point where it makes it acceptable to call Italians Guineas.
Still think this isn't serious? Look at the Jersey Shore Season 2
Casting call from MTV. Apparently all the hooplah meant nothing:
