Reality TV

For many of us, reality television has been a phenomenon that has been around for our whole lives- many of us grew up with shows claiming to portray people’s “real lives.”  But those story lines depicted were usually filled with drama and issues that made it hard for viewers to believe it was actually reality.  These shows can become a problem when viewers are unable to distinguish reality from these heavily-edited, augmented versions of “reality.”  I would say the only “real” part of these TV shows is the fact that the people being filmed are real human beings; the situations and drama that often occurs is usually amplified via editing by the producers of the show.

With that being said, I used to religiously watch Jersey Shore when it was still being aired on TV.  For whatever reason, watching these people and all of their bad decisions was a form of entertainment.  Actually, the entertainment aspect is probably the whole point of many reality TV shows.  Viewers are able to watch spectacles of drama that the characters are involved in in the form of a weekly episode.   Jersey Shore makes it really hard for viewers to pick a “favorite character,” especially since they are all essentially portrayed the same way- young people consumed with the party scene and hook-up culture, living together at the Jersey Shore.  Because of this, I chose a couple on the show to examine how each individual is portrayed compared to the other.  I have seen all of the episodes, so I picked one at random that showed Ronnie and Sammy having one of their notorious fights. 

The episode starts off by recapping the couple’s most recent argument.  Sam was frequently heard saying “I just need space” from her now ex-boyfriend, Ron, the stereotypical way reality TV shows portray this scenario.  The other girls in the house decide to take her to the boardwalk to distract her from her breakup, while Ron also goes to the boardwalk with Pauly.   But while the girls were sitting in a bar, Sam notices Ron walk by, and says to one of the girls, “I think he was with a girl.”  The camera then switches to Pauly and Ron to show that he was not, in fact, walking with another girl. 

 These screenshots were taken as Sam said she saw Ron with another girl, and the shot immediately after her statement.  Now regardless of this shot, he MAY have been talking to a girl just as Sam said, but the audience would have no idea.  The next thing she says is, “If you want to play that game I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna find the hottest guy at this bar and get Ron back for talking to a girl.”  She decides to talk to as many guys as she can and make sure Ron is there to see it to be spiteful and make him jealous.  From this one scene alone, Sam is portrayed to be the crazy ex-girlfriend still overprotective of her ex, while simultaneously making Ron look innocent.  Previous episodes of the show however, have actually shown him cheating on Sam, yet the show still frequently decides to put her at fault for their unhealthy relationship, not both of them together.