Jersey Shore And The Messages It Conveys To Teens - - Ashley Conrad
The popular MTV show, Jersey Shore, can send mixed messages to young teens. Jersey Shore negatively affects teen’s behavior by portraying violence and aggression with little to no consequences. Young teens are at that age where they learn from what they watch on television. It has been proven that aggression is more often seen rather than physical violence on reality television. In regards to Jersey Shore, aggression and violence are definitely a major part of the show. “Over the long term, heavy exposure to violent media may shape and strengthen an individual’s cognitive scripts relating to aggression; in effect shaping the way the individual interprets the world…”
What causes men to be violent toward women? Psychological problems, unbearable life pressures, or some instinctive urge toward aggression are some problems that can cause men to be violent toward women. In the second episode of Jersey Shore, Snooki was punched in the face while at the club. Snooki’s attacker was Brad Ferro, a gym teacher at North Queens Community High School. Ferro tried to take Snooki’s cocktail, and when she denied him, he punched her in the face. This abuse was all because of his careless drunkenness. This could all have been prevented if he would have made more responsible choices. In result to his senseless attitude, Ferro was arrested and charged with assault and fined five-hundred dollars. Teens watching Jersey Shore are going to see all this violence and think it is acceptable behavior because it is coming from these “stars”.
Researchers have surveyed parents to see how often their kids were watching television. Researchers then found television plays a big part in encouraging childhood aggression. If a child is flipping through the channel and comes across Jersey Shore, he or she is not going to learn anything positive to make him or her a better individual. Do not get me wrong, there are television shows out there that teach your children good morals. Finding those positive television shows and encouraging your kids to watch them is the key. “Violence is one of the major worldwide concerns today in all segments of society”. Something that usually goes along with violent or aggressive behavior is consequences. A key concept that stands out the most while watching Jersey Shore is not only the intense arguments, but the fact there are no consequences for their destructive behavior.
The aggressive and violent fights that take place on Jersey Shore have a fascinating theme. One major component that stands out while watching the show, is when girls fight other girls, for example, Snooki and Angelina it is taken more as a joke. It is unclear to me as to why they want to portray aggression and violence as a joke. I feel they want it portrayed as a joke, because leading up to the fight they take out there earrings, trash talk, take off their shoes; then they show the aftermath which consists of nails all over the floor, hair extensions falling out, and makeup smeared all over their face. On the other hand, when there are fights between two guys, they are taken more seriously. For example, if you think back to season 1, when Ronnie was on the board walk and some drunken guy was trash talking him, they got into an intense fist fight. The man was trying to impress his girlfriend and kept aggravating Ronnie in an effort to start a fight. They were broken up by the cops and Ronnie left with a black eye. The outcome of that fight was entirely different than with Sammi and Jenni or Snooki and Angelina. Fights between men often seem to be taken more seriously and there is more physical violence done.Aggression and violence is not something to joke about. Why would they air a show on television that is portraying aggression and violence as a joke? Our world is suffering enough as it is from dangerous acts of violence.
Not all violence and aggression is necessarily a bad influence on teens, but when there are no consequences for their negative actions, that is where the show is going wrong. Jersey Shore is sending the message that it is acceptable to make bad choices and you will not get punished for doing them. When in fact, we all know in the real world making bad decisions leads to having to face consequences. Teens are at the age where what they see on television is how they want to act. Jersey Shore is a good show to watch, as long as kids watching it know what is going on is not right and not something they should model after.
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