Reality shows are an odd, imperfect vision of human nature in action, particularly the MTV real world experiments in which a group of strangers, united only by their age and participation in a nuanced subculture of America are thrown under one roof for a handful of months and forced not only to live with each other but to bare their souls on national television. The latest installment is the Jersey Shore and features three females and four males in their early twenties representing a cultural fusion of hip-hop, modern Italian-Americanism and Jersey Shore-ism.
In deciding whether to emotionally invest in these shows I tend to use an obnoxiousness barometer. Meaning, often times the types of people that are attracted to these shows are innately obnoxious. Combine this fact with a volatile degree of social pressure (to create conflict) and lack of individual social skills and you've landed on the I'm-not-going-to-watch-this-out-of-principle point of the obnoxiousness spectrum. With four episodes under my belt, I believe this show's particular assortment of unique personalities and quirky cultural forces make for a fascinating experience that falls on the safe end of the obnoxiousness continuum - for now. After all, if done well, these types of shows can potentially offer the excitement and insight of a naturalistic field study in human nature and group personality.
Under the microscope are Jenni (aka JWoww), Mike (aka The Situation), Nicole (aka Snooki), DJ Pauly D, Roni, Sammi and Vinny. Although an ever-expanding pile of data on their personalities is emerging, a discussion about the true and profound essences of these people can never be truly understand from a faraway glance as this case provides. Having said that let me also stipulate some caveats about the subsequent personality dissection. Yes, the data these people emit about themselves, intentionally or not, is not only edited by a film crew with specific priorities but is enacted in an invisible lab of distorting variables (pressure to be entertaining, expectation to live up to a cultural archetype, etc.). And, yes, armchair analysis is inherently controversial, but I believe a coherent "flavor" of each individual is beginning to emerge and I feel comfortable in discussing this general persona. Each member will receive what I call a personality stamp and a mental health value. The "stamp" is a clinical snapshot of one's psychological world. In the field of clinical psychology this is often attained through such quick-and-dirty measures as the mental status exam (a 5-minute, Emergency Room-oriented assessment of cognitive and emotional functioning), The "value" is an evaluation of psychological competence that is commonly assigned through things like the GAF or Global Assessment of Functioning rating (an informal calculation of one's psychiatric and medical diagnoses and environment). I cannot use these tools for obvious reasons, so instead of a structured interview format I will use the powers of observation and instead of using a GAF I will use a single criterion - the ability to get along with others - as this seems to be the most relevant skill to survival on the show.
The Roni Persona
Stamp: The Gentle Giant - The only thing more striking than his muscular build (he puts some lineman to shame) is his laugh. It is a thunderous, goofy cackle that is as spontaneous and frequent as it is disarming. The commitment he's made to being bigger than anyone else in the room combined with the genuine, other-oriented quality of his laughter, I believe says two core things about him. He strives to protect others and establish intimacy. Not exactly your typical body builder. He successfully manages the only seriously intimate relationship on the show (with another cast member, Sammi, no less) despite the intense pressures to live a bachelor fabulous lifestyle. And when Snooki (to be described momentarily) barks up the wrong tree and is punched in the face by an angry drunkard in episode three, Roni is "triggered." In this emotional peak of the Roni narrative we see him comforting Snooki with a rousing we-love-you pep talk and he uses Sammi as a soundboard to processes his startlingly open and empathic sense of anguish.
Get-along ability: Strong. He is the interpersonal glue of the group. His laid-back demeanor saves him from the petty arguments that litter the social scene like mines on a battle field. Moreover, he cares deeply about a sense of family (insists that Sammi meet his parents), automatically expects this group to become a second family of sorts and is attuned to fissures in this formation process (just ask Snooki).
The Snooki Persona
Stamp: Daddy's Little Girl - She is so desperate for love and affection that she over-plays her hand and pushes the group away with impulsive, overly-aggressive moves. In the very first episode, her anxiety to form hyper-fast friendships leads to getting too drunk, which leads to an attempt to get too cozy with people she just met, which leads to a public perception that she is too annoying. In my mind, this internal tug-of-war in which the need for uncompromising acceptance battles a sense of total alienation is a central feature to her. In-between her one-woman dance acts at the club and one-night friendship stands (she will spend a drunken night on a beach and under a blanket with a stranger but seems to do little more than talk), she pines for the omnipresent love of her enmeshed mother and beats herself over the head with the label, "misunderstood outsider." When she is victimized by an alcoholic haymaker her concerns are, are any teeth missing and has the group rallied around me with sufficient affection?
Get-Along ability: Weak. Her intense interpersonal ambitions combine with a fragile sense of self to engender a sort of emotional rollercoaster experience for the person sitting next to her. One minute she needs Jenni to pull a verbal all-nighter and the next minute she is packing her bags to go home so that she can escape what she perceives to be a humiliating social failure. She is the anti-interpersonal glue.
Stay tuned for the analysis of the rest of the cast in Part II....
