The Wake

The Jersey Shore has ended with the coming of fall, perhaps symbolizing the downfall of our society and our morals. Jersey Shore is a triumph of symbolism over substance. The show managed to shock many with its brutal displays of machismo and the search for fame without thought, without reason. My most prominent thought, while watching the show, was happiness that I’m not like the over-exercised, over hair-gelled cast. We leave the show with a unadulterated and unspoken joy that lets us all be happy, hard-working proletarians, secure in our knowledge that we are not like them. When their 15 minutes of fame are up, they will return to their lives unchanged, waiting for casting calls from The Surreal Life or some similar show, waiting again to be displayed to the world in an orgy of manufactured shock created by business people in suits. We can go back to our lives. Nothing about this is new or truly shocking.

This may be simply a reflection of the larger trend in our society to look back at the past that never was, but I am beginning to miss true shock. The works of people like John Waters, who cast a beautiful, fat Ricki Lake as a strong, defiant young woman who wants to dance on a TV show, but, not content with the that small portion allotted her, works to integrate the show and have black dancers. He also cast the transwoman Divine as a beautiful, dog-feces-eating contestant to be the filthiest person alive in a truly brave performance for the pure joy of making a film that is dirty. I miss the days when people truly worked hard to shock. Larry Flynt sacrificed the use of his legs because he dared to have photos of interracial sex in a dirty magazine. Where are those people today?

Shock today isn’t about shocking; it’s about feeling better about yourself. No matter how shitty and terrible your life is, hey, at least you’re not on Maury because, man, those people are messed up, weak human beings who deserve nothing more than our unthinking, unfeeling pity for having particular problems in their lives. They exist to make you feel better because, hey, at least your life doesn’t have that symbol of shame upon it.
I don’t think these problems are intractable. I do think there are people out there today who are working hard to truly shock, and they must be recognized for our sake. If you look on YouTube, there’s a wonderfully shocking video of Sasha Gray, a pornstar, on the Tyra Banks Show, attempting to portray the simple fact understood by many of those who have been sexually exploited: that sexual abuse isn’t about the symbolism of how you have been sexually exploited; it’s about the crossing of the line between consent and non-consent that makes the filthiest acts OK and the most vanilla, “romantic” acts brutal transgressions. The person who posted the video then puts up talking points during the video attempting to shame or attack or pity or something Ms. Gray by challenging the very idea that she’s an adult human being who can make her own decisions. In an industry beset by society’s belief that selling sex for money is somehow a crime, Ms. Gray is an extremely intelligent, articulate person who has a voice that I hope isn’t silenced anytime soon.

What truly shocked me about Jersey Shore was the gulf between what I actually found appalling and what I was supposed to find appalling. Brad Ferro, somehow, is a brutal monster because he got drunk and was provoked in a bar, but Ronnie Ortiz-Magro escapes public shaming for his often disturbing, but lower-key manhandling of his girlfriend. But, that’s not what Jersey Shore is about, it’s about the triumph of symbolism over essence. It allows us all to walk along in our unwavering belief that no matter how bad our lives are; at least we’re not that person.