[ In this exclusive excerpt from the new book Reality Matters: 19 Writers Come Clean About the Shows We Can’t Stop Watching (HarperCollins, Apr. 13), Movieline editor at large Mark Lisanti measures himself against Jersey Shore ‘s three-word Guido gold standard — with less-than-optimal results. — STV ] About five minutes into Jersey Shore ‘s (two-hour!) premiere, Italian-American groups began to express their displeasure about the cast’s embrace — nay exultation — of the term “Guido,” considered by many to be a slur, as well as MTV’ s alleged exploitation of the group by reducing all Italians to an easily mockable Goombah stereotype. It’s a complaint Italians have heard before, most recently after some people wrongheadedly decried The Sopranos , perhaps the greatest and most nuanced television show of all time, for depicting the culture as nothing but a bunch of tracksuited, pork-store-haunting, stoolie-whacking goons. As an Italian American who grew up in a New York suburb just north of the Bronx, among friends (if not family) who were recognizable, if distant, forebears of The Shore gang (in those days, it was B.U.M. Equipment instead of Ed Hardy), Pauly D’s celebratory explanation of Guidoness as “a lifestyle… being Italian… tanning, gel, everything,” was not just the last word on a minor controversy. it was an invitation to take an inventory of my inner Guido every Thursday night.
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Exclusive Book Excerpt: Mark Lisanti on Jersey Shore’s ‘New Guido Credo’
