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“I just find her boring…but I get why other people find her interesting,” sighed our editor Erin Carlson, when discussing yesterday’s Sunday Style profile on Snooki from Jersey Shore.
“Yeah, I’m sort of indifferent towards her. She’s entertaining in small quantities,” agreed our intern, Hillary Reinsberg. This conversation, which basically could sum up the entire 3-page article about Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and the weird cult-like obsession America has about her took up approximately five minutes of our day. But we could have continued indefinitely, running on the same loop of “Why do we care? Why does anyone care?” Because ultimately, we don’t find Snooki, or The Situation, inherently interesting without their MTV platform. Or do we?
On the surface, it seems like the media is more obsessed with Snooki than we are. She’s ridiculous and vulnerable, which makes for a good reality show combination, but nobody I know really cares who she is dating or what she’s saying on Twitter. That is, unless they are a blogger and need something to write about. The snake-eating-its-own-tail phenomenon is not new to magazines and tabloids that catapult a no-name to fame and then spend months trying to rip down this “nobody,” but we know it’s getting bad when even The New York Times has to get in on the picture. Because ignoring Snooki would be ignoring a cultural zeitgeist, no matter how “low-brow” the publication considers the whole Jersey Shore thing.
Vulture was right when they called the piece condescending in the extreme. Casting Snooki as a harmless idiot (who doesn’t know how much money she makes) the article ends with Cathy Horyn smugly concluding:
“With the help of her managers, Snooki is trying to spin her image into Snooki-theme products and maybe a book, which undoubtedly she will never read, and naturally she would like to have her own reality show.”
This piece says more about Cathy Horyn than Snooki: the esteemed journalist has better things to do than meditate for 2,000 words on this chick. Luckily for the rest of us, we can make a choice to ignore Snooki, to ignore Jersey Shore, and not watch the premiere of the second season. The power is in our hands to make the ratings drop and have the show canceled. But it’s doubtful we will, thanks to the 24/7 media coverage of these self-described “guidos.” Because if The New York Times considers them important enough to ask “Why are they important?”, who are we to say they aren’t?
I think Ms. Horyn was just downright mean in her piece about Snooki, Snooki, like anyone else, is just trying to make a living. Her dad is looking out for her, keeping the cash away from her, etc., until she really needs it. I say good for Snookers for earning a few bucks just being herself. Not everyone can say that they do that.