By Rob Sloan and Barb Foss
Once upon a time, the very notion of hips that swiveled caused the TV network censors to eliminate any shots of Elvis Presley below the waist as he sang to the screaming and adoring teenage girls in the audience of the Ed Sullivan show during the mid-1950s.
Too suggestive they pronounced, and clear evidence of society descending yet another rung down the ladder as civilization continued its decline.
The idea of network censors and sermons from the pulpits of the past deriding the vulgarity of Elvis (now of postage stamp status) seems laughable.
This is particularly true to a generation that sees “Jersey Shore” star Snooki (a perfectly airless name for a perfectly airless person) and “The Situation” publicly drunk and even more publicly narcissistic, their aspirations no loftier than to “GTL” (fans know the shorthand for Gym/Tan/Laundry).
Shouldn’t Americans be in more of an uproar rather than tuning in to view the “Guidos and Guidettes?”
On the other hand, every historical period has its “theater of the absurd,” every decade has its fads, its fools and court jesters. Civilization continues to evolve – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Speaking of the last category, “The Situation” did have a rather grim 15 minutes of [additional] fame” when he “disco-staggered” across the stage in “Dancing With the Stars” on a recent Monday night.
Our hero looked about as comfortable and coordinated as former Raider quarterback JaMarcus Russell appeared under any kind of a defensive pass rush.
And then there is the “fear factor”: Think of one of Snooki’s unsuspecting housemates after a night on South Beach stumbling upon one of her monster fake eyelashes and mistaking it for a South American tarantula, beating it to death with a stiletto heel.
Taking the longer historical look, one wonders how the wits at VH-1, for example, will ultimately portray Jersey Shore” when they do their “I Love the O-Os” documentary series.
To some, this “reality series” (borrowing from the pen of Dorothy Parker) “should not be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”
Others may see just another valid expression of the reality show phenomenon that marked our age.
Rob Sloan teaches history and Barb Foss teaches English at Cal High. They have been “romantically linked” for 21 years and have been known to watch an occasional episode of “Jersey Shore.”
