Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
tv
16

The Ballad of Jenni Farley: Four Reasons It'd Be Okay If My Pretend Daughter Looked Up to JWoww

jwoww jenni farley jersey shoreThis coming Thursday (3/24) marks the finale of Jersey Shore's third season on MTV, and everywhere people are abuzz with speculation as to what terms these idiots are going to leave the house on. Will Snooki and Vinny just admit they are perfect for each other? Does The Situation ever conjugate a verb correctly? Can Sammi and Ron break up for good? (Please! I will sacrifice three doves!)

But for all of the talk, most of the analysis I've seen is broken down into two camps:

Camp A) tHiS sHoW iS sO kEwL, can't w8 2 see wut happenz next!

Camp B) This show is misogynistic and stupid.

I can empathize to an extent, but I feel like I'll be tuning in this Thursday because I belong to a third, underrepresented camp. It's called, "Camp Jenni 'JWoww' Farley has a secretly high IQ and makes the show really compelling to watch because I want to be friends with her."

"But Christine," you must be saying. "This show hates women. You are a woman! I don't understand!"

And while, yes, Pauly and Mike are at prehistoric levels re: treating women like humans, and while Jenni does cohabitate with them, she's actually done a good job of remaining an emotionally-healthy, decisive person with a good moral compass in a house full of adult children over the years. And I think her implants along with the fact that her daywear is literally purchased at sex stores distracts people from just how strong she is.

If I had a daughter in 2011, she could do a lot worse in the role model department than JWoww.

1. For the entire series, she has had stable primary relationships that emphasize trust and honesty. Pauly showed her his pierced penis in Season One, she called up her long-distance boyfriend and told him. Ron was cheating on Sam, she wrote Sam a note telling her what was going on. I'm not saying this woman is a paragon of wholesome American morals — she has pulled many a weave in her day — but she's a fucking good friend.

2. She does not have time for your codependent bullshit. Episodes Jenni spent crying after a years-long relationship with Tom ended and she had to go back to their shared house to sort through her belongings: <1. Entire seasons it has taken Sam and Ron to try and work through their exhausting emotional baggage: 3.

3. She can put aside her personal gripes in order to reach out to you in your time of need because, above all, Jenni is a Good Human. Despite the fact that she hated Angelina, she took the time in Miami to take her aside and let her know that she had earned her place in the cast just like everyone else. Angelina ultimately ended up hanging in for a few more episodes because Jenni took the time to be nice.

4. Childhood photos have proven that she was not always a caricature of feminine sexuality. Being chubby as a child has nothing to do with her behavior in the house necessarily, except that it correlates very well with my theory that people who endure some form of sustained awkwardness during their formative years often have beautiful, resilient personalities. In the words of Jack Donaghy: "I don't know what happened in your life that caused you to develop a sense of humor as a coping mechanism. Maybe it was some sort of brace or corrective boot you wore during childhood."

jenni farley jwoww

Image via Buzzfeed

16 Comments / Post A Comment

DenimGlow (#2,666)

That Jack Donaghy quote is oh-so true.

constant reader (#2,970)

yes it is! I wore a back brace in middle school. and now I AM HILARIOUS.

rina (#619)

5) Jenny had a successful career as a graphic designer before the show started, and appears to be a reasonably talented artist

6) She hoses down the floor after she pees on it

scully (#4,152)

6) = more than I can say for myself.

ohbladi (#4,374)

Re: number 6, you're right, she hosed the shit outta her pee. Gotta keep it classy.

HelloTitty (#98)

7: She doesn't seem to be as much of a slob as the rest of them.
8: She knows when to apologize.
-8: She leaves her dogs alone too much.

The dog thing gets to me, too. Also creepy when Dina smelled Mike's AXE body spray on the dogs. Way too close for comfort.

fleurdelivre (#3,333)

I've totally thought all of this before! That's why it's sad that the Snooki/ JWOWW spin-off is suposedly about them being all "oh we're such helpless, brainless girls who don't know how to do anything in the real world." It's totally not true/ not why people watch them.

Also, I had not seen that young Jenni photo before. SO adorbable.

freelee (#4,165)

I agree completely and have thought this before too! After I saw some of her illustrations, it further confirmed that we should be friends. I would take a road trip with JWoww from NJ to Miami any day.

emib (#1,229)

While so many people knock "Jersey Shore", I always try to explain that the only reason I can stand to continue watching the show is at the end of the day, the cast members (except Sam/Ron) generally act like a family and their fights stem from any violation of that. JWoww is the paragon of this.

Anna Marquardt (#2,527)

Truth! I never thought of it that way, but it's totally true. Thank you for validating my TV habits. Now please tell me why it's ok for me to watch "Say Yes to the Dress."

FromTheFuture (#984)

In my household we refer to her as The Enforcer: because when Jenny's around, shit gets done. Also, she was so nice to Mike when his bros ditched him to go eat spaghetti!

lbf (#1,074)

Disagree on the codependent bullshit. Just because it happens over the phone w/ Tom doesn't mean it's not there. Whole lot of emotional violence on both their parts. I don't approve of any of my pretend daughters' role models to keep a shitty off-and-on-again relationship going that long.

Apart from that though, this post is hella otm.

snakeantlers (#2,802)

i've always been on j-woww's side. she my favorite, she's funny, the smartest one there, a total badass, as well as the only one i'd consider banging.

ohbladi (#4,374)

I can't believe there are other self respecting people out there who also love JWoww! At first I judged her with her gigantic fake boobs and wrote her off like it ain't no thang, but poco a poco I, too wish I could be friends with her. Except for the fact that I doubt we'd be into the same kind of guys (sorry, Roger). And I probably wouldn't ever borrow any of her clothes. But, you know, friends nonetheless. She'd have my back fo sho.

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