A textual analysis of Princesses:Long Island

By Paul Herskovitz

In this day and age there is a reality television show about almost everything. However, Bravo decided to push the limits of reality television this past summer with their premiere of Princesses: Long Island. The show follows six wealthy young Jewish women who live in Long Island, New York.  The premiere episode of the show “You had me at Shalom” raked in around 1.24 million viewers (Gay, 2013). Are these viewers aware of what they are watching?  A textual analysis of the show confirms that not only does Princesses: Long Island support many Jewish stereotypes, it promotes anti-Semitism.

The pilot episode introduces the viewers to the six snooty, sheltered rich Jewish women. Each character gets their own segment where we learn about their gaudy lifestyles.  The common thread of each character is that they are desperate to get married and they are helpless without their parents.  The characters embody exaggerated Jewish stereotypes with heavy New York accents.  Within the first minute of the show, Chanel, one of the six main characters, impersonates her mother using a stereotypical Jewish mothers voice saying, “You’re 27 years old, you gotta get married already, go for a lawyer or a doctor, somebody who has money, somebody who’s going to take care of you.”  Followed up by her father saying “You need a man to take care of you.”  After the opening scene I got a sense of what the show was going to be about.  However, Chanel was only the tip of the iceberg, as five more characters are presented.  The use of outdated Jewish expressions, display of wealth, naivety, and lack of independence increased with the introduction of each character. 

                At the eight minute mark we are introduced to Ashlee.  I would consider her the queen of the JAPS (Jewish American Princesses).  Ashlee rolls up to the local nail salon with her dad in her convertible BMW to get a much needed mani-pedi.  She begins to talk about herself explaining how people get offended by the stereotypes of JAPS but she embraces it proclaiming, “I’m Jewish, I’m American, and I’m a princess.”   She gives us background on how she’s almost thirty, she doesn’t pay for rent, her mom still cleans her room, and proclaims, “This is awesome why would I ever leave?” Just in case viewers weren’t sure if she was exaggerating her claims about being a princess, she does the unthinkable while at the nail salon.  When it’s time to leave the salon. Ashlee goes on a tirade about how there is no way in hell that she could leave the salon in flat shoes.  After several minutes of complaining, a worker at the salon piggy backs her to the car.  Clearly this is encouraged by Bravo, but what kind of image are these women portraying about the Jewish religion?

               (Ashlee being carried out of her mani-pedi)

After digging around on the internet I discovered that the Bravo network and television critics have opposing views of what this show represents.   Bravo spokesperson Jodi Davis summarizes Princesses by saying the show is “about six women who are young, educated, single and Jewish living in Long Island, and is not meant to represent all Jewish women or other residents of Long Island.” (Bauder, 2013) Davis is promoting the idea that viewers are watching this show ironically through the third person effect.  Susan J. Douglas explains that the third person effect is “the conceit among viewers that they watch the show ironically and aren’t taken in by it while other, presumably more naïve viewers must take it utterly at face value. Thus viewers can feel superior not only to the cast members, but also to other viewers imagined to be less sophisticated than they.” (Douglas, 2010) My guess is that a majority of the viewers are taking this show at face value. This is due to the fact that the premise of the show is based on religion.  More importantly, it features one of the most historically persecuted religions.  I agree with critics of the show who find it disturbing. 

                Steve Israel, a New York representative and former president of the Institute on the Holocaust and the Law, said that the show “leads viewers to believe that this is what being Jewish is all about, that if you're Jewish and live on Long Island, you're narcissistic, you are all about money and that a Shabbat dinner is all about drinking and fighting,"  (Bauder, 2013) All of the ideas that Israel has mentioned are emphasized throughout every episode.  It’s crystal clear that these girls are promoting negative Jewish stereotypes.  There are well-known negative pre-conceived notions of how Jewish people behave and the show is helping fuel the fire of anti-Semitism. As horrifying as it sounds, this could be compared to the highly unlikely idea of Bravo developing a reality show that chronicled Muslim families who are terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.  A reality TV show about Muslim terrorists would represent the same concept that Bravo is encouraging with Princesses.  Bravo is promoting dominant negative stereotypes linked to a religion and repeating it week after week for viewers to gawk at.

Overall, viewers may find this show entertaining but the larger implications of the show are damaging.  A textual analysis of this show reveals the image of the Jewish religion as being negatively portrayed which in turn promotes anti-Semitism. The difference between this reality show and most others is that producers decided to attach religion to its program.  In conclusion, Bravo needs to reexamine the implications of the show Princesses and realize that their show is doing more harm than good.

                                                                      Works Cited

Bauder, D. (2013, June 21). 'Princesses: Long island' promotes 'anti-Semitic stereotypes,' according to NY congressman. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/22/princesses-long-island-anti-semitic-ny-congressman_n_3482822.html

Douglas, S. (2010). Jersey shore: Ironic viewing. In E. Thompson & J. Mittell (Eds.), How to Watch Television (p. 150). New York: NYU Press

Gay, V. (2013, June 11). 'Princesses long island' ratings fall in week two. Retrieved from http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/tv-zone-1.811968/princesses-long-island-ratings-fall-in-1.5458544