We Are All Orange Now

MTV’s “True Life: I’m A Staten Island Girl” continues to have repercussions on the island:

MTV’s recent “True Life” documentary, “I’m a Staten Island Girl,” hit a nerve when it portrayed the borough’s youth as catty, road-raging, privileged and Gottiesque. Then the show cut deeper and compounded that unflattering list of stereotypes by portraying Islanders as — cringe — tanning-salon-orange.

. . .

After the episode first aired on national television on Oct. 18, viewers posted more than 230 comments to the entertainment forum on the local Web site silive.com.

Bloggers ranted.

Some recorded the episode to watch again. Others couldn’t bear to watch.

Islanders wrote in to the Advance calling the episode “embarrassing,” “horrible,” “hilarious” and “emotionally disturbing.”

“We are not orange,” was their cry.

. . .

Said Ms. [Danielle] DiPietro [one of the show’s three subjects]: “I know a lot of people are really p.o.’d about the show and they have a right to be. But they should have been at the auditions for the show.”

Both aspiring actresses and publicists, these two “Staten Island girls” have no regrets. They also thought the show was pretty accurate.

“Not everybody has spiky hair. Not everybody has an orange tint to them. Not everyone does, but the majority of Staten Island does,” said Ms. [Lauren] Laner [another of the show’s subjects].