It's getting racial up in here on "Survivor."
Facing a dip in the ratings, the grandfather of the reality shows is adding some racial tension to its "Lord of the Flies Lite" premise.
On "Survivor: Cook Islands," the teams will be divided by race -- black, white, Asian and Hispanic. Producers call it a "bold social experiment."
So "desperate grab for attention" translates as "bold social experiment" in Hollywood speak these days?
Host Jeff Probst even told Entertainment Weekly that "it's not just 18 white people. Suddenly you have new slang, new rituals -- people doing things like making fire in ways that haven't been done on Survivor."
I guess that means the math nerds will use their thick glasses to start a fire while another team uses the bling method?
C'mon people -- didn't we figure out segregation wasn't a good idea about 40 years ago?
On the good side, at least there won't be the token African-American or Asian on their own little corner of the beach waiting to get booted. But the exploitation will be there. 'Cause that's what "Survivor" does.
It puts seemingly normal people into roles -- the crazy guy, the schemer, the hot chick -- and lets the drama play out.
On "Survivor: Exile Island" there were two African-American castaways, and one Asian. And what did we see about them?
Bobby's big moments were "I gotta drop a deuce" and drinking the last bottle of wine in the latrine. And Bruce? He did kung-fu and didn't drop a deuce.
Cirie was my girl, though -- I had to love anyone who was that bad at challenges who got as far as she did. Gave me hope.
But the "Survivor" crew should already know segregating teams is a bad idea. Boys vs. Girls has been done, and it's always a yawn. On Exile Island, the teams were divided into Old Guys vs. Old Women vs. Young Guys vs. Young Women. It lasted about two episodes.
Why? Because as amusing as it was to watch the old men act like Masters of the Universe because they could make two sticks smoke and the young guys stand around in the rain because they didn't have four brain cells to share between 'em, part of what makes "Survivor" interesting is watching people deal with other people who aren't just like them.
So "Survivor" has its gimmick and its getting some press. But don't expect it to last long -- they'll be switching up buffs before you know it.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Race War!
Tags:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think they should go all out with exploiting the stereotypes. That would be great television! I was reading an article and the producers were excited about the alterernative solutions that the different ethnic groups would have for problems like starting a fire. The first thing I thought of, was that Team Asian would just have one of their women drive a car into a tree.
The producers also said they got rid of all the racist people through the casting process. How the hell do you test racism? Did they just ask "are you a racist?" Yes...I mean NO! Passed!
This is fantastic. What the different ways they'll come up with shelter?
team white will figure out first how to put 4 walls and a roof together..
Then team yellow will improve it, make it sleeker, quicker to build, cheaper to produce.
Then we got team africa who will break into team whites shelter and take all their stuff.
Finally team brown who will wait for team white to hire them to build another shelter after team black takes it all.
But what about team red who cleans up all the rest of the teams' litter?
Team Red is too busy crying over that coke can you threw out the window.
Okay we gotsta chill here...
Danger...Danger...Dr. Wan's arms are flailing wildly...
Post a Comment