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The New 'Survivor'—Divided Not By Race but By Class
By: Jessica Durando
January 22, 2007
After
"Survivor" received enormous criticism for last season's tribe division by
race/ethnicity—and after advertisers such as General Motors bailed—the show
revamped its plot to unify first before it divides. But dividing by race still
seems to be its path.
The
Paramount
reality-TV series, which this week received renewal orders for two more
instalments, claims to emphasize the importance of cultural diversity by
featuring 19 castaways from locations spanning the globe.
Airing
on Feb. 8, the "Survivor Fiji" cast
of competitors includes men and women from places such as
South
Korea,
Colombia,
Venezuela and
Hong
Kong ranging
in age from 23 to 54.
Geographic
and age diversity were implemented last season alongside immediate segregation
by race.
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This
year, the castaways will set out as one tribe on the island, and by the third
day, they will be split into two groups. The tribe that wins the first Immunity
Challenge will return to camp with "copious resources," and the losers will
return with only a pot, machete and water source, according to www.survivor.com.
The
division will create a "have" and "have not" situation. But it is still a matter
of contention whether the "have nots" will be made up of a certain
ethnicity/race. The show's creator insists it will be decided upon the
challenges, but judging from last year, who knows?
The
show, which started out in 2000 with 16 people marooned on a remote island all
trying to win the $1-million grand prize, has started to dip in approval
ratings, so the show's creator scrambled to find a new edge by implementing the
"ethnic-diversity" challenge.
An average of 17.7
million people watched the debut of "Survivor 13: Cook Islands," which was a
significant drop from the 19.3 million who watched the debut of last
spring's "Panama:
Exile
Island." Among total viewers, the show
averaged 17.7 million, down 8 percent from the previous year's 19.3 million,
according to Media
Life Magazine.
The
show turned off many viewers with its racial divisiveness. Some people feel the
racial/ethnic division will continue, even taking on new
forms.
"Next
it will be straight vs. gays (lesbians) vs. bisexuals vs. transgenders. Then
maybe well have Christians vs. Jews vs. Muslims vs. Scientology," said a blogger about Season 14, based
upon last year's decision to divide by race. "There is enough tension about race
in this country with out throwing sticks into the fire."
Another blogger feels the creator,
Mark Burnett, is infusing another equally disturbing division for this season to
up ratings—class divisions.
The blogger explained her utmost
dissatisfaction with the show that plans to give one group material belongings
and the other group next to nothing.
"This is an oversimplification of
class structure in America, but nonetheless you have one group given all the
material privileges of being upper-class, while you have another group expected
to compete on the same level, and yet being given nothing and will end up having
to 'pull themselves up by their bootstraps,'" the blog said.
Last
season, certain contestants felt they were representing more than just their
team—they were representing their entire race on national television. To learn
more see, "Did 'Survivor'
Live Up to the Racial Hype?"
Also,
the show was heavily criticized for perpetuating instead of diminishing
stereotypes by "selecting
black contestants who perpetuate the stereotype of the 'crazy black woman' and
'angry black male,'" wroter a blogger from the Cincinnati Black Blog.
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