Have You Heard?

The new edition of Survivor is going to be split up by race. Yup, that's right. 5 whites, 5 african-americans, 5 hispanics and 5 asians will be competing for the $1 million dollar prize. There are demands by some to boycott the show or that it should never air, but there are others who think it's just the shot in the arm that Survivor needs. If y'all hadn't noticed, it had gotten rather bland over the past few seasons. As for me? I'm looking forward to it, if for no other reason to see if the "characters" end up being stereotypical or if the producers truly make an attempt to portray people accurately. At least in the sense that they are competing against one another for big bucks. Clearly the racial division is creating a big buzz and ratings are sure to be bigger as a result.

From RealityBlurred comes the following:
"Among those people freaking out about Survivor Cook Islands isEric Deggans, the St. Petersburg Times’ media critic. In his column today, he writes that “it’s about time” the show acknowledged race.

He writes that, typically on Survivor, “race difference plays out as a parable on assimilation — the people of color who understand white culture and can fit in survive, often by being as bland and undistinguished as possible. Those who don’t, wind up fulfilling the worst stereotypes. Their exclusion makes them racially paranoid, their inability to bond with their teammates makes them look lazy and their defensiveness looks like an empty excuse.”

Thus, Deggans is glad that “Burnett is going to make race a front-and-center discussion, after years of shrugging off the implications of his portrayals,” although he says, “I don’t blame those who are concerned about the image of minorities in modern media for feeling apprehensive.”