This season’s Survivor finds Mark Burnett & Co. dividing up their castmembers by race. Race! RACE! White/Black/Asian/Latino.
Firstly, these are not races. They are ethnicities, right?
Secondly, who in the heck am I supposed to root for? Are people progressive enough these days to hear this white girl say, “Go Cracker Tribe!” (Team Saltine?) If I root for a minority tribe, will I look like I’m patronizing them?
Thirdly, Jeff Probst? You’re a nutcase:
“It’s not just 18 white people,” Probst told the magazine. “Suddenly you have new slang, new rituals–people doing things like making fire in ways that haven’t been done on Survivor. I think we have a season where people will say you can never go back to what you were before.” Yahoo!
The hell? Making fire in ways that haven’t been done? Do Latinos make fire differently? (from what I recall through Survivor history, none of the contestants can really make fire on their own). New slang and rituals? Isn’t that a bit…stereotypical? Do Asians starve differently? Are the Blacks going to do a ‘dance around the fire with spears’ ritual? Because it sounds like that’s exactly what Probst is hinting at.
In any case, it’ll be interesting to see how the 4 teams fare with all being on the same level. I can’t see how a group could cry discrimination in this game. It’ll probably be done, though. Does a white castaway even have a chance of winning this unless s/he has the rest of her/his tribe on the jury?
So, if I watch this, in order to be fair, I have to wear blackface and use chopstick sto eat a taco?
…all while listening to country western music.
I know I still can’t get over Survivor 4 when Burnett screwed Pascal in the tiebreaker. (I know I need to let go!) But I got to give Burnett credit – he’s doing something different and interesting. I doubt it will be enough to get me back as a viewer, but where credit is due – credit is due.
Leave it to survivor to bring back racism.