** OFFICIAL Survivor: Cook Islands Thread ** ‘Survivor’s’ new racial divide

[Uncle Remus]

 

[bicker]

41 messages in a day. Needless to say, it appears Mark Burnett has hit another home run.

 

[disneyjunkie]

For the poster (and any others who haven't been paying attention) that mentioned only whites being around at the end of the season:

Survivor has had winners of varying racial/social backgrounds.

Season 1: A gay white man (Richard)

Season 2: Suburban housewife (Tina)

Season 3: A young single crunchy granola guy (Ethan)

Season 4: A Black woman (Vecepia)

Season 5: A white used Car salesman (Brian)

Season 6: A white girl..and model (Jenna)

Season 7: A Hispanic mom ( Sandra )

Season 8: All Stars...doesn't count!

Season 9: White guy (Chris)

Season 10: A White guy, and NYC firefighter (Tom)

Season 11: A white girl...sports radio DJ

 

[Charade]

You think this demonstrates diversity?

To what comparison? The US population?

And those are just the winners, I forget the complete make up of the contestants. Gotta list of them?

Ok, you have to pick 16-20 people for the show from thousands of applicants, let's see your diverse list. And then predict the winner.

 

[Robinrs]

You think this demonstrates diversity?

LOL!!!! On these boards it does!!!!!

I can't wait for this but will hold my judgements until later. I had stopped watching Survivor because it became boring to me in the past two years but this has me interested all over again.

As for this being a "publicity stunt" it is. PR sells and is used everyday to make people talk about the subject matter. In this case they brought ME back so I'm sure they caused others to see how this would work.

 

[bicker]

Obviously, it worked!

 

[jjohnson]

DH told me about this yesterday. I'm still surprised.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I think it will be interesting, and I also don't think the divide will last long. I wouldn't be surprised to see several tribe shake-ups as the show goes on.

In a way, I wonder if we're all part of the "social experiment" this time around. Look at how we're all talking about it, and I'm sure there are similar discussions on other internet message boards.

There is one way I see a lack of diversity -- 13 of the 20 are from California!! Several of the others are from NY, but not many from middle America. One guy from Christiansburg, VA, (a small town in the mountains) is Vietnamese. Go figure.

 

[jgmklmhem]

What is diversity though? I mean do we need 40% minority winners to make it diverse enough? African Americans are 12% of the US and have won 9% of the Survivors (minus all-star). Hispanics are 14% and again have won 9% of Survivors. Seems like the winners pretty accurately reflect the US make-up especially since the sample size of winners is pretty small.

 

[cardaway]

What is diversity though? I mean do we need 40% minority winners to make it diverse enough? African Americans are 12% of the US and have won 9% of the Survivors (minus all-star). Hispanics are 14% and again have won 9% of Survivors. Seems like the winners pretty accurately reflect the US make-up especially since the sample size of winners is pretty small.

That's a great point if you look at it from a percentage perspective.

I look at it from a casting perspective. As somebody who has watched every season, and knows people who were in the process and not chosen, I know how much goes into selecting these folks. IMO what I have seen is a clear effort to pick stonger white players and picking minorities for the people they want to bring in and "make good TV". Each season usually starts with a clear favorite (last season, Tom) and every season that person has been white.

I have to believe that some real strong minority players apply for the show (including my friend) and I simply wonder why they are not chosen.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Survivor 1 (16) 14 white (7m,7f) 2 black (1m,1f)

Survivor 2 (16) 13 white (6m,7f) 1 asian (m) 2 black (1m,1f)

Survivor 3 (16) 13 white (7m,6f) 1 puerto rican (f) 2 black (1m,1f)

Survivor 4 (16) 14 white (7m,7f) 2 black (1m,1f)

Survivor 5 (16) 13 white (7m,6f) 1 asian (f) 2 black (1m,1f)

Survivor 6 (16) 14 white (7m,7f) 1 asian (m) 1 black (f) {black male was replaced with deaf white female or disabled male}

Survivor 7 (16) 13 white (7m,6f) 1 hispanic (f) 2 black (1m,1f)

Survivor 8 ALL-StAR (18) 16 white (9m,7f) 1 asian (f) 1 black (m)

Survivor 9 (18) 16 white (8m,8f) 2 black (1m, ?1f very light skinned, hard to tell if she is actually black) questionable.

Survivor 10 (20) 17 white (9m,8f) 2 black (1m,1f) and Janu (not sure of her ethinicity)

Survivor 11 (18) 17 white (9m,7f) 0 black and Lydia (1/2 asian, 1/2 hispanic? not sure)


I really don't think producer's casting for Survivor should care about representing actual diversity in the US. THOUSANDS of people apply each year, and they can only come up with 1 black man 1 black women and an occasional asian or hispanic? I am sure black, asian and hispanic applicants make up a good number of those THOUSANDS. Yet, the casting is the same each season. They even REMOVED a minority, to cast a disabled person. Why take away a black man to cast a deaf female or a man with one leg?

 

[azgal81]

I think it will be interesting to see what happens. Seems like CBS is all about diversity this year they have alot of different types of people on the amazing race this yearas well.

 

[Disneyland1084]

Survivor's getting dumber and dumber. I hope CBS pulls the plug on it after this edition.

 

[goofy's friends]

I think they have picked their fair share of weak white players too. I'm thinking Tina and Tom and several older white women. Also, I have seen some great Black players, like Cerie in the last season, but also some very strong men. I think they have intentionally picked the people that will make the most interested and even enflamed TV. They are after ratings after all. There have been some real "characters" of all races.

 

[bicker]

Survivor is set for at least two more runs, Fall and Spring. In addition, Jeff Probst is signed for two more. No sense in cancelling it as long as there are millions of us who continue to enjoy it.

 

[bicker]

Politician thinks "Elections coming up. How do I get more time on television?"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060825/ap_en_tv/survivor_19

Yup, that'll do it.



If anything is "preposterous" is that politicians actually get any mileage out of such vacuous, self-serving whining. Liu should be ashamed of himself. What's really abomitable is that he hasn't even seen the series, so he has no idea how well or poorly the issue of race is handled. It is as if he presumes that he can dictate how anyone else can handle an issue dear to his heart. So much for a free country -- evidently we can be free as long as it meets with Councilman Liu's approval.

Hooray for Jeff Probst, who kept it classy and respectable when he said:

It's very risky because you're bringing up a topic that is a hot button. There's a history of segregation you can't ignore. It is part of our history. For that, it's much safer to say, 'No, let's just stick with things the way they are. Let's don't be the network to rock the boat. Let's not have "Survivor" try something new, but the biases from home can't affect you. This is an equal opportunity game.

Sounding better and better.

 

[ChrisFL]

If anything is "preposterous" is that politicians actually get any mileage out of such vacuous, self-serving whining. Liu should be ashamed of himself. What's really abomitable is that he hasn't even seen the series, so he has no idea how well or poorly the issue of race is handled.

I thought that was standard practice of politicians, make a big deal out of a few details, when they know nothing about the entire thing.

But in this case it may be different. I think it's quite clear what the show is doing and why, there's not many ways to put a good spin on segregation.

 

[bicker]

On the contrary. I remember when I was in school, a few decades back. This was soon after the Civil Rights Act was passed, and a segregation exercise was applied to our 100% white class, to demonstrate the effects. In this case, it's even more interesting, as Jeff Probst indicated, "biases from home can't affect you. This is an equal opportunity game." I bet things will go exactly as Mark Burnett intended: Demonstrating that race, which alarmists like Liu went ballastic over before the show aired, ended up being meaningless in the context of the game.

 

[shortbun]

I was a bit shocked(maybe shocked is too extreme a word) when I heard of the original racial divide. I can see this causing a whole other dynamic. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I watch this show because my child loves the games and I feel the social part sometimes needs parental guidance. This one will surely hold loads of that! Let the games begin!

 

[jgmklmhem]

I thought that was standard practice of politicians, make a big deal out of a few details, when they know nothing about the entire thing.

But in this case it may be different. I think it's quite clear what the show is doing and why, there's not many ways to put a good spin on segregation.

In this thread no one has yet to explain how this segregation is different than the past ones of sex and age. Just because it is race/ethnicity makes it bad? As some of the artilces mention one reason this is being done is because during casting they saw a certain ethnic pride being exhibited. I also argue that this segregation is still no different then what goes on in everyday society where the minorities segregate themselves away from the majority in official capacities such as the black student unions on college campuses.