Survivor--is anyone else disturbed by this?

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
First off let me say I don't watch the show--I saw the show in the first season when they had to eat worms & that pretty much ended it for me.

That said, I saw on the news that the next season of Survivor was breaking up its teams by race. There will be a white team, a black team, an Hispanic team, & I think also an Asian team.

Does this seem to almost promote racial divisiveness?

Also, are they leaving out other ethnic groups? Why pick these four & leave others out?

OK I understand they might be going for controversy to bump ratings, & also that some feel PC has gotten out of control. But to pit a group of people of a specific race against other groups of people of specific races......well, it disgusts me & makes me sick to my stomach.

So this is maybe a controversial post & I hope it doesn't start a fire, but I'm just appalled at what those in charge of TV land will do for ratings.
 
I don't watch survivior anymore. I watched it twice and HATED it. They ARE racists. And I am opposite of that. I would be very happy if I could marrya black person. Maybe even happier than I would be if I married a white guy. It discusts me to Laurax(x(

Take Care,
~Adri~
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I've watched each season of Survivor. I'm not bothered by the way the groups are divided at all. Last season young men, young women, old men and old women divided it. Maybe next season it could be overweight versus....oh nevermind. ha ha
 
Hi Laura! We have watched every season BUT the first season. They actually have divided teams by male & female, young adults against older adults and so on so the concept isn't really "new". I personally don't have a problem with it at all and they will finally merge teams together later in the show. I am sure it is probably done to bump ratings but it just seems like they do this to get reactions.
Just my opinion. I can't wait for the show to begin. :7

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Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH (AKA "Den Mother Debbie") http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/aktion/action-smiley-066.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
Susan!

We posted at the same time...looks like we think alike!


http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid8692709
Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH (AKA "Den Mother Debbie") http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/aktion/action-smiley-066.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
I watched a couple of seasons of survivor and then got bored by it. How many times do you have to hear Jeff Probst's "fire means life.." speech without gagging. From what I heard, Survivor was getting flak for not having a diversified group of people. I believe it's just a ploy to get more viewers. The last survivor didn't do well in the ratings. How many other different ways can they do the same old thing? They have done it 13 different ways, enough is enough. The issue with reality television is that you don't know how much is actually "reality".
 
I'm a Survivor fan. Aside from winning a $1,000,000, the show has always been a bit of a social experiment. As others have said, dividing the "tribes" by some identifier (gender, age) isn't new. I'm interested to see how the tribes and individual tribe members react to this. It'll be interesting to see what kind of questions/issues get raised.
 
I'm not really all that bothered by it...and I'm usually fairly sensitive when it comes to "race relation" type issues. And as others have stated, it's really no different than having groups seperated by gender/age in my opinion. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

Deni
 
I love Survivor. I do disagree with the whole team thing. It should just be one open group and see how the relationships develope and continue. The team issue causes alliances and that once the tribes combine, the team with the fewer numbers is almost always at a disadvantage. Rarely do members go against their orginal team members until the last few are remaining. This season should be interesting to say the least.
 
It didn't start out that way, did it? I mean, if I recall from what little I saw from the first season, the alliances were not planned but kind of happened naturally.

So I guess the producers latched on to it & tried to get creative. Frankly, I didn't even know there had been teams divided by gender & age. That disturbs me too.

Well, I guess it's a moot point for me b/c I don't watch the show. But I am very unsettled by what I now know is its premise.
 
Actually, I think it is a blatant attempt to generate controversy and ratings.

I have watched all the survivor shows and feel that they are starting to wear thin, kind of like Jeff's Botox.

Does this bother me? Yes, my son watches this show and I am strongly considering skipping this on, for obvious reasons. I am not proud of a social comment on profiting on race differences.
 
The show divides everyone up into teams and then their are "secret alliances" created within the team...where other team members watch each others back in an effort to avoid getting voted off. So..the show makes the teams, the players create the alliances.

As for the division of the teams by race, gender, age...dosen't bother me because it's not like they are creating a situation where one or two teams are at an extreme (or any) disadvantage. You can't really say that one team has an unfair advantage over another since the show tests strength, wisdom, patience, determination.

I agree, that the whole show is just one big social experiment (well put BTW).

Seems to me that these types of divisions based on uncontrolable circumstances (we cannot control our age, gender, race, etc.) would create a lot more comradery within each team.

If it's racist to the Asians, Hispanics and Blacks, then it is every bit as racist to the whites.
 
Why is this any different than men vs. women? I think our whole society is way too sensitive about some things. I don't watch the show and never have, but I see nothing wrong with this. Now, if the white group wins, I believe there will be a huge controversy. I do think it is an interesting idea.
 
Well, a whole team won't win. As people get voted off and there are fewer and fewer competitors, the teams will merge and it will be every man for himself.
 
I lost interest in Survivor a couple of seasons ago.

I think they should just dump them all on a deserted island with no food, no animale life, a couple of machetes and automated cameras, and come back in 60 days to see who's the ultimate survivor. }(
 
I think it's going to be really interesting. I have a feeling that some stereotypes will be put to the test with regards how each group/ethnicity performs at the different types of challenges.

I remember a sociology professor that I had said, if you put a group of strangers in a room of various races/ethnicities that they will first group together by gender, then by race - naturally. So, I don't find it offensive at all, it's human nature. Also, they become 2 tribes fairly early on in the game, so it's not going to last long.

The thing that bothers me is that 13 of the contestants are from S. california.... come on, can't you find some people who aren't aspiring actors?
 
The network is actually accomplishing exactly what they set out to do when they create these teams - to cause enough buzz to get an audience interested. I'm not a big TV watcher and can count on one hand the number of times I've watched Survivor, but I just might tune in for the first night of this one. I'm curious! But I really don't think I'll see it from a racial perspective, it's not that different than boys against girls is it?
 
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