survive *this*
What is the world coming to? In the midst of sectarian wars, religious and ethnic intolerance, and the anniversary of Hurrican Katrina which showed polarizing visions of race and class in America, we get the brilliant idea for the new Survivor reality TV show: have segregated teams based on ethnicity--white, black, asian, and hispanic. I about had a crap in my pants ('scuse my language) when I heard about this, I am totally aghast at this twist of events. Yep, that's the lovely de-segregated group above, ready to be segregated and pitted against each other in some bizarre entertainment race war (oh wait, i just looked again--they already ARE segregated). Puh-leeze! Do we really need this? I so very rarely send letters to the mass media, but I actually sent CBS an email of complaint about this.
A "Survivor" spokesperson was quoted as saying that since the show was essentially a social experiment, the segregation of the races into teams fit with the basic premise. I know they can probably claim that this will debunk stereotypes as we get to know the individuals, blah blah blah, but overall, i think the premise sucks. Sigh. I mean, it's not like I should be looking to "Survivor" to promote diverse and complex images of race, but yeesh, this is so in the opposite direction it's stupefying. For god's sake, even a commentator on USA Today, a rather middle-of-the-road-slash-conservative rag had an op-ed piece criticizing the idea...
On another mass-media note, i am in the process of watching the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and it's making me feel really old (or just not into pop music, i guess). Prolly because my car radio is either tuned in to NPR, KMEL, or WILD94.7 (the last 2 being hip-hop stations), I am totally in the dark when it comes to the "alternative" music that's happening these days. I mean bands like The All-American Rejects and other punkish-mod-like guy groups that all sort of sound the same to me or remind me of Green Day (which I'm not fond of generally, but at least they seem to be capable of taking socio-political stances every now and then). I have no idea why this type of "alterna-rock-pop-stuff" is so attractive or interesting. Am I just the wrong demographic? I mean, I actually really love rock and metal and just find this new stuff really lukewarm milktoast.
The sad moment was when Lou Reed opened the show with "White Light, White Heat," and the audience of 20-somethings looked perplexed and uninterested. And then for some reason Jared Leto, who I think is generally pretty great looking, came out dolled up like a goth-club reject. I wish I could find a photo to show you (LATER--oh, here is one below, and a funny link to Go Fug Yourself). Beyonce's powerful thighs just about bowled me over, my mouth was hanging onto the floor. She was WORking it, wow.
nooooooooooooooooooo! i have nothing against the goth-y look, but....nooooooooooo!
5 Comments:
I guess they are hoping to shock people into watching. I agree that it is a terrible premise for the show and completely uninteresting. Shit I don't know which team they'd put me in considering I'm half Asian, half white.
Same here, I am white/hispanic (from Spain,) the world is falling apart, this sucks.! The truth of the matter is that people will watch this disgrace and it completely our fault. Like the MTV music awards last night, what was that all about? every year I anxiously wait to see this show just for fun, to see what celebrities are wearing and what kind of show they will put up, last night was the most pathetic MTV Music awards I have ever had to see, thank God my son is still 5 and by the time he can watch that show, it might not even exist.
Heh, I'm so out of touch. Luckily. There is plenty of great rock and "alternative" music out there. That is definitely not it. It's amazing how lazy people are as far as what they listen to, watch, read... they just let themselves be engulfed in tripe.
over here in Canada land, our NPR equivalent [CBC] has become unrecognizable to me. i have attacks of "what is this? yuppy radio? why are they talking about what is in my 'wine cellar' or how they can't give up their $300- jeans!?!?" and the state of pop culture? my younger boyfriend once let me know that people would play the particular hiphop music i was playing to be ironic, and i was like"this is Public Enemy!" he has since taken that back. i mean i know they are from a long time ago but they are a classic.
i know i sound like my grandparents when i talk like this. i really think it is the same thing... i think we are getting older!?
as for Survivor, that's just sick. i can't even find a category of sickness for that in my brain. maybe... oh hee hee! Hitler TV! it's just not funny.
regarding the race issue and "Survivor"--I'm like a secret "happa" (mixed race person). My stepdad--who's been my dad most of my life--is white but I look Chinese or Japanese depending on what people's assumtions are, even though I'm actually Filipino. Am I really "Asian" if I've lived in the US most of my life and feel like I get all my "asian info" second-hand? Of course I'm asian, it's just that I don't fit the stereotype. Bah!
anonymous MTV commentator--yah, MTV SUCKS. But then again, I remember being 10 years old (i'm 32 now!) and seeing it on for the first time when it was really cutting-edge. Crap crap crap now!
katherine, thank god for the alternatives, eh?
swanDR, is your boyfriend in his early 20s? lucky for you (heh heh). no seriously, i wonder sometimes about how short our generational memories are, and also get fearful of being the person who says "when I was your age...blah blah blah". but mostly I do it because i want people to learn from what I perceive as my past mistakes and hope the new generation doesn't always have to start from scratch ;)
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