Race to Survive

Rosie O'Donnell's "ching chong" moment

2006-12-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

Rosie O'Donnell mocks Asians with ching chong joke. I can't think of any moments in popular culture when English-speaking Americans use a made-up language to reference another real language. Wait, that's not quite true. People do it when mocking African languages that use clicks. But when people are making fun of Europeans/European languages, it's usually through accented English rather than made up words. This difference is telling, perhaps about the limits of acceptance of linguistic difference.

Segregated Survivor

2006-11-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

I don't know if people have kept up with survivor, but it is pretty shocking what has evolved. After each tribe of different races merged into two multiracial tribes, it seemed that race had slipped away from the spotlight for a little bit. However, what has happened is quite shocking and kind of scary. Whether it's based on a total coincidence or not, the tribes have turned into white versus minority. The white tribe does have one African American, but they continue to talk about "sticking with the original tribe" and are basically deciding between voting him out or the Jewish man on the white team. The other tribe consists of two Asian Americans, both from Korea, one African American woman and one Hispanic man. The reason all the white members have regrouped together is because the show allowed for a mutiny to take place where any person could choose to leave their tribe to go to the other tribe. Surprisingly, the two white members of this new minority tribe left to rejoin their white counterparts on the other tribe. I am a little concerned about where this show is heading. How can white privilege still stay intact on an island away from civilization? I also found it interesting that four of the five hispanic team members were all kicked out fairly early in the show. One of my friends said that he read a statistic that Hispanics generally do poorly on these types of game shows compared to any other race and I was really curious as to why this might be. Either way, I will continue to watch the show with constant trepidation and hopefully they will break up this clear segregation shortly.

read with me?

2006-10-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quick question -- anyone on here interested in reading Roopali Mukherjee's The Racial Order of Things with me, perhaps posting thoughts on this blog? It's about public policy as a site of cultural identity formation. Might be thoughtful complement to discussions of popular culture as a site for racial knowing.

Are there public forums to talk about race?

2006-10-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

One of my students noted that there aren't any real public forums to talk about race (I'm loosely paraphrasing). And I think, by and large, he's right. In terms of larger political and social life, the minute "race" gets evoked, most public figures become uncomfortable or it quickly devolves into the usual platitudes (Racism is BAD) and those awful cliches (Love sees no color) or useless generalities (Diversity is good) or even worse, stereotypes & excuses (I can't be racist--I have a black neighbor).

But here's the reason I created this blog: I do think that popular culture gives us a public forum to talk about race. Case in point: Tyra Banks' talk show. Yes, that's right. I'm up late watching Tyra Banks and her talk show (I don't even know it's name--I just see "Tyra" flashed on the screen on the Oxygen network) and this hour segment is dedicated to talking about "Race" (apparently she has these "race" dedicated segments every once in a while). Anyway, this particular "race" segment is focusing on "Inter-racial relationships" and I have to admit, it's fascinating. I have been lamenting the fact that I'm out-of-touch with most of America because I feel like I've locked myself away in the ivory tower of academia. But one thing about watching talk shows, they give you an honest glimpse into what people are thinking. And the people on this talk show are shooting straight from the hip and talking really openly about race. The kind of honesty where they don't hold back, to the point where it's cringe-worthy and uncomfortable watching these comments and reactions fly back and forth.

For example, the segment starts with a white guy telling a black male/white female couple that when he initially saw the black man with his hands wrapped around his white girlfriend he thought that he looked "ghetto" and like a "pimp" and that he thought she (the girlfriend) was in danger because of his ghetto/pimp look. There was no difference between what this black man was wearing compared to any of the other men on the panel (all of them had long sleeved collared shirts and khakis basically). And when Tyra probed the white audience member, he admitted that his impressions had to do with his color--that the black man was "very black" according to the white guy in the audience.

Now. You can imagine that this was not taken well by people in the audience, let alone the couple in question. But one of the things that Tyra stressed (and we can question her motivation) was that she appreciated this guy's honesty. And to be fair, the guy acknolwedged that he didn't think his first impressions were a good thing--that they had been conditioned due to racism (actually, I don't think he used that word explicitly, but in his stumbling, bumbling way, it's what he implied) and I actually do think it's true. It's what he has probably been conditioned to think and he was, at least, honest in expressing it.

The problem is this: what do we do with this guy's comment? Ok, so it's honest, but don't we want more? Is it enough to have him voice his discomfort and to vaguely recognize that it's problematic and stems from stereotypes and damaging, racist ideology?

And furthermore, is Tyra's talk show enough? I'm cynical enough to believe that things get put on the air for ratings--that if it didn't sell, it wouldn't be on tv. And yet. It was honest--all of it, uncomfortably honest. The comments by the Filipina American woman married to the white guy that she preferred lighter skinned men and was just attracted to blond hair and blue eyes and therefore can't help but be attracted to white men. And another Korean American woman who admits to buying into stereotypes of Asian American men, believing them to be nerdy and uncool and hence unattractive.

Here's the thing: it seems like the only places we're hearing this kind of open discourse is on talk shows. What does that say about our culture?

“I don’t want another boring Asian.”

2006-10-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

On stereotyping in college admissions: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/10/10/asian

Is Feminism a bad word?

2006-10-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

A friend and fellow contributor to this blog asked why I thought "feminist" had become a bad word. And I said it had to do with neo-conservatives taking control of the issue (in the same way they had taken over the word "liberal"). And then today on Survivor, I thought we had an instance of feminism in action--of women uniting together to form an alliance--to stay strong--to survive. And although I know I may be reading too much into a tv show (esp. one like Survivor), I did think the question was important--because I do think that too few women are willing to call themselves "feminists"--which is a shame. Because at heart, a feminist is anyone who believes that men and women are equal--and that they want this to be a reality in all parts of our lives.

Anyway, back to Survivor. I have to say I AM glad that the women formed an alliance and ganged up on JP--he just seemed a bit too arrogant. Of course, I'm supposed to feel that way because the editing of the show makes us think that. But the idea of weakness and strength, particularly related to gender is something that is becoming more and more relevant to this show--and of course, perhaps to our own lived realities...what do YOU think?

Flavor Flav and the Beautiful People on Survivor

2006-10-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Recent article in the New York Times on the controversial clock-wearing bachelor...

In a way, I found this comment most compelling:

Nelson George, the cultural critic and author of “Hip Hop America,” said one reason the show has struck such a nerve has less to do with stereotypes and more to do with the fact that Flavor Flav is not exactly a sex symbol. “If he didn’t have gold fronts and didn’t wear a clock and if looked like Jamie Foxx, there wouldn’t be as much controversy,” he contended.

I'm wondering how this issue of attractiveness/sex symbols relates to Survivor and its rather blatant use of "beautiful people"--perhaps more so than in past versions (although I haven't watched enough of the previous shows to know about this). In this incarnation, we're mostly dealing with people that could be in a Benetton ad, leaping and frolicking in brightly colored sweaters. They did throw in an offbeat character here and there, like Billy, the guy who identified more as "metal" than "latino," "Cao Boi," and the white girl with the dreads. These characters seem to make the others seem even more wholesome and All(Multicultural)American. Did the producers deliberately choose a bunch of above-average-looking people to offset the controversy or to emphasize the happy-go-lucky melting pot message we got last time?

race or class

2006-10-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a short piece by Walter Benn Michaels mentioning Survivor's racial experiment. In his usual way, Michaels dismisses race as something that only gets in the way of real considerations for equality -- namely class/money.

Miss Congeniality

2006-10-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

So last night I lead a discussion about race after the film screening of Miss Congeniality--that Sandra Bullock Hollywood look at beauty pageants & FBI agents. It was part of "race awareness" week on-campus (yes folks, for one week we make our students think about race--but just for one week) and I suggested this film because while Spike Lee and John Singleton raise important issues about race in their movies, it's films that are seemingly "race neutral" that I think are more interesting to look at, for the way they reinforce norms and/or subvert those norms. But regardless of whether a film reinforces or dismisses stereotypes, these Hollywood films have a single bottom line: to make money. Yes, I'm this cynical. If it was profitiable to remake Birth of a Nation then Universal Studios (or Fox or Disney) would remake Birth of a Nation. Can't you see it? With Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. And they'd re-do the ending and make Hanks renounce racism or something and yet it'd just end up reinforcing Southern pride in its own way (and it'd be a chance to fly that damn confederate flag--and yes I'm one of those people who cry prejudice not pride whenever I see it).

But the rant of the day ends with yet anothe rhetorical question: how do we make racism less profitible? And is it already? Is that why, perhaps, the producers of Survivor decided to merge the tribes so quickly--to squelch any charges of racial segregation that proliferated before the show? To demonstrate that we may all start out in our racial tribes but in the end, we're just all part of the same race. Such a pretty message, such a pretty picture. And I'm truly, truly cynical because I just don't think it rings true. And yet, I can't believe that there isn't progress--and as much as I may be tongue-in-cheek about the idea of a race awareness week (the fact that we only get one week to think about race and then we can put it out of our minds) the truth is, it IS a good thing to have a week devoted to race awareness, esp. when so many of us spend our daily lives being aware of race, at least subconsciously.

Race to Survive

2006-09-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

Race to Survive

As I watched the merging of the tribes and the intermingling of race/ethnicities, I couldn't help but notice the sense of relief that contestants had about no longer being categorized by race/ethnicity. I wondered if this sense of relief was because they did not want to be identified soley by their race and were uncomfortable being classified in this manner, or was it because they no longer had to "represent." That is, the pressure to represent one's own race/ethnicity, to be judged by one dimension imposed by someone else (i.e. the producers of the show), was gone. Now, maybe they could truly be themselves (whatever that entails) and not just the Black, Asian, Hispanic, and White people. The question is, will America forget about their race/ethnicity and see them in a different light? Will the producers/editors continue to highlight racial/ethnic stereotypes and does racial/ethnic solidarity still matter? Guess well just have to wait and see...

I was also struck in this last episode by the voting process. Why was it that only two women were singled out as the "weakest link"? I didn't see anything in the previous two episodes to suggest that these women were slackers or were physically challenged. I mean, come on, they didn't exhibit any Billy-type behaviors. Yet, when it came down to it, everyone in the tribe deemed them the weakest link. Why two women? Are women just inherently weaker? Or, are their skills just not valued in this society? If you look at some of the challenges, they require craftiness and intelligence (i.e. the puzzles and riddles) and they require adept hand coordination (i.e. untying small knots). These are skills that women can be good at, if not better than men. Yet, the one measure of strength that was singled out was being physically strong. I think you get where I'm going with this, that whole selection process was downright sexist. There, I said it. Anyone disagree with me? Bring it on!

Got stats?

2006-09-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Here are two links to policy reports with lots of stats on Asian Pacific American representation in prime time in the past two years...

http://www.advancingequality.org/files/NAPALC_report_final.pdf

http://www.advancingequality.org/files/aajc_tv_06.pdf

Survivor Melting Pot

2006-09-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

We're all part of one race, the human race. Yes, that's right--Survivor has merged. Those old racial alliances have dissolved--they've integrated the tribes, merged them together from 4 to 2. No more Asian-Puka tribe. No more Aitu-Latinos. No Hiki, No Raro. Just 2 tribes fighting it out traditional-Survivor style. Should this be the end of this blog? Well, Survivor was just the impetus to talk about race & pop culture. Actually, we (as in the 7 women who've watched Episode 3 together) had an interesting discussion about inter-racial dating--which is to say, we observed that of all the racial-gendered pairings, it seems as if Asian American men fare the worst, and Asian American men get fairly pissed off at Asian American women who date out. We also observed that black women also seem to be upset when black men date non-black women (esp. white women). But we weren't sure about Latino men/women dating out. And of course all of these are gross generalizations and stereotypes. But it does seem to be the case that inter-racial dating hits people--is a hot button issue for people. And yet, as members of my Mixed Race America class observed, this generation, the ones who are currently in college--they are more open minded than their parents--and we can be hopeful that each subsequent generation will make progress--will be progressive. Can't we....

Hollywood's Racial Catch-22

2006-09-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hollywood's Racial Catch-22 -- an article about representations of Asian Americans in Hollywood.

Facebook Phenomenon

2006-09-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling old. I've lost my righteous edge. There is a facebook entry (does everyone know about this? My cousin, who is a Junior at NYU had to explain it to me recently, but I'm assuming most everyone else is far more saavy than I am) called "Concerned Citizens Against Asian Girls Dating Fat Ugly White People." As you can imagine, it's a fairly provocative site--I'd recommend logging on, but you have to join Facebook (I admit that I was so intrigued that I did register, although I have no plans to actually populate a site, so don't look for me there). The discussion is actually quite rich/interesting and it seems as if everyone joining in the heated debates is (1) male (2) college aged. Which leads to my initial comment--when do you lose that righteous edge? Am I outraged about popular culture and race? Am I surprised that you can bet on Survivor? Why don't I seem disgusted by the banality out there in the world? I suppose part of it is the jaded edge of being on the otherside of 35 (OK, just barely by a year, but it did make me sound ancient and worldly for a minute, didn't it?). But I suppose most of all, what I find (dis)heartening is that the same kind of rhetoric about Asian American girls dating White guys still goes on. This was the debate when I was an undergrad at UCSB eons ago (Ok, again, only 18 years ago). The same fingers pointed at popular culture and the lack of strong Asian American males as viable sex partners for women (yes, a heterosexist assumption, but I'll leave it to my students to recite the connection between sexism & homophobia that I've been drumming into them this past semester).

But here's the thing--does everything really point back to pop culture? I mean, I know I started this blog to talk about race and pop culture. And I'd be totally naiive if I were to say that it doesn't matter--because it does. But, like Freud, can't a cigar just be a cigar? Yes, I know I've been influenced into assuming that there is an aesthetic male ideal that conforms to a racial type of whiteness, but does that mean that every time I date a white man I am perpetuating a type of "racist love" (ala Frank Chin) and betraying my Asian brothers (and sisters) and selling out the race? What does that even mean, selling out one's race? And is it OK if you are bartering rather than selling? When is the cost too high? [note: you should see the trend of my fondness for rhetorical questions].

How did you learn about race?

2006-09-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

I've asked members of my Asian American lit & theory class to look at this blog in preparation for Wednesday's discussion about the film WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN?, esp. to think about the link between the media and racial representations. And I guess the question I want to throw out to whomever is out there (who IS out there???) is how did you first learn about race and/or how did popular culture and mass media affect your ideas about race? It will come as no surprise that I believe that our concept of race is determined, in no small part, through the messages we get in terms of media representations and general popular culture. But I am curious about people's earliest conceptions of race through popular culture--ways in which it may have reinforced or suberted certain racial conceptions/identities. I mean, Asian people aren't really "yellow" but how did that color stick to them--was it through how they were depicted in 19th century newspapers and pamphlets and somehow it stuck?

Betting on Survivor

2006-09-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

So apparently, you can bet on who is going to win Survivor, or for our purposes, which racial tribe is going to produce the winner. Prior to last week's episode featuring love-sick Billy's confession, the odds were 7/1 in favor of the Aitu tribe producing the winner (either Oz or JP). I'm not sure how they have adjusted after Billy got voted off, but here's the article about betting, and more important, about the kind of "stereotypes" that each tribe exhibited (or how the editing presented them as exhibiting):

http://www.gambling911.com/092206daily.html

Is it just me or does it seem bizarre that you can actually bet on these things? And if you bet against your "racial type" are you engaging in cross-racial identification or race betrayal? Or are you just being a saavy gambler?

Overheard while getting coffee today... or what we haven't heard on Survivor (at least so far)

2006-09-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

Student #1: I need to go into the student store and get some index cards.
Student #2: What for?
Student #1: I'm studying for Chinese class.
Student #2: Oh, cool! (says something in Chinese)
Student #1: (says something back in Chinese). So are you Chinese?
Student #2: No.
Student #1: Are you Vietnamese?
Student #1: No, actually my dad is Spanish, Filipino, and Chinese, and my mom is Filipina.
Student #2: Oh, do you speak any Spanish?
Student #1: Right now my German is a lot better than Spanish.
Student #1: Does your Dad speak any Chinese?
Student #2: No, it was actually just my gandfather who Chinese so.... why, do I look Chinese?
Student #1: Well, you look Asian but I wouldn't say you look Chinese...
Student #3 [turning around from front of coffee line]: Do you speak Tagalog?
Student #1: Just a little bit... my mom spoke it a little when I was growing up... Why, are you Filipina?
Student #3: Well my mom is Filipina, so I only know a little Tagalog. My dad is white, or actually Italian and Portuguese...

[exit me, stage right, with soy latte in hand]

Racial Hierarchy?

2006-09-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Race to Survive

To build on Jen's thought about racial stereotypes being played out, I can't help but notice that other elements of the American social structure are also being replicated in Survivor. For example, the racial hierarchy. If you study a variety of social/economic outcomes in our society, you'll find that Blacks tend to do worse. Hispanics fare worst than Asians and Whites. Some Asian groups(U.S. born Japanese, for example) are actually be doing better than whites in some categories. Consistently though, you'll find Asians and Whites at the top of the racial hierarchy while Blacks and Hispanics are at the bottom.

Now, how does this apply to Survivor? Well, the Black team lost the first challenge because they couldn't work together as a cohesive unit. In the second challenge, the Hispanics threw the challenge in order to maliciously boot one of their team members from the competition because they thought he was dead weight. An observation was made by someone in the room that if the Hispanics didn't intentionally lose the challenge, the Blacks probably would have lost again. Who ended up on the very top of the racial hierarchy? Whites and Asians, with Asians faring better thus far.

Do you think that the producers/editors are engineering all of this to happen or is there some element of truth to this racial hierarchy?

Yes! The Stereotypes are True! Asians really ARE Smart!

2006-09-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

So the Puka tribe chalks up another win, with the man "Yul" getting voted by the Aitu (ie: Latino) tribe to Exile Island, where he promptly solves the clue to hidden location of the immunity idol, thereby confirming all of our worst fears: Asians really ARE smarter--we really ARE the model minority. We won. That's it. We're the new superrace. Y'all can just go home now.

Seriously, while watching it with some friends tonight, we couldn't help laughing when the Asian Am. tribe started to chant in unison as they were crossing the rope bridge "Left! Right! Left! Right!" -- just like those Asians to be so methodical, robotic even? And as a friend of mine commented after the Pukas had managed to capture 2 chickens in one fell swoop of a box (as opposed to the Aitu tribe, who captured just one bird in their net) "Wow, Asians really ARE overachievers!"

I joke, I kid. Should I, at this point, remind our dear readers that like our friend Cao Bui "Cow Boy" (btw, I'll be happy to have my Southeast Asian friends override me here, but wouldn't "bui" be pronounced "bwee" or "buoy" not "boy"???) I'm being very tongue-in-cheek? In other words, I'm invoking these stereotypes only to remind us that there is a lot of heavy editing going on--and whether it really played out this way or not, the contrast between the white guy, last week, on Exile island who looked like he barely scratched in the sand to find the idol vs. Yul, who methodically and logically figured out the puzzle and then successfully found the idol, well, it leaves one wondering about the editing of this material and whether, as a commentor has already noted, the show is more about OUR reactions to the racial makeup of the tribes than due to anything that they, themselves, are bringing to the island, although I would also argue that it's also about what the producers want to provoke, racially speaking.

Although what the hell was up with Billy saying he fell in love with Kandace???!!! That was just surreal.

AGHHHH!!! See??? They're sucking me in already! Must resist temptation to actually....want to watch the show for the entertainment value... (sigh). OK folks--it's YOUR turn--post away!

Is the race card a Hallmark card?

2006-09-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

What the hell is the race card? Has anyone seen it? It sounds like the race card is some type of playing card. But is it a standard deck? All the face cards are white, which seems appropriate, but then if that's the case, why, when people talk about playing the race card, do they mean that it's an invocation of a non-white person/situation. I, of course, bring all of this up because in a recent article I read about Survivor, the last guy who won, Chris Daughtery, said this about Season 13:

"Mark Burnett is a genius," Daugherty, 36, said. "He wants the ratings, but he's got competition. He decided to go with the race card."

What if the race card is a greeting card--would it look like a Benetton ad? Would it be a scene from that old School House Rock video--"The Great American Melting Pot" where you see this multicultural cast of kids dressed in their "native" garb, and then they all take off their clothes and jump into this soup pot in the shape of the continental portion of the U.S. while Lady Liberty stirs them up with a big soup spoon (yes, the cannibalistic overtones are quite pronounced--as well as the idea of "eating the other"). And what would the race card say, "Welcome to America! Where anyone can be president as long as you have a penis, pray to a Christian God, and enough money in a bank account to start your own fortune 500 company. Immigrants need not apply, but we know you are going to shout *racism* so go ahead, here's your card. P.S., for you, Arnie, we've got Orrin Hatch working on a little loophole."

But seriously--can someone explain to me, what the hell is the race card? Because I'm drawing a blank--but maybe that's it--maybe the race card is, a blank.

Anyway, if you want to read the article in which I quote Daughtery, here it is:

http://www.survivorfever.net/s13_springfield_news_sun_9_14.html

Word of the Day: Tribalism

2006-09-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

So Stephen Colbert (of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central) picked "Tribalism" as his "word of the day" segment, and I thought it was pretty appropriate as a way to talk about Survivor (which he did--and parts of it were pretty damn funny). And I wonder if "tribalism" isn't at the heart of what we are talking about when we talk about race and our own identification/dis-identification/mis-identification of racial alliances. Because the word "tribalism" is evocative of some inner, visceral, primal part of ourselves -- the body as opposed to the mind. The conservative as opposed to the progressive. The insular as opposed to the open (and I'm privileging the second term more than the first). And yet, is tribalism really bad? Don't we all have our own kind of tribes that we need--that nourish, sustain, and protect us? But here's the thing, can you belong to more than one tribe? And how large can your tribe be? Can you be a tribe of 2 (as my class debated in the book we're currently reading THE MIRACLE LIFE OF EDGAR MINT--a fantastic read if you are in need of good contemporary fiction), or even, a tribe of 1?

Survivor changing race relations?

2006-09-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Race to Survive

The promoters of Survivor have mentioned that this show might actually change race relations in America. When I first heard this, I scoffed...Ha! How is this possible when hundreds and thousands of very intelligent academics, advocates, and people entrenched in social justice movements make such incremental changes when it comes to race relations? Yet, as I read this blog site and reflect on my own thoughts (some not so benign) during the show, I begin to wonder whether popular culture needs something just like this--a reality TV show--to get mainstream America to talk about/revisit the issue of race again. Seems like when we talk about race in an intellectual manner, mainstream America tunes out. Maybe survivor will reel them in, make them think about their prejudices, and at the least, talk about race. Hey, it's made me do that!

What avatar would you pick?

2006-09-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Just to mix things up, since this blog is supposed to be about larger issues of race & popular culture, I wanted to mention that there is an article in the NY Times about MTV launching a virtual "Laguna Beach" site--apparently there is a reality tv show on MTV that features "real" residents of Laguna Beach--the reality based answer to the fictionalized "OC" (btw, I actually live in Orange County, NC, but it is really NOTHING like Orange County, CA). Anyway my comment is less about the site or show (I've seen neither--and I haven't even seen "The OC") but about this idea of avatars--the digital icons that people use to represent themselves. Apparently you can go into the site and design a human avatar--you can choose hair color, dress, body shape, gender, and of course skin tone. So here's the thing, do you pick something to resemble who you are? Do you pick something to resemble who you want to be? Or do you choose an avatar that is so unlike you because in the realm of on-line fiction, you can choose to be whoever you want to be. In fact, in some ways, does virtual reality solve the problems of cross racial identification (not to speak of cross gender id) and allow us to finally leave behind racial baggage? Is it a type of racial utopia? Or is it just another site to reinforce certain norms about our society (for example, in the article, which I'm pasting below, you can have a "gold club" membership by paying an additional sum and your avatar gets a porsche--so like in the real world, money gives you an advantage).

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/business/media/18avatar.html?hp&ex=1158638400&en=28de9aa58ef1d4b4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Exile Island motives

2006-09-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

I guess I'll bring up the "why didn't the African American team try to bring down the winners of the immunity challenge?" conversation. In previous seasons of Surivivor, when teams were voting members of other teams onto exile island, the logical train of thought would be to go after one of the members of the strongest team. Make them weaker, correct, to level the playing field? But the thing that stood out the most for me after the first episode of Survivor was how the African American team, rather than going after the winning Asian American team, went straight to the Caucasian team, who barely beat them, to vote someone on to Exile Island. It was striking to me...I'm left wondering what their thoughts were, conscious or not. Why didn't they go for one of the two teams that showed stronger in the challenge?

Was it, "Let's take down the white guy that stole a chicken from a person of color?" Was it, "Let's weaken the white team, " and simply that? I find myself rooting for anyone but the white team, and am finding support for that in what the non-Caucasian teams are doing and saying...are they all thinking the same thing? Does the fact that the Caucasians are finally outnumbered mean that their team will find its quick demise at the hands of the other teams? I'm (not-so-secretly) hoping for that, and wonder at my own biases. Has Survivor already brought out my own prejudices, and here I am voicing them on a blog sight, something I've never done before (blogging or publicly exposing my prejudices against half of my own ethnicity).

It will be interesting for me to see how much they write off various actions as "just part of the regular Survivor game" and how much it can be attributed to race relations. Who's to say? I'm speculating along with anyone else, and don't know that it's a wise thing to do...but I find that I can't help but attribute things to race. Which, for me, is the danger of this stunt that CBS has pulled. I haven't run in to too many people that think anything other than CBS is doing this for the marketing potential....a sad and pathetic reason for putting people in the position of having to represent their race. While I damn the network for their motives, I'm interested in finding out what personal biases come up for myself.

What are people saying about Survivor?

2006-09-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Thought I should include some links to articles about what people are saying about the latest episode of Survivor:

*This is from Salon.com -- link sent to me by a friend in New Jersey who teaches at Montclair--a fairly measured analysis, although I think it doesn't take into account some key differences about the ways various ethnic/racial groups are treated in the U.S. (but more on that in a later post):

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2006/09/15/survivor/print.html

*I think this is a typical "blog" example of the Survivor analysis--what I find most interesting are the comments that people make at the end of the article--I mean, I think it speaks volumes about what regular "Survivor" watching people are thinking.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2006/09/survivor_cook_i.html

*Editorial by Asian American contributor to SF Chronicle -- an "ethnic/tribal" look at Survivor, if you will, since Jeff Yang watched Survivor with a group of fellow Asian Americans:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2006/09/15/apop.DTL

The race to survive begins

2006-09-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

JEN'S POST:
About an hour and a half ago the first episode of Survivor: Cook Island ended. And I have to say, it was about what I expected. CBS has done a fair job of trying to be "politically correct" in terms of using terminology like "Latino" instead of Hispanic and "Caucasian" instead of white (African American & Asian American, and you can substitute in your heads what they could have and were called once upon a time). And thank GOD they didn't make the Asian team color-coded as "yellow" (they're green). But really, the whole premise is just ridiculous. I mean, you have one team trying to make fire--and all I can think is that if you are going to try out for Survivor and if you make it as one of the semifinalists even (let alone finalists) wouldn't you prep yourself by taking a basic survival course? You know, things like, how to start a fire without flint. How to make a shelter. And if it's nightime and you are cold, instead of cuddling up with your fellow team members (esp. that hunky guy) wouldn't you put on a long sleeve shirt over your bikini? These are the kinds of idiocies that seem to cut across racial lines.

The first challenge had the various tribes (btw, CBS came up with "indigenous" sounding names for all the tribes--like the Caucasian tribe is "Raro" and the Asian American tribe is "Puka," the Latino tribe is "Raito" (I think) and the African American tribe is "Hiki"--although I think they are also abbreviations for longer, more unpronounceable indigineous names. [Speaking of which, once again the American Indians are totally ignored and absent from any racial discourse, and indigenous people are rendered into immunity idols.] Anyway, getting back to the challenge, the tribes had to assemble a boat, row out to a burning oil can, light their torch, put together a compass, then climb up a platform to light their lamp. The first 3 tribes to accomplish this task got immunity and flint--with the winning tribe getting a fire-starter kit (I guess this is part of Survivor? This is where I'm at a disadvantage because I never watch the show and am a bit fuzzy about details on how it works). The Latino tribe was the first out of the gate, but the Asian Americans gained on them and they were both neck and neck at the end, with the Asian Americans pulling ahead at the last moment and winning the challenge. The African American tribe had problems communicating and got a very late start and the Caucasian tribe had a good head start on the African American tribe (although they were far behind either the Asian American or Latino tribes) and despite forgetting a key component to the challenge (putting the compass together--they had to be reminded that they needed to do that) they still came in 3rd so the African American tribe lost--they didn't get any fire and they had to face the tribal council and vote someone off. [btw, sorry for those of you who know this format already--but I'm assuming that there are some of you out there who may never have seen an episode]. The tribal council apparently happens at the end of the show and it's where they vote off someone. Sekou, a jazz musician, was the first to leave--at the end it came down to gender alliances--the 3 women voted out one of the 2 men.

Also there was a little twist at the end--the losing tribe got to send one person from one of the other 3 tribes to a place called "Exile Island" for 2 days. There is virtually no shelter, you only get a flint, a pot, and a jug of water. But the upside is an immunity idol is buried in the sand somewhere on this tiny island and if you find it you can keep it and be granted immunity until the final 4. The African American tribe picked one of the Caucasian tribe members--a guy who is a writer--to go to Exile Island. Apparently the guy ahd stolen a chicken from one of the Asian American guys--anyway that seemed to be his initial claim to fame and one of the ratioanles (perhaps?) of why he was chosen--although I think we can all guess as to the kinds of stereotypes that are being played out already (do I need to spell it out already? Will someone else?)

So what do I think? I'd rather hear from those of you out there--what do YOU think? I'm not trying to be cagey here--I really had hoped that this blog would be a public forum and not just me going on and on (although you will obviously see my posts going on and on). It's part of why I announced, so clearly, whose post this was because, as people have hopefully noticed, we've had entries by 2 other contributors (thank you to Paul & Dr. Rhetorica!) already and I hope that other people will feel free/comfortable/compelled to add their own posts and comments. Write away!

More Probst

2006-09-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a Defamer post about Survivor host Jeff Probst: New Survivor format teaches Jeff Probst that Asians can come from different countries.. The Defamer site has running commentary on Survivor, linked on their Survivor page.

Debunking the Debunkers

2006-09-14T10:34:00.002-07:00

Jonathan Turley's USA Today piece (http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/index.html#entry-12801079) suggests that Survivor's use of ethnically based groups simply reflects an overall trend toward segregation in American society. Like that makes it okay.

Even stupider were some of the comments people have appended to the article, which can basically be summarized as follows:

1) "Oh get over it, it's a tv show for Christ's sake!"
2) People group themselves by race anyway
3) Responses to the show are just another instance of politically correct gender/race/etc. politics (and I'm sick of identity politics... can't we all just get along?)

Kenneth Burke would call of these rhetorical moves "debunking." Basically, all of these arguments dismiss objections to the show and simultaneously bolster the commentor's own intellectual superiority.

So in a totally non-debunking frame of mind, I'd like to offer my intellecutally informed response, but I just can't be bothered to critically engage with any of arguments 1-3. Clearly these people are all operating under some form of false consciousness.

Seriously, though, is there any hope of engaging in some kind of productive dialogue about these issues? What can you say in response to arguments 1, 2, and 3 without shutting down the debate or going into condescending lecturer mode?

Less than 24 hours

2006-09-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

The countdown to Survivor: Cook Islands is on. Tonight the major networks all had brief segments about the OUTRAGE of various ethnic groups on this gimmick. And the one white group (white supremacists) who they interviewed are thrilled with it. But there must be outraged white Americans and there must be non-white Americans who don't object--this just seems to once again fall into way too familiar patterns. And then I can't help but think, am I just making a mountain out of a molehill? Should the best thing to do about this is to turn my back and walk away and not watch instead of creating more blog posts about this? But it's sort've like the Intelligent design debate. Scientists didn't want to enter into the conversation with Intelligent design people because they thought it would be legitimizing a completely non-scientific/illegitimate argument. And yet school boards across the nation started to petition to have intelligent design share equal billing with evolution.

Anyway, for another link about Survivor: Cook Island check out the wikipedia entry--whatever else people may say about the accuracy of wikipedia, it is up-to-the-minute.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor:_Cook_Islands

Asian Americans in the media

2006-09-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

So today in my class (Asian American lit & theory) we discussed the role of Asian Americans in the media, particularly stereotypes of Asian American women and whether or not they are more sexualized than other female representations. I guess one of the things I think is rather disheartening is that even after 20 years (the time lapse between the documentary I showed this week on images of Asian women in Hollywood) there really isn't much change--heck, after 40 years there isn't much change. Asian/Asian American women are still largely absent from tv (Sandra Oh notwithstanding, and ACTUALLY she's Canadian) and in Hollywood we're still geisha girls or dragonladies (sigh)--essentially foreign entities speaking stilted English. And yeah, there's Margaret Cho, but c'mon, she's a niche image who preaches to the choir of progressive-liberal-queer friendly-race righteous folk. Where's OUR sitcom? Our drama? And no more with the culture-clash/martial arts/mother-daughter/fetish visions. Can we please just have more Asian Americans in the mass media?

Oh Jeff Probst...

2006-09-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

So I've decided that since I've got this blog I have to populate it with interesting tidbits. For now, I'm going to keep this brief and to simply include relevant articles before the BIG PREMIERE. Here's one with a focus on Jeff Probst asking critics to "just give the show a chance!"
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/tv/4172246.html

For more on Jeff Probst, survivor host with a social-conscience, please read the second link in the previous post--this is where he sincerely expresses wonder at how Asian Americans are comprised of various ethnicities--we're not simply this monolithic "Oriental"; instead, we represent people from various countries in Asia, countries as diverse as Japan, China, Korea and, as Mr. Probst was SHOCKED to discover, sometimes people from these countries don't like one another because they have a history of antagonism (can anyone say Rape of Nanking?).

Countdown to Survivor: Cook Islands

2006-09-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

September 10, 2006 -- Sunday morning

I'm sitting at Weaver Street Market trying to figure out how to populate this blog and what I want to say in terms of getting discussion started. I suppose I'll start with the genesis of this blogspace. About 2 weeks ago while at Milltown Brew Pub (in Carrboro, NC) I was sitting with friends (some new, some old) and one of them said that this new season of Survivor was going to have different tribes divided by "race"--that there would be 4 groups, the African American tribe, the Asian American tribe, the Hispanic tribe, and the Caucasian tribe, and they would compete, Survivor style. We were all horrified/shocked and yet, dare I say, intrigued? Sort've like the compulsion to rubberneck at the scene of an accident. You know you shouldn't--that decency says you should look away, and yet, there you are, staring.

That's how I felt at least. And maybe more to the point, because I am an egg-head academic who works with popular culture, I felt a certain responsibility to know what is going on in the mass media--and to comment on it. So I decided to create this blogspace, and I invite people students in my classes (current and former) and my friends (many of them similarly over-educated, uber-liberal-progressive, racially-righteous) to comment on the phenomonon of Survivor: Cook Islands.

For those of you unfamiliar with Survivor (either the concept or this new conceit) here are a few links to get you started:

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor13/

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=306704

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060907/LIFE/609070361/1005

If you read the last link--the article about advertisers pulling out--it does raise ethical issues about watching a show in which the "race" hook is being so blatantly used for advertising purposes--and I think they're right--they will have to "unite" and "combine" the tribes at some point--how soon they do it is anyone's guess.

Anyway, let the race begin!