Classy versus Class Division–The Social Experiment that was Survivor: Cook Islands Tested Well in the End

Classy versus Class Division–The Social Experiment that was Survivor: Cook Islands Tested Well in the End by Roxanne McDonald

The survivors show more class than class (and race) divisiveness.

Critics screamed at first that Survivor: Cook Islands was nothing more than another sponsored exploitation of minorities, but the survivors proved otherwise.

The comics panned the “social experiment” that was this season’s Survivor: on Mad TV, for instance, the different tribes (of different races) were given fire-making supplies—one race getting a single match; one race getting water; and the white race getting a full flint, matches, firewood, and fuel kit.

The critics bust Mark Burnett’s chops.

And the biggest sponsors—GM and Coke—back out.
But you know, the actual participants on the show displayed remarkable class and dignity, as well as unconscious and conscious solidarity.

I noticed this in the finale, for instance, when the jury members approached the final three with the intention of asking questions of each to help them decide their final voting.

First, though, consider how the two final men—Ozzy and Yul—decided on the final third: Rather than choose between Becky and Sundra, the men each vote for one woman, so that a tiebreaker will decide the final third survivor. (This may be a cop-out move, but then again, it can also be seen as a most diplomatic way of determining the Final Three.)

Then, consider how each of the outcasts—including the usually intransigent Adam and the guileless Jonathan—conducts him- or herself: Granted, Adam accuses the final three of being “boring,” but he is just as much so when he uses this intro to his question, which is really a prompt to trash each other, so Adam should be excluded from our consideration.

But then there are those like Nate, who not only gave “props” in the most authentic of ways but who honored Yul with the moniker of “godfather”—or of “big gangster boss”—and regarded Ozzy as a “warrior”.
And there are the others who congratulate the final three…Parvati, Jenny, and Brad; and there’s Sundra, who intimates the final three are her “people”, whom, she says, she “loves”.

Given the multicultural love of Ozzy, too, and at the same time, the goal of myth-busting and exacting representation for minorities like the Asians, Survivor:Cook Islands sure was cleaner, kinder, and more touchy feely all the way to the end, making some wish, I suppose, for more trauma and drama like that brought on in other seasons—like that of Susan the truck driver verbally puking her venom on Kelly (runner-up in season one).

Even if the finalists and the jury members were coached (to include comments about representation, underrepresentation, aptitude, ineptitude, etc.), the social experiment that was Survivor: Cook Islands, then, defied the stereotyping and bridged more social, psychic, and emotional gaps than it did create crevices of controversy so many were freaking out about at the start of the season. And despite the wagers and waffling, an Asian—not a Caucasian—won the ultimate title and token, surpassing the tokenism and racism many may have bet would have triumphed.

Sir Links Alot Survivor: Cook Islands Links

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