dear sony,

i am sick of seeing your product placements for your laptops, cameras and phones in my movies... it is very very very obvious.

thanks.

slut.

What is up with reality shows trying to be social experiments? Or trying to portray that they arent trying to sterotype by sterotyping?

As many of us know, Survivor's Cook Islands divided tribes this season by race. Through the entire first episode it seemed like producers were trying to justify this television program as a social experiment rather then a piece of entertainment. How can a television show which is driven by advertisers, social capital and ratings be defined as social experinment? Is this just a new ploy constructed by producers to get higher ratings? Or how much of this can actually be considered an scientific experiment?

I think you would have you look past the first episode, or past the actual program itself to get to that answer. What are the intentions of mark burnett, or CBS? Information that would be impossible to come across. You could possibly look at if the advertisers changed this season compared to last season? Are higher paying clients being advertised this year compared to last year? Did any advertisers drop Survivor because of this programming change. Did advertising pricing go up because Survivor expected to receive a higher audience this year?

Another thing I noticed is how the characters on the show clearly bring up or represent the stereotypes of that race. Were these people choosen to portray these stereotypes? How was casting different this year, compared to last year? From the African American Tribe calling thier shelter "low income housing" to the Old Vietnam man's racial jokes about Asians. But, are their stereotypes that Survivor isnt using within the show? Is there a reason why certain characters werent shown on the show? Could it have been in the networks or advertisers interest not to include these stereotypes?

All and all, I think that Survivor is a piece of entertainment above all. It may be trying this to gain ratings, gain an emmy nod or whatever. I think that its decisions are always going to be the best for CBS before whats best for the competitors or the viewers. Although, this may make viewers become more aware of the stereotypes that do exist within television broadcasting, however the show does not educate its viewers how to analyze and interpret what they are seeing. I just watched the second episode as well, and i thought it was interesting that producers include the scene where the other Asian competitors where discussing with the Cowboy how the use of stereotypes can be harmful if individuals do not understand where they are coming from.

I always knew that I couldnt take entertainment at face value, but this show completely took away from my ability to just watch. It forced me to be an objective active viewer. I am not sure if it the knowledge I have gained from my education or the overall structure of the show. Did it force you to be an objective viewer? Did you notice or question some of the same things that i did?

Next time: Looking at America's Next Top Model's first photoshoots... Model Stereotypes..