Out Play, Outwit, Outlast
Dec. 17th, 2007 02:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabid1stAt risk of losing your respect, I admit it...I'm a Survivor fan. For a little while, they lost me. The game became too inbred and the two person vote was a killer in many cases. But I feel that this show teaches us so much about human nature that I just can't help watching. Like P.G. I keep pulling for the lunch ladies to wake up and turn on their alliances when turning would do them some good. Yet, over and over again, I see good people place their sense of self...their personal loyalties...over their true self-interest. Survivor, at its core, is about how the human animal is a social animal.
And yet...on nights like tonight...I have some true hope for the species. To avoid spoiling you...under the cut we go
The weasel won. And YAY! WEASEL!
Todd was a weasel from day one of the game...but unlike former great weasels, say...Richard Hatch or Johnny Fairplay...Todd was an honest weasel. He never tried to pretend he was out on a camping trip with his buddies. Everyone knew that Todd was playing the game. Everyone expected he would turn on them...but still...they kept him close. And he played so well...he simply silenced the competition. He didn't try to say that he was an honest man at tribal council. He let Amanda try to explain how she "didn't mean to lie to people." And he let Courtney point out that she just followed his lead. He didn't try to weasel out of anything. He said he was a clever man and, by gum...he was. And beyond that...he readily admitted to using people. As Jeff said in the reunion show...all too often the people on the jury carry over their personal baggage to the vote. But in this case, Todd used that to his advantage by playing on John Robert in the one way that would secure his vote.
So...how could this possibly give me hope for our species. Well..I don't know if Denise is right about Todd's soul being tarnished. But whenever I hear something like that, I think...maybe the man who knows he's playing a game when he's playing a game...doesn't have to worry about his soul as much as you think. Maybe the ability to look beyond tribal ties and personality conflicts and petty hurts in order to secure the grand prize...is what will get us over our blind spots and allow the human race to survive. Somebody needs to remember the rules of the game.
Or...maybe it's because I was raised by badgers...either way...I'm happy for the little weasel tonight! YAY! TODD!
Rae
And yet...on nights like tonight...I have some true hope for the species. To avoid spoiling you...under the cut we go
The weasel won. And YAY! WEASEL!
Todd was a weasel from day one of the game...but unlike former great weasels, say...Richard Hatch or Johnny Fairplay...Todd was an honest weasel. He never tried to pretend he was out on a camping trip with his buddies. Everyone knew that Todd was playing the game. Everyone expected he would turn on them...but still...they kept him close. And he played so well...he simply silenced the competition. He didn't try to say that he was an honest man at tribal council. He let Amanda try to explain how she "didn't mean to lie to people." And he let Courtney point out that she just followed his lead. He didn't try to weasel out of anything. He said he was a clever man and, by gum...he was. And beyond that...he readily admitted to using people. As Jeff said in the reunion show...all too often the people on the jury carry over their personal baggage to the vote. But in this case, Todd used that to his advantage by playing on John Robert in the one way that would secure his vote.
So...how could this possibly give me hope for our species. Well..I don't know if Denise is right about Todd's soul being tarnished. But whenever I hear something like that, I think...maybe the man who knows he's playing a game when he's playing a game...doesn't have to worry about his soul as much as you think. Maybe the ability to look beyond tribal ties and personality conflicts and petty hurts in order to secure the grand prize...is what will get us over our blind spots and allow the human race to survive. Somebody needs to remember the rules of the game.
Or...maybe it's because I was raised by badgers...either way...I'm happy for the little weasel tonight! YAY! TODD!
Rae
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Date: 2007-12-17 02:06 pm (UTC)Actually, I have no excuse for Survivor
Date: 2007-12-17 02:31 pm (UTC)Like now...instead of a final two there is a final three...which means it is less of a personality contest and more of a skills contest. Also, it is consistently amazing to see how good people will constantly place personal loyalties to virtual strangers above their own goals and life interests. Some of his rule changes do work against players though...like his efforts to break alliances...seldom seem to work. This time a very good player, Aaron, was simply stranded outside his alliance and cut off at the knees.
I still watch The Amazing Race because it has a lot of heart...they try there best to show people cooperating world wide. Two seasons they sank to average reality show measures of having the bad guy team and hurtful people...but when their ratings dropped they went back to the winning formula of couples supporting one another. Also, I like that they make these people immersed in their own greed...deal with the reality of poverty around the world. Nothing says, "What is a Million dollars? like sleeping in the streets of Calcutta with the homeless children."
Beauty and the Geek has that same heart...it strives to make the players better people. Project Runaway...is creative...but maybe not so noble. Still, this last week...when Ricky cried over making the woman who had lost so much weight feel beautiful...when he said, "That's why I do what I do." He gave me an insight into fashion designers that I'd never had...made me see that he really felt passionate about giving his art to the needy. He wanted people to feel better about themselves. And that's pretty darned noble.
Rae