Time to do something that I did not do during the season’s airing- take a steaming dump on Millennials vs Gen X in article form!

Yes, Survivor Season 33 was one I’ve always found to be overrated. It’s true that in the wake of Ghost Island, a season that actually addresses “yes, things exist other than the game are important factors” is a rarity. Honestly, it’s because of the contrast that I started warming up to it because I was sure we would never get a season with a pervasive focus on anxiety, family illnesses, and the generation gap’s effect on the LGBT+ community. Then David and Goliath had to, you know, exist, and take all the thunder away from that and remind me that the season was basically Ghost Island between that.

Speaking of which, you may have noticed the title of the article bearing David vs Goliath in it. It’s certainly odd for an article to promise discussion about the season and then start in on another one. Still, as this season has gone on, I find it harder and harder to separate the two- namely, how the presence of the later season has made the former look inconsequential and, honestly, quite weak.

What really brought this realization to my eyes is the Tivu scene in the swap episode of David vs Goliath. We have two “nerd” characters- Christian, and Gabby. The two are a study in contrast- Christian is affable and able to joke and associate with John quite easily, while Gabby is fearful and anxious about how she is sure others will perceive her. She faced this problem earlier in the season- Jessica and Bi were brusque in explaining the Lyrsa vote, making Gabby fear that she was being brushed off by those she called friends. Now, on Tivu, she fears that people- literally-labeled Goliaths- are looking down on her already and have singled her out as first to go. How could they not, was the implication, they’re charismatic and I’m just me.

It’s not until Christian comforts her- claiming the Goliaths are equally as vulnerable as her but don’t express it- that Gabby starts to calm down. That having been said, I believe this more than the talk of anxiety in Millennials vs Gen X. Make no mistake- I believe the anxiety in Millennials vs Gen X. I believe that people like Hannah and David did fall victim to their neuroses and anxiety often. I especially believe that Hannah had a panic attack on the sidelines of the Episode Six reward challenge. I just don’t believe that Millennials vs Gen X was completely honest about it.

I don’t address it often, but I struggle with mental illnesses myself. While mine revolves around things other than anxiety, I do identify with these moments based on my own experiences. I don’t assert that my word should be taken as scientific truth, but I related to Gabby’s moment of weaknesses. The feeling of “not being good enough”, even if it seems irrational to neurotypical people, is entirely logical for many, and it can come to a head in an anxiety attack more often than not. In many people- myself included- it manifests in attacks less than it does in a droning constant buzz, but not only is how Gabby feels valid, it is a lot more honest than what they showed in Millennials vs Gen X.

I always refer to Millennials vs Gen X as “baby’s first exposure to uncomfortable elements”. At the end of the day, it says a lot, but little about it. There were moments where Hannah and David lost their grip around each other and the other had to bring them back to Earth. There were moments where David seemed jumpy and Hannah took awhile to vote. We were shown that Hannah had a panic attack and people told David that he was growing.

However, it’s like the classic writing advice- show, don’t tell- and Millennials vs Gen X told a lot and showed little. It told us many times that David and Hannah were neurotic. It told us many times that David was moving past it. However, the reality of what I am sure they dealt with was kept off screen, and I cannot help but think it was because the reality of the matter may have been too much for audiences to deal with.

Hell, the season ended in a way that condemned Hannah for ever having those neuroses. Though I am sure she lost for logical reasons, there was a lot of sheathed talk of “Hannah was neurotic, which led to her making irrational decisions because she is not rational” which is not how that works. Like all the talk of “almost every pre-merge boot in Millennials vs Gen X was a woman of color”, maybe they all had logical reasons, but acting like that played literally zero part in it is ridiculous and willfully ignorant.

This brings to mind another problem that Millennials vs Gen X has had- we do not see any agency from the players for their neuroses- especially from Hannah. Hannah is treated as an obstacle to the plans of the neurotypical- as a human illness, not as a human with mental illnesses. (I would argue that this debate of agency is why I prefer terms like “person with autism” rather than “autistic person” but that’s a debate for another time.)

David’s portrayal faces the opposite problem- he is treated as a person far distant from his neuroses. We hear about them, but rarely see David with the neuroses he is said to manage and overcome. By contrast, we hear of Gabby’s struggles from herself and people like Christian are seen as supporting characters to her, rather than how Gabby’s anxiety is such an inconvenience to them. I prefer that. It’s very humanizing.

So let’s take those problems with Millennials vs Gen X- and what happens when someone ends their education in a 101 class. It means that, with David vs Goliath, we face a higher level of education. Gabby’s moment was not pretty, it was not given point-by-point exposition. A lot of it was left for us to figure out, and while it was sympathetically edited, we were not told down to the letter what it was… but it was still valid.

She was still valid to feel that way, even if things were not necessarily that way. More than likely, the people she feared would have accepted her. Dan is a puppy dog, Alison is very cordial, and John is not afraid to be vulnerable himself. Validity is separate from accuracy, however- even though her thesis was wrong, I understand why she wrote it. Gabby is not crazy, not emotional, and not a lesser person for fearing such. It’s happened to me before, it likely happened to David and Hannah before, and it happened to her. I would caution people to treat her with sympathy, as they would if David Wright were experiencing those thoughts.

Ultimately, my resentment with Millennials vs Gen X is that not only did it present a shallow take on many of the societal issues it presented, it also purported that it was more involved than it is. It gives off the impression that they have taught all there is to know- and viewers have taken that to mean that anything more than was shown is not what it is. Its badness is exaggerated, because it is uncomfortable, even though the deeper down the valid rabbit hole we go, the more uncomfortable it is- and the more that, even from a distance, you should validate it.

-Cam

P.S. When Alec goes home Wednesday, I hope he pulls a Mark from Super Gaming Bros and calls “oh no, I’m such a douchebag!” on his way to the grave.