Chomp

When Wahoo and Tuna discover the episode’s shooting script, they gain a glimpse into the painstaking process of filming a television show. However, the script also serves as an indicator of the great divide between the image that Expedition Survival! presents to its audience and the mechanics required to craft that image. The artificial reality of Hollywood is another theme that Hiaasen explores in the narrative. What appears “real” to the show’s audience is actually the result of deliberate staging, and Hollywood has perfected the art of convincing the audience that its offered reality is indeed real. One glance at the script is a reminder that Badger’s seemingly spontaneous dialogue is fully scripted, and the protagonists experience a moment of utter disillusionment upon realizing that he is no more than an actor playing at being a survivalist. His unrestricted antics allow him to garner fame and fortune while the genuine articles—Mickey, Wahoo, even Link—labor away in obscurity.

Florida’s Everglades National Park—“1.5 million acres of sawgrass marshes, mangrove forests, and hardwood hammocks” (“The Florida Everglades.” Florida Center for Instructional Technology)—lies at the heart of the narrative. Its environment creates the conflict and dictates the characters’ actions. When Badger takes an airboat and becomes lost amid the many tree islands, the unforgiving swamp, the wildlife, and the unpredictable weather all pose direct threats to the star of Expedition Survival! The setting, with its diverse flora and fauna and its otherworldly ambiance, becomes a character in and of itself, influencing the actions of the other characters just as much as Mickey or Jared. As a metaphor, the Everglades stands as a reminder that despite the comfort and progress of civilization, humans must always share space with the natural world, and that only those who respect nature have a hope of surviving it.

Part of Hiaasen’s objective is to educate his readers about human beings’ effect on the natural world. When a frozen iguana falls on Mickey’s head, resulting in a concussion and double vision, Hiaasen uses the opportunity to inform his readers that the iguana is not native to south Florida, and the absurd premise provides the author with an opportunity to discuss the damage that exotic animal dealers have caused by introducing the species to an environment it has not adapted to. A cold snap freezes hundreds of the large reptiles to death precisely because they have no business living there. Hiaasen has no patience for the greed that compels humans to interfere with the natural world, which spent millions of years evolving and self-regulating to create its current, balanced system of existence. Hiaasen’s narrative therefore implies that tampering with that balance for the sake of profit is exploitation of the highest order.

Tuna’s taxonomical field guide, which contains a vast compendium of biological classifications, is her constant companion and is always tucked snugly in her backpack. It’s a handy reference for any species that she has not yet identified and memorized. Tuna’s passion for biology allow Hiaasen to educate his readers on an ecosystem that is relatively unknown to most Americans, and his approach suggests that with education and insight comes respect. Within the context of the narrative, however, the field guide functions as Tuna’s safe space, for focusing on taxonomy gives her a fragile refuge from her father’s abuse and drunken rages. She proudly displays her knowledge to anyone within earshot, but what she is really doing is retreating to a familiar place that is free of instability and uncertainty. When Tuna’s home life is in chaos, Linnaeus’s system of classification grounds her because unlike her own world, the system and the nomenclature never changes. It provides an anchor for a young girl who sorely lacks one.