The Southern Stereotype Essay Example for Free

The Southern Stereotype Essay Ever since Scarlett O’Hara struggled to find love and Andy Taylor was elected Mayberry’s Sheriff, filmmakers and television producers have yet to lose any fondness for stereotyping the southern culture. There are many who despise any form of labeling or stereotyping within the media, fearing false characterizations or inaccurate portrayals of southern customs, traditions, and people. Exposure to southern stereotypes through media is an appealing element in the American lifestyle that can render endearing impressions, contribute genuine metaphors, and provide viewers with a unique and fascinating (whether positive or negative) glimpse toward a regional culture. The mass media, or media at large, would include motion picture makers, television producers, news programs, newspapers, radio, magazines, or any source which has the capability to deliver images or messages to the masses. It seems to be common knowledge that the mass media has inundated homes all across the fruited plain for decades with images of southern stereotypes. Ask a few dozen strangers to describe a southerner in sixty seconds or less and the common descriptions most may have of southern folks are reasonably unsurprising. A few details that come to mind when describing a southerner may include the following: a strong accent or drawl, ignorant, lazy, a barefoot mountain person, an inbred, a hillbilly with buck teeth and overalls, a hick with a pick-up truck and a gun rack, and a moonshiner with a big beer belly. Most will also agree that the mental figures or perceptions on hand are those branded in the brain by the mass media, film makers, and theatre companies. â€Å"When you think of stereotypes, you often only think of negative ones. There are also positive stereotypes – the South being a land of nature and holding onto traditions,† said Tom Hanchett, staff historian at the Levine Museum of the New South. (Baldwin 1-2). Hillbilly, country bumpkin, cracker, trailer trash, and redneck are all common labels given or used to perpetuate the southern stereotype. Notwithstanding the practice of political correctness teeming in today’s culture, is considered tolerable and acceptable by movie makers and the media to ridicule those who may fall within the parameters of what is termed as the classic southern stereotype. These are pointed descriptions, but they are true and the American culture loves (and loves to hate) the southern stereotype and it is here to stay. Now what about those who may have that southern stereotypical drawl? Southern accents do not make one stupid; being stupid does. Southerners should be proud of the southern accent. However, the media has managed to cause dismay among many southerners who possess the engaging and attractive drawl. Should a visitor traveling to North Dakota, view a Fargo native as stupid or ignorant because of the distinct accent heard there? Should a North Dakota resident ridicule a person from the Bronx because of the peculiar accent heard there? Somehow people are ashamed of their unique speech patterns rather than being proud of a colloquial accent. The southern stereotype will be here for a long time to come, so love it and embrace it. According to Jack G. Shaheen in his essay titled, â€Å"The Media’s Image of Arabs,† Hollywood producers must have instant kits that contain sunglasses, Arab clothing, tents, and mosques in order to provide a snapshot of Hollywood’s stereotypical Arab (99). Undoubtedly, the same holds true when depicting the typical southern example. Whether one considers it right or wrong, Hollywood, along with the mass media, has poured countless whimsical images of the southern stereotype into our culture. Often, movie makers will focus on undesirable characteristics, but they are almost always based in fact. Much of what is believed to be true of today’s southerners stem from the culture’s ancestors’ actions or beliefs. These likeable characteristics have come to be accepted as widespread truths and a part of American life. Diffused through media broadcasters over the past fifty years, Americans from all regions of the country have welcomed and embraced the southern type along with all the distinguishing traditions, foods, beliefs, apparel, folklore and superstitions. Cartoons, caricatures, comedy sketches, television commercials, advertisements, situation comedies, movies, editorials, news programs, comic books, music, novels, and television dramas have all helped to capture and immortalize this fascination of the southern stereotype. Yearning for a simpler time, society sometimes craves the patriotic, down-home qualities of the good country people. In response, the mass media relents and continues to draw enthusiasts to those television shows featuring southern stereotypes. The Andy Griffith Show, perhaps one of the most adorable and enduring television programs of all time, features a full cast of southern stereotypes (hicks and hillbillies) and re-runs of the popular family comedy just as popular today as they ever were. Other popular and charming television shows centering on southerners include: Hee Haw, The Beverly Hillbillies, Pettticoat Junction, Green Acres, Gomer Pyle U. S. M. C. , Matlock, In the Heat of the Night, The Waltons, and Designing Women. Although the characters are often portrayed as backward, slow, and ignorant, the shows are lined with good nature and moral lessons. Viewers admire their quaint ways with a warm attitude. Joan Voight wrote an interesting piece in AdWeek Magazine regarding advertising and stereotypes. Within the article, Voight cited advertising professional, Jim Ferguson. â€Å"Everything is too politically correct. Humor is always at the expense of somebody, but the only groups you can make fun of anymore are Texans and Italians. † (Voight, 17). America has become a nation filled with the notion that any labeling and stereotyping should be discarded and Americans should be offered rights of protection from anything that may offend or trample on one’s beliefs, feelings, or cultural identity. Unlike other persecuted groups, southerners have made little attempt to diffuse or negate the southern stereotype within the mass media. Should southerners insist that the media apply the same, overbearing rules of political correctness, it may result in a destruction of the true and cherished culture. Doug Nye, a writer for The State newspaper, cites author John Jakes. â€Å"Maybe it’s because southerners just haven’t gotten around to adopting ‘victimhood’ as a policy. They don’t have a lobbying group,† Many of the southerners’ old-fashioned characteristics such as forthrightness, fine manners, hospitality, chivalry, honor, and noble morals could be forsaken and forgotten. (Nye, 2). Believe it or not, Elvis Presley continues to rule and define southern tradition from the grave. Allison Graham, a professor of media and communication studies at the University of Memphis notes that Elvis never appeased audiences with renderings of Shakespeare. â€Å"Elvis veered dramatically from the established path to national acceptance. He stayed unreconstructed to the end of his life. † (Graham, 116). Having been labeled as a howling hillbilly and a hillbilly clown, Americans still embraced this southern Memphis boy and elevated him to a cultural icon. Today, countless followers of this distinguished southerner still flock to his Memphis homestead, attend Elvis conventions, and impersonate his southern style of entertainment. Elvis is one of many who may have fit the media’s stereotype but ignored the criticisms and pressed forward to gain unprecedented favor with America’s culture. Strong into the twenty-first century, the redneck and hillbilly phenomenon continues to thrive. Jeff Foxworthy popularized the genre of southern humor with â€Å"You Might Be a Redneck, If †¦Ã¢â‚¬  jokes that have a universal attraction with nearly all audiences. Mocking his own people, Foxworthy evokes more humor than ridicule from outside entities. Another television example is the animated television show, King of the Hill. This situation comedy appears realistic and true to life as a Texas family are the victims of irreverent satire. Again, television writers and producers have managed to capture and maintain a large viewing audience who find the southern stereotype charming. Although many continue to fight against any portrayal of the southern stereotype, the hillbilly image is here to stay and it should remain within our media and culture for many more decades to come. Is it possible to define American culture without the southern stereotype? It is a part of America’s regional culture, it is an appealing element to the American way of life, and it should be both preserved and celebrated.