Long Live Southern Stereotypes
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
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