Southern Cookouts

Hey, it has only been a couple of days since Spring Break ended, but I know that we all had fun because we either did many activities or participated in many events. So for the next topic, we will talk about the different significant activities or events that the South participates in.

Whenever I think of a Southern event, I think of the basic outdoor cookouts. In these cookouts, the people get together, eats some barbecue, drink, listen to music, and basically have a good time. Usually, these types of events are held in summer afternoons so that everyone can enjoy the bright sunny weather. I think that barbecues are really important to the South because they unite the entire Southern community. They are not just social events, but events that remind the community of its culture. The food at these events pretty much contain some sort of grilled or barbecued meat, usually pork, because these foods remind the South of its history. Also it is a custom in these cookouts to listen to some type of country music since this is the music most closely related to Southern identity. So cookouts mean more to the South than just an ordinary event but an event that reminds the community of its identity.

In this music video, there is a perfect example of a Southern barbecue:

Misrepresentation from popular TV shows

I hate to talk about more TV shows, but the ideals of today's media are apparent mainly from the popularity of TV and its shows. One show that I thought really presents a misrepresentation of the South is My Name is Earl, which is a comedy about a "white trash" crook who turns his life around by beginning to do good deeds in order to gain positive karma. The setting is in Camden County, a fictional location on the border between the North and the South. Because of the exact location, the show compares and contrasts the people of each region. Earl and his family, representing the South, live in trailer homes and fulfill the white trash stereotype. Throughout the show, there are multiple extramarital affairs among the characters, even interracial affairs. Compared the "Northern" suburb which the rest of Camden County represents, Earl and his family are portrayed as dirty, unsophisticated, and unintelligent.



This show like many others, such as The Cleveland Show, demonstrate the stereotypical South as a bunch of dumb, racist rednecks or white trash that live in trailer homes with the Southern accents. From these TV shows, we can see that the media itself misrepresents the South without it ever actually learning about the South and portraying it as it is; however, as we know, the South is more than what the media presents.

Sweet Home Alabama

The first movie that popped into my head was Sweet Home Alabama. It doesn't necessarily present ideas of the old South. It is more presenting what people think the stereotypical South of today is. Gone with the Wind is about a family with southern money, however Sweet Home Alabama is mostly about middle-class folks. I feel that when people think of families of the old South they imagine rich plantation owners, but when they think of Southerners from today they think of rednecks. This stereotype is represented in the movie Sweet Home Alabama. The movie suggests that just about everyone drives a truck and that it is commonplace to dress up in a Confederate uniform and shoot mortars around the backyard of the plantation house that was owned by our relatives. It also suggests that everyone goes to watch or participate in the Civil War reenactment and then goes to get drunk at the bar. The overall feel of the movie is that Southerners have lost what "class" they had and have not forgotten about the Civil War and believe that "the South will rise again!" and northerners are heartless and cold (well, that partly is true). A large portion of Southerners probably know very little about the Civil War.