Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

I’ve seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof before, but I’ve never looked at specifically for its “Southern-ness.”  The basis of the story revolves around the Pollitt family, and their internal drama. The patriarch of the family, Big Daddy, is dying of cancer but this fact is hidden, at least at first, by the family doctor.  The whole family has come down to the house, the oldest brother Gooper and his wife Mae, and the younger son Brick and his wife Maggie.  While Gooper and Mae have several children Maggie is childless, the audience learns that Brick ignores his wife’s plea for children because he believes she had an affair with his best friend.  Gooper and his wife are trying to gain control of the family money while Maggie is trying to resist their taking over.  To gain the upper hand Maggie lies and says she is pregnant, a lie Brick supports her in, and the audience understands that while it’s a lie now it won’t be for long.

This movie would fall under the category of the “Southern decay” film.  The film is extremely sexual.  The opening sequence consists of a red back ground with a drawing of a woman alone in bed, while sultry jazz plays in the background.  The audience knows before the beginning of the film that there is serious sexual tension and repression present.  Maggie and Brick are both highly sexual beings, and the sexual tension between them is thick.  She won’t be silent about what really happened with Brick’s friend until the whole truth is out; while Brick runs away.  Another trademark of the “Southern decay” film is the disrepair of the house; while the house is pristine the family dynamic is not.  Big Mama admits that the family never had a “happy home” that their home had very little joy.   The family obviously has money and status, things that would link them to the antebellum south.  However, their “empire” as Big Daddy puts it is a new one built during his lifetime.  While the Pollitt family has this beautiful and gracious lifestyle they cannot escape their stigmas.  Throughout the semester in our readings of Graham, one thing has remained constant: that white southern men are incompetent and impotent.  Brick and Gooper both display this, their wives are stronger characters.  Brick has given up after the death of his friend and become a drunk and Gooper is dominated by his wife.  The quality that might question the status of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as a “Southern decay” film is the redemption of Brick at the end of the film.  He expresses to Big Daddy that he doesn’t want the money and the land but his father’s love and takes back Maggie into his trust.  Brick comes to this redemption mostly on his own, but the revelation of the truth by Maggie and Big Daddy’s impending death do spur on his actions.  Brick seems, unlike many of his counterparts in other “Southern” films, to find his rebirth mostly within himself.  - Lauren Daley

King of the Hill

King of the Hill, the popular 1997-2010 television comedy series, tells the story of Hank Hill, his family, friends, and neighbors. Set in fictional Arlen, Texas, every episode tells a story of the crazy antics of the neighbors or a family catastrophe that is certain to happen. The main characters are Hank, Peggy, and Bobby Hill, Dale Gribble, Boomhauer, Bill, and Luanne. Although it is set in Texas, a state not usually seen as “Southern”, King of the Hill contains numerous southern elements. These elements are not necessarily portrayed as negative. As with many contemporary southern television shows, much of the comedy comes from these southern elements.

Hank, Dale, Boomhauer, and Bill can typically be found out in their neighborhood alley, beer in hand. They don’t always have much to say, but they have plenty of beer. This love of beer is frequently linked to “redneck, white-trash” southerners. Hank and his friends were so upset once at the recall in Arlen of their favorite beer that they drove to Mexico to get it. Southern traits are also revealed through the character’s speech. Southern accents and one of Hank’s catchphrases, “gosh dang it”, only add to the southern connotations. Their slight Southern accent is one aspect that differentiates them from Hank’s neighbors, the Souphanousinphone’s. The Souphanousinphone’s are a Laotian family that moved next door in one of the early season’s and have often served as antagonists to the Hill family. Kahn, the man of the family, enjoys ridiculing Hank and his friends for all of their “redneck” ways. He often laments the fact that he lives in the same neighborhood with all of these “rednecks”, claiming that is why he is always rejected by the exclusively Asian country club.

Although Hank, his family, and friends typically ignore these jabs and laugh them off, the Souphanousinphone’s are the voice of the Other, the outside world. While Southern viewers can relate to many of the aspects of the show without giving it a second thought, the Souphanousinphone’s point out the absurdity of some of the things southerners do. Some of their commentary is on the American way of life in general, but most of their criticism is flung towards the distinctly southern way of life represented by the Hill’s and their neighbors. As with many other shows and movies commenting on the South, King of the Hill uses the views and opinions of an outsider to point out aspects southern life, either positive or negative.   -Shelby Heathcoat

Tucker & Dale vs Evil

Deep in the backwoods of West Virginia, two young hillbillies embark on the camping trip of a lifetime. Their journey is a touching tale of overcoming insecurities, challenging stereotypes, strengthening friendships, falling in love, and accidentally causing the gruesome deaths of several unsuspecting college students. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, a comedy/horror film directed by Eli Craig, challenges the idea of the stereotypical, backwoods southerner through the film’s portrayal of its titular characters.  
In the film, Tucker and Dale are two friends who have just purchased a dilapidated vacation cabin in a forest in West Virginia. They drive out to the cabin hoping to drink a few beers, catch a few fish, and relax. Unfortunately, their camping trip ends up being a little more exciting than they had hoped. A group of college students have decided to camp right near Tucker and Dale’s new cabin. When the students first see the duo, they automatically categorize them as Deliverance-style hillbillies who would rape them at the first chance they could get. Tucker and Dale’s dirty overalls, trucker hats, and their general unkempt appearance conjure up an image of backwardness that elicits fear in the minds of the college students. This fear is multiplied when one of the students, Allison, is seemingly abducted by Tucker and Dale. In actuality, she had simply knocked herself unconscious, and the two main characters had taken her back to their cabin to nurse her back to health. Sadly, this miscommunication mixed with unfounded fear leads to the accidental bloody massacre of almost every single college student on that camping trip.

In between all the unnecessary violence, the director subverts certain stereotypes associated with hillbillies. The bearded hillbilly, Dale, ends up falling in love with Allison. Going by conventions, this is usually the point in the film where the hillbilly would rape the defenseless outsider. Instead, the director breaks this convention by showing that Dale is well-meaning and a little insecure about himself. When Allison wakes up, Dale brings her breakfast in bed and plays board games with her. He makes it clear that he has no desire to hurt her in any way. His respect and care for Allison challenges the notion that all hillbillies are misogynistic wife beaters. Dale is far from the rugged, salt-of-the-earth type character his appearance would suggest. Behind that beard is a man who has little trust in himself. Several sections of the film show scenes where Tucker tries to help Dale with his insecurity issues. This strays away from the stereotype of the closed-off hillbilly who never talks about his feelings. The image of the ignorant hillbilly is shattered by showing Dale’s intelligence. While voicing his insecurity about his own intelligence to Allison, he reveals that he is actually quite intelligent and has the uncanny ability to remember everything he reads. Finally, in a heartfelt exchange between Tucker and Dale towards the end of the film, Dale breaks yet another stereotype when he confesses to Tucker that he has never really enjoyed finishing.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a breath of fresh air for both the horror and hillbilly genre in film. It reverses character roles and challenges conventions in society all while foregrounding the importance of breaking these stereotypes. It shows that not every hillbilly has to be an unintelligent, savage misogynist with no regards for human life outside of their own kind. - Holden Belew

Jarhead

We usually do not associate the film Jarhead (2005) with the Southern United States.  A young Marine’s journey through the war-torn oil fields of the Middle East with a squad of disillusioned, dysfunctional misfits seems far removed from the tranquil cotton fields of the South.  Indeed, while the main characters and setting of Jarhead are not Southern in their own right, there is a character named Chris Kruger (Lucas Black) that connects Jarhead to the Southern United States.

Kruger is a man who hails from the town of Baytown, Texas.  Unlike his comrades, Kruger sports a thick, prominent Southern accent.  Kruger, in his own right, is an “other” amongst his squad mates; he is a redneck whereas everyone else hails from other parts of the country.  This role reversal is critical because it emphasizes the minor role Kruger actually plays in the film.  If he had been a member of an all-Southern squad, his character would have had no effect on the audience.  Rather, his quirky, stereotypical redneck attitude has a greater impact on the audience because he is the only character in the film with these characteristics.  In effect, he is unique amongst his fellow Marines.

Kruger only appears in a few scenes, but he proudly and defiantly displays his “Southernness” in the scenes in which he does appear.  In one scene, as the Marines are being transported on trucks through the Kuwaiti desert, one Marine proudly cheers about the Marines being the “first to fight” Saddam Hussein’s soldiers.  Kruger responds with a cynical, paranoid-fueled rant that outlines a conspiracy in which the Marines are actually in Kuwait to protect the oil investments of the Arabian aristocrats and American oil interests.  He insists that the Marines’ role in Kuwait is actually to protect the profits of the oil moguls.  Kruger finishes his rant by alleging that the United States supplied Saddam Hussein with weaponry, which he then used to invade Kuwait.

In this scene, Kruger is clearly displaying a dislike for and distrust of the United States federal government.  His accusations paint the federal government as corrupt and untrustworthy.  There is some irony in Kruger’s situation: he dislikes the federal government, but he is a member of the Marine Corps, a governmental institution.  Indeed, Kruger seems more concerned with his own pride and the corruption of the United States federal government than the moral issues associated with war and murder.  The immorality of greed seems to trump the immorality of murder, at least in Kruger’s world.  Perhaps he really is just a dumb redneck conspiracy nut.  This one scene is not the only scene in which Kruger displays his stereotypical redneck characteristics.  In fact, in one scene, he imitates James Dean’s character from the film Giant, which none of his comrades have seen; this further solidifies his role as the Southern “other.”

Kruger is a great character because he embodies the Southern redneck warrior.  He loves the idea of war and pride, but he distrusts his government and its motives.  If the chance arises, you should watch Jarhead and experience Kruger’s character yourself; you will not regret it.  - Michael Beaver

 

The Blind Side

I absolutely adore the movie, The Blind Side! The semi-biographical film, starring Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, Tim McGraw, Kathy Bates, Lily Collins, and Jae Head, was released in 2009. The film follows Michael Oher’s “rags-to-riches” life during his high school years up to his first-round draft pick in the NFL. As a homeless, black teen, Michael knows everything about the projects and the “other side” of Memphis, Tennessee, but he had no experience in school, football, or even family. One cold night, his life changed when Leigh Anne Tuohy invited him into her home. As time progressed, Michael becomes a member of the Tuohy family, the Wingate Christian school, and the school’s football team. Trouble stirs when the NCAA investigates Michael’s decision to play for Ole Miss. After running away from confusion, Michael returns and trumps the NCAA. The film ends with the Tuohy family saying goodbye to Michael at Ole Miss and the real Michael Oher being drafted in the NFL. In the end, everyone is a happy camper, minus Leigh Anne having to leave her baby boy at college.

The film’s setting, Memphis, Tennessee, portrays and compares two completely different parts of the South: the lower class and upper class. As the film begins with the opening credits, different areas of the city flash on the screen. For example, railroads, run down houses, and homeless people pushing buggies begin the credits, which characterizes the lower class of the South. Then, families playing in large front lawns, nicer neighborhoods, and a woman pushing a baby on a paved sidewalk close the credits and illustrate the upper class. Comparing this new South’s setting with the old South’s setting holds few differences, as far as representing social classes. This whole opening defines the clear distinction between the lower and upper class, whereas the relationship between Leigh Anne Tuohy and Michael Oher bridges the social and racial gap.

Leigh Anne, one of the wealthiest white people in Memphis, takes in Michael, a homeless black teenager, and cares for him like a son. This act of kindness causes uproar from Leigh Anne’s rich “friends,” who do not understand the situation. With their words, the rich women portray the old South. For instance, the women taunt Michael about his race and class, as well as Leigh Anne adopting him. One woman says, “Is this some sort of white guilt thing?” Another says, “What would your daddy say?” Of course, Leigh Anne snaps back at them and claims that Michael is changing her life, instead of her changing his life. Along with the rich women, the students at Wingate Christian school treat Michael differently with their actions. On his first day of school, all the students, who are all white, judge him by his appearance: a baggy, old shirt and shorts with worn out shoes. Plus, he carries his belongings, which consists of an extra shirt and his textbook, in a grocery bag. The students do not take the time to talk to him or acknowledge him; additionally, they stay away from him as if he has a disease. The teachers do not act any better, except for one who takes time to help him. It is ironic how these teachers teach at a Christian school, yet they seem to have trouble accepting and helping a colored boy. These three groups of people signify the old South through thinking, actions, and words.

On a different note, the character of Leigh Anne Tuohy does not wholly define a classic southern belle. Leigh Anne is a strong-willed woman who always gets her way. Instead of her husband, she acts as the “man of the house” and makes most of the decisions for the family. She speaks her mind, especially when someone bashes her family. However, Leigh Anne does possess some classic southern qualities. For example, she lives in a huge house, dresses properly, has blonde hair, and acts religious (for the most part). Furthermore, Leigh Anne’s most noticeable trait is her motherly and caring side. When she first saw Michael, his appearance, class, race, or demeanor did not intimidate her. Her motherly instinct knew that he needed someone to care for him, as well as a supportive family. With her help, Michael becomes the man he grows to be. Thus, Leigh Anne upholds a classic southern figure with a twist of her own style.

The Blind Side compares the old and new South, teaches classic and new southern traditions, and shows the South’s progression with class and race over the years. I conclude with two short clips of my favorite parts of the movie. Enjoy! - Paige Pack

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaU6zQSZKwI

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cgp8b9o-ZA

 

Gone With the Wind

This 1939 drama, Gone with the Wind, has been one of the biggest icons for the South throughout time. There are three different representations of the south; the pristine, the good ole hillbilly, and the scary hillbilly. For an accurate model of the south, in my opinion, would be to put the three together and see what you get. However, I am only going to analyze part of the pristine today. As most people know, Gone with the Wind is a lengthy movie. However, it can be summarized quite shortly. Scarlett O'Hara is a strong headed southern belle who is in love with Ashley Wilkes. Ashley loves Melanie. Scarlett marries a man to get back at Ashley. All of the men go to war. Scarlett’s husband dies so she goes to visit Melanie who ends up getting pregnant. Scarlett births Ashley and Melanie’s baby and takes them “home”. There is practically no “home” left and Scarlett’s mother is dead. Scarlett’s father is crazy and Scarlett makes a vow to never go hungry again. She ends up marrying her sister’s beau and getting him killed; thus leaving room for Rhett Butler, the other man. Scarlett marries Rhett, has a child that dies and ruins their marriage (although Scarlett did that mostly herself). Melanie dies and Scarlett finally realizes that she loves Rhett, but it is too late. Rhett has had it with Scarlett and leaves, so Scarlett goes back “home” to Tara in Georgia.
There are many many southern stereotypical characteristics within this film. Naming them all would take ten pages or more. What really interested me was how Rhett portrayed the “other,” Ashley and Melanie were the level headed Southerners, and Scarlett represented the stubborn go nowhere South. Rhett was distinguished early in the film as the other when the women were talking about that rumor about him that spread like wildfire. Rhett tried to love Scarlett, tried to make her see reason. Rhett exhibits the way that the North tries to teach the South. The South (Scarlett) is too stubborn to see reason or even to have the want to see reason. Scarlett portraying the South would of course have to survive off of nothing, stab her sister in the back by marrying her beau, and speak against the authorities when she was supposed to pay taxes. Another thing to be noted is Scarlett’s wardrobe throughout the film. In the beginning, as shown in the picture above, she is in white with a little stab of red; the purity and splotch of impurity is screaming through this scene. Throughout the film as the South loses the war Scarlett dresses in darker tones, and not just to mourn her husband’s deaths. Scarlett’s purity is stripped from her by the “other” and the color of her wardrobe represents this.  The major attribute to Scarlett’s portrayal of the South would be when at the end she goes back to Tara. The stereotype that all Southerner’s stay in the South and specifically stay home has a role in this. However, I see this act as the stereotype that Southerner’s go in circles and do not ever better themselves because of their stubborn pride. Scarlett begins at Tara and ends at Tara. Ashley and Melanie really add to the film by being the level headed Southerner type. They bring in a love triangle and portray the South in a way such that if the South would let go of their pride and accept that the South is not the only thing in the world would be like. Overall this film ties in the three characters of the pristine version of the South and also demonstrates the many stereotypical characteristics of the pristine South. ~ Autumn McMunn

A Time to Kill

In the 1996 film adaptation of John Grisham’s novel of the same name,  A Time to Kill is the story of the trial of a distraught father and the racial dynamics of a Southern town. Set in Clanton, Mississippi, a young ten year old black girl is viciously raped and almost murdered by two redneck, beer-guzzling white men. It is obvious that the men, Billy Ray Cobb and James Lewis Willard, are extremely racist as they are shown driving around town in their beat-up pickup truck, assaulting innocent African American bystanders. It is made very clear by the way they are shown that they represent the redneck racist due to the truck itself, drinking while driving, the confederate flag in the back window of the truck, and their bellies hanging out of their shirts in plain view. It’s definitely not a pretty picture. Out of fear that Willard and Cobb will get off with no punishment for their crimes, Carl Lee Hailey, the little girl’s father, takes justice into his own hands. This is the only way he sees that the men will get what they deserve. The night before Willard and Cobb’s trial, Hailey enters the Justice Building and hides in a closet overnight. Upon the two men walking in, he bursts out of the closet and guns them down, killing them and injuring an innocent police officer in the line of fire. Hailey is subsequently charged with murder and must face a racially biased, initially unfair jury. There are multiple instances where characters have already condemned Hailey as being guilty because they know he has virtually no hope of winning the trial just because of his race.

            Cobb’s brother, angered by the lack of immediate justice for his brother’s death, incites the Ku Klux Klan back into action, even against whites siding with Hailey. He even refers to them as the “good, God-fearing Klan”. Of course, this just seems ridiculous to the vast majority today as we realize that they were just perpetuating hate and violence. However, it wasn’t only the whites that were cast in a bad light. The African American pastor of Hailey’s church is depicted as deceiving and wanting only his own personal gain and advancement. The members of the NAACP appeared interested only in the monetary gain of becoming Hailey’s legal team instead of caring for his liberation. The south is generally negatively portrayed all the way around, with the few exceptions of Hailey’s legal team and the jury that sides with Hailey in the end. The negative portrayals of the south seem to far outweigh the positive. - Shelby Heathcoat

Joe Dirt

Once David Spade’s mullet-toting, sleeveless shirt wearing hero rolls into full camera view with some classic Southern rock blaring in the background, Joe Dirt makes it apparent from the very beginning that this is not a movie for the easily offended. Once one manages to wade through all of the potty-mouth humor, slapstick gags, and zany plot, he or she can find a heartwarming tale of self-realization and redemption as a good ole’ boy searches to find his parents in the midst of a scary Northern world. The carefully woven, down-home epic centers around its title’s namesake, Joe Dirt. Joe, armed with a mullet, accent, trailer park facial hair, and a shirt from every classic rock band the seventies had to offer, manages to pull off several classic Southern stereotypes all rolled into one. For the sake of this blog, though, the focus of the entry will be on one of his richer examples.

                The most prevalent stereotype manifests itself within Joe’s undeniable “redneck” qualities. His first weapon of choice: the mullet. Though its existence manages to say enough on its own accord, Joe’s character pushes it one step forward with an included backstory. Upon his birth, he was allegedly born without a top to his skull. His mother, deeming this trait far too gross to carry on, grabbed the quickest hair piece available to sew onto the top of his head. Thus the mullet was born. Forever a part of him, the mullet directly represents his unchangeable and slightly stubborn redneck/deep south nature. Coupled with his hair piece is undeniably southern facial hair: soul patch, swooped in side burns, and a classic ‘stache. None of the aforementioned are connected to each other though, of course. These were not his choices, though, as it is made evident in his radio interview during the movie. The radio announcer, Zander Kelly, seems pretty baffled by Joe’s statements: “Now, you're telling me that you were so ingrained with white trash DNA, that your facial hair actually grows in on its own all white trashy like that?" Joe, and honest southern man, answers him as honestly as possible.

                One cannot merely dress the part to fully a realize a stereotype, though, and Joe Dirt is the full package. During the opening sequence of the movie, Joe has a run in with the security guard, looking suspiciously more like a cop or state trooper than the former, as he enters his workplace for his daily janitorial duties. The guard makes some negative statements to which Joe Dirt fires back quickly, albeit a bit unintelligently. This lends itself to that stereotypical backwoods redneck archetype that refuses to let the “feds” keep him down in any way at all. With a good redneck’s sense of rebellion comes a love of watching things blow up, and Dirt is no exception to this rule either. During his first meeting with his Native American companion, Kickin’ Wing, Joe instructs him on the finer points of owning a fireworks stand: “"You're gonna stand there, owning a fireworks stand, and tell me you don't have no whistling bungholes, no spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker do’s, hoosker don’ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistling kitty chaser?" His knowledge proves to be both impressive and frightening, and it even come packaged in his own trademark lingo.

                While not the most thought provoking movie, Joe Dirt, is definitely an enjoyable romp through some of America’s stranger offerings via the viewpoint of a southern-fried character type. The redneck stereotype is in full force here, but not so much that it detracts from the experience. No real political stabs of pokes are made, as a majority of jokes are pretty light hearted. The movie definitely does not do much for fixing the stereotypes of old that the South is trying to shed, but it does provide Southern moviegoers with a safe vehicle to look back and have a little chuckle at some of the extremes of their culture… Roll Tide.  - Michael Carter

Remember the Titans

A staple of the "inspiration-sports" genre, Remember the Titans is a movie many are introduced to at early ages in the South. Many may see the film as a timeless representation of teammates overcoming racial adversity, but few take time to analyze the portrayal of the South itself. The film, set in small-town Virginia, depicts very clearly two of the themes discussed extensively this semester in class: "southern decay" and the "role of the outsider." Due to limited space, this entry will focus explicitly on Coach Herman Boone, played by Denzel Washington, and his relationship with these two elements. When examining the decay associated with many southern films, Coach Boone serves as the cure. Symbolic for the local society is the football team itself. The team begins the film divided by race, a unit comprised of students feeling victimized by a forced union of two local schools. While the team has many skilled individuals, the players refuse to function as a unit; they so far as to intentionally fail tasks on plays to harm players of the opposite race. Coach Boone, driven almost single-mindedly by his desire to win, forces players of opposite races to interact. As the film progresses, viewers witness how these forced encounters laid the foundation for beautiful relationships and friendships that later blossomed. Thus, Coach Boone shows the team the strength of a unified squad, sending a message to the town as well. Coach Boone also plays the role of outsider. This can be seen in how community members, players, and even his coaching staff treat him. The most visual representation of his lack of belonging comes when a brick bearing a racial slur is thrown through his window late at night. The fact that Coach Boone, an outsider, solves the problems of the team further enforces the message of many southern films: the South needs "outside" direction and influence to survive.  - James Cochran