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