SOUTHERN STEREOTYPES

A view of the South in the Media

Most Common Stereotypes

Racist Thick Southern Accent Conservative Religious Inbred Love Fried Food

Two Different Classes

Lives on Plantation/Estate

Southern Drawl White Wealthy Stand-Offish

Lives in Projects/Sticks

“Redneck” African American Poor Uneducated

Upper Class Lower Class

Popular Films Based in the South

Forest Gump (1994) Sweet Home Alabama (2002) Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

(2002) The Notebook (2004) Talladega Nights (2006) The Blind Side (2009)

Forest Gump

Forest Gump

Forest is a slow human who has trouble picking up on the normal things that happen in life.

He travels throughout the world experiencing different events in history due to his running ability.

His oldest friend Jenny comes from a different life in Alabama and as a result her life ends up leading her on a dark path.

While they come from two different worlds they are able to keep their bond as friends and continue to come back to one another throughout different points in his adventures.

Living Situations

Forest Gump’s House

Jenny’s House

Appearance

Forest Jenny

The Notebook

The Notebook

Allie comes from an Upper Class family that is vacationing in Noah’s small town

Noah comes from a Lower Class background and works in the lumber yard

Allie’s family does not approve of their relationship and takes her away cutting off all contact between the two

After Allie becomes engaged she returns back to that small town several years later to find Noah and realizes that the love they had once had for each other was not over

Living Situation’s

Allie’s Vacation Home

Noah’s Home

Appearance

Allie Noah

The Blind Side

The Blind Side

Michael Oher is an African American boy from the wrong side of town who finds himself enrolled in one of the most upscale Christian Private Schools in Tennessee

He is taken in by the Tuohy family (an Upper Class White family) when Leigh Anne realizes he has no where to go

Throughout the movie the connection between the Tuohy family and Michael grows and he is given opportunities that he would have never had.

The movie ends with Michael becoming one of the most sought after college football recruits and taking a scholarship with Ole Miss

Living Situations

Tuohy’s Home

Appearance

Leigh Anne Tuohy Michael Oher

In the End

One can see that Southern stereotypes are very popularized by the media

They have chosen to portray the complete opposites of social classes and play into the common southern stereotypes

While some of these stereotypes are true, most are actually incorrect

When watching a movie people base their opinions of how Southerners are through their representation in the movie

However, most of the time southerners are just like everyone else.

References

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878804/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332280/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/