Southern Stereotypes Back to Blog
Last night, Nick and I were talking about the fact that, particularly in movies, we see the same southern stereotypes. (Big note–I’m southern. 🙂 )
With men, there are two main southern versions in the movies:Â The hunk and the hick.
The hunk, well, he’s like the estranged husband from SWEET HOME ALABAMA. Drawling voice, smooth-talking, sexy. Maybe he comes off as a bit lazy, but hey, that’s okay. He’s generally amazingly good-looking (think Matthew McConaughey) and can charm just about anyone with his drawl and tanned flesh.
The other guy, um, he’s not so charming. The hick usually has a drawl that is much,much harder, not full of sexy rolls. He likes to dip. He carries his shotgun just about everywhere. He has way outdated views on the world. And he often has a rebel flag, somewhere (on his car, at his house…).
For the women, there are also two main stereotypes:Â The vamp and the tramp.
The vamp–well, she’s sexy (the equivalent of the hunk). Her voice and drawl are soft, husky. She doesn’t usually wear a lot of clothes, because you know, it’s hot down here. She’ll steal her best-friend’s lover. She’ll scheme, she’ll plot, but she’ll rarely do actual work. (Again, I’m guessing cause it’s so hot and she doesn’t want to tire herself.) Sometimes, the vamp does slide into tramp land a bit.
But the tramp–well, she’s usually shown in movies wearing clothes that don’t fit. She has very bad hair. A voice that is close to a screech. She smokes like a chimney. She drinks–oh, the woman can drink. And she has an assortment of children, often all with different fathers.
I promise–for those of you not in the south–we are not like this!!
And one more stereotype about the south that has been driving me crazy lately…there are so many movies (and television shows) that feature southern people, indoors, sweating. Sweating inside. Whether it’s inside a courtroom or an office building. I promise–we do have air conditioners down here. Unless the air conditioner is broken, we have no need to walk around the house, icing ourselves down with um, ice (vamp style).
Sorry. Stereotype rant over.
And if you’ve got a stereotype that is driving you crazy, feel free to share it with me!
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You covered the ones that make me cringe at some shows. & Umm… another southern (or at least south Louisiana) sterotype issue that drives me crazy – We do no all live in the SWAMP – I promise! (muttering * of course if you fly into New Orleans International Airport, and drive south from there, I can sort of see where the idea comes from, lol).
OMG you so nailed it!!!! I’m over here in Georgia and my family is up north. Until they came down to visit they thought there would be double wide trailers everywhere and that the kids didn’t wear shoes. UGHHH!!! It’s actually pretty civilized here 🙂
I was born and raised G.R.I.T.S. (Girls Raised In The South) One other Southern Stereotype, the Southern Belle. The helpless, relies on her Daddy to take care of everything, female. Oh, and how most people deduct IQ points because of the Southern Drawl we have. (My drawl isn’t as bad because my Mom was a Yankee. *G* But I can pull out the Scarlett O’Hara sugary voice when I want to make my hubs jaw drop. *G*)
OMG don’t get me started on the shoe thing. I was on a school trip to Chicago many years ago (and had to wear the dumb T-shirts proclaiming us to be from Mississippi), and some asshat stopped us on Michigan Ave. to ask why we were wearing shoes. I also resent the heck out of all the stereotypes that we are uneducated and racist. We certainly are not all that way, and there are uneducated, racist people everywhere else in the world too.
Oh hey, and Brandy, MY Daddy taught me how to be self sufficient and shoot better than all the boys. 😀
Apparently there are only 2 housing options in the South – trailer park or antebellum mansion. Most Southerners do NOT have double names (i.e. Jim Bob, Missy Jo) and we don’t marry our cousins and have inbred children. Is it so hard to believe normal people exist below the Mason-Dixon line? Of course, the news media doesn’t help by choosing to interview the most backwoods people they can find. Ugh!
Oh dear me…
Not precisely about the South, but I have a few.
Well, many can be summed up thusly:
Oh, Rhonda! Sometimes if you just say the word Louisiana, folks picture the swamp. Come on, there is so much more there!
LOL, Michele, it’s pretty civilized over in Bama, too. 🙂
Brandy, people *do* think if you speak with an accent, it means you’re um, often less smart. I don’t have much of a drawl, in Mobile folks don’t really have an accent, but if I meet someone who is being hard on the south, I do like to let my ya’ll drawls slip out.
Kait–ugh! Seriously, he asked why you were wearing shoes?
LOL, Ashley. I always wanted a double name. Didn’t get it. Now that I think about it, I don’t know anyone with a double name down here…
Azteclady, stereotypes suck. I’m so ready for the world to ditch them all!
Thanks for ranting with me!
The lack-of-iq thng is the biggest one for me. People in the South are guilty of it as much as anyone. They’ll make fun of other Southerners as quick as somebody from out of town will. It’s a classism thing, IMO.
To me, a double name means I’m really, REALLY in trouble…*heh*
Well said!!!
I get asked about the shoes or if I was extremely poor. The shoe thing is funny to me I don’t know where that came from.
Good publish! GA is also my biggest earning. However, it’s not a a lot.
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