Era c ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History

Number: 41 April 1, 2015
Bryan Jack
EN

Era c ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History

Abstract

There has been significant research on various interpretations of the American South, and the relationship between Southern and American identity. However, there has been little investigation into how modern popular culture depicts and constructs the Southern past and how this shapes Southern identity. This article interrogates the relationship between modern films, race, and Southern history to ask, has the challenge to codified Jim Crow segregation changed filmic portrayals of Southern history? How do these portrayals affect both Southern and American identity? Using race as a lens, the article argues that the end of the Civil Rights Movement has created a new period of Southern identity creation, with films exonerating the contemporary South for racism and consigning most depictions of racism to the historical South

Keywords

Film, American South, Identity, Popular Culture, Civil Rights

References

  1. 12 Years a Slave. Dir. Steve McQueen. Perf. Chiwetel Ejifor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt. Regency Enterprises, 2013. Film.
  2. Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1991. Print.
  3. Applebome, Peter. Dixie Rising: How the South is Shaping American Values, Politics, and Culture. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997. Print.
  4. The Andy Griffith Show. Prod. Sheldon Leonard, Danny Thomas. Perf. Griffith, Ron Howard, Don Knotts. CBS Enterprises, 1960-8. TV Program.
  5. Baker, Houston and Dana D. Nelson. “Preface: Violence, the Body and ‘The South.’” American Literature 73.2 (2001): 231-236. Print.
  6. Brundage, W. Fitzhugh. The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory. Cambridge: Belknap P. of Harvard UP., 2005. Print.
  7. ------. Where These Memories Grow: History, Memory, and Southern Identity. Chapel Hill: U. of North Carolina P., 2000. Print.
  8. Campney, Brent M. S. “‘This is Not Dixie:’ The Imagined South, the Kansas Free State Narrative, and the Rhetoric of Racist Violence.” Southern Spaces, 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
  9. Clinton, Catherine. The Plantation Mistress: Woman’s World in the Old South. New York: Pantheon Books, 1982. Print.
  10. Cobb, James. Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.
APA
Jack, B. (2015). Era c ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 41, 95-106. https://izlik.org/JA74UH86PW
AMA
1.Jack B. Era c ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History. JAST. 2015;(41):95-106. https://izlik.org/JA74UH86PW
Chicago
Jack, Bryan. 2015. “Era C Ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, nos. 41: 95-106. https://izlik.org/JA74UH86PW.
EndNote
Jack B (April 1, 2015) Era c ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History. Journal of American Studies of Turkey 41 95–106.
IEEE
[1]B. Jack, “Era c ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History”, JAST, no. 41, pp. 95–106, Apr. 2015, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA74UH86PW
ISNAD
Jack, Bryan. “Era C Ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey. 41 (April 1, 2015): 95-106. https://izlik.org/JA74UH86PW.
JAMA
1.Jack B. Era c ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History. JAST. 2015;:95–106.
MLA
Jack, Bryan. “Era C Ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History”. Journal of American Studies of Turkey, no. 41, Apr. 2015, pp. 95-106, https://izlik.org/JA74UH86PW.
Vancouver
1.Bryan Jack. Era c ing the South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions of Southern History. JAST [Internet]. 2015 Apr. 1;(41):95-106. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA74UH86PW