Mediated Images of the South

The Portrayal of Dixie in Popular Culture

Alison Slade, Dedria Givens-Carroll, Amber J. Narro

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2012
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780739172650
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Mediated Images of the South: The Portrayal of Dixie in Popular Culture, edited by Alison F. Slade, Dedria Givens-Carroll and Amber J. Narro, is an anthology that explores the impact of the image of the Southerner within mass communication and popular culture. The contributors offer a contemporary analysis of the Southerner in the media. In most cases, previous literature situates these media images in the past, most notably through historic analyses of the Southerner during the Civil Rights movement. Mediated Images of the South breaks out of the box of the 1960s and 1970s by including the most recent and contemporary cultural examples of the Southerner. This book represents a long overdue analysis of those images, from both the past and the present. In addition, the discussions are not limited to one genre of media, but provide the reader with an opportunity to see how far-reaching the myth of the Southerner and the Southern image is in American society. While there is a long list of successful southern politicians, historical figures, businessmen and women, actors and actresses, sports figures and other national and world leaders, Slade, Givens-Carroll, and Narro find that there is still work to be done to present southerners as capable and educated.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgements
• Southern Images in Popular Culture
• Chapter One An Acceptable Stereotype: The Southern Image in Television Programming
• Chapter Two An Ethical Inquiry of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour’s Appropriation and Commodification of Redneck Culture
• Chapter Three Hip Hop, Commerce, and the “Death” of Southern Black Manhood
• Chapter Four The Rise, Fall, and Rise of the Kingfish—How Southern Politicians Are Successful in the Face of Overwhelming Stereotypes
• Chapter Five Magnolias and Manufacturing: Southern Imagery in Mississippi’s Promotional Publications, 1945-1955
• Chapter Six Recognizing the Past, Celebrating Change: The “Mississippi Believe It!” Campaign Redefines the South
• Chapter Seven Poor as Job’s Turkey: Back to the Land as a Rhetoric of Authenticity in Foxfire’s Appalachia
• Chapter Eight The Trivialization of Traditional Southern Religion in the Film The Grass Harp
• Chapter Nine College Football Fanaticism and Online Communities: A Reflection of Football as a Religious Experience in the South
• Bibliography
• About the Contributors