The American south, or simply the south, has been one of the most stereotyped areas throughout the history of the United States. The negative portrayal of the southern inhabitants has been going on for long to the extent that southerners have come to accept the portrayal. Majorly, individuals living in the south tend be viewed as overly backward in comparison to those living in other sides. In retrospective, the media, through music, has always been a contributing factor to these stereotypes. An epitome of these is reflected in McRobbie’s lamentations. McRobbie reflected that music is the most noticeable and pervasive youth cultural form. Thus, it is through music that various identities, positions, and statements are made. Furthermore, the fact that music has moved from audio to video has immensely contributed the compounding of the matter. This is because individuals tend to imbibe what they see in the music videos, and without question. In this perspective, music has now been able to combine lyrics with visuals. Thus, something that might be offensive is passed on as being ‘cool’ in music videos. To this end, this paper aims to look at the portrayal of the south by the media; particularly in music.
Music is an integral part of human life. Music acts as a gauge of the society’s views, standards, and beliefs. This is because musicians tend to compose lyrics that end up gauging a society’s belief and standards. In addition, music can continue to pass on certain beliefs about a certain issue. The matter is worsened in the case that the listeners of the music lack clarity on the issue in the songs. Thus, the individuals end up believing the stereotypes that they hear in the song. In this case, music has a far reaching impact on the masses than any other form of communication. Lyrics from song usually carry an ingrained message in them. In this respect, as with the case of other forms of media, music brings out the south as being a place where lack of education is pertinent. Also, the music portrays life as being slower as compared to other parts of the country.
With respect to music, country music is said to be the music of the south. However, country musicians are among the highest earners. This is reflected by their record sales and airtime rotation of radio stations that country music receives. Country music's popular rival music of any other genre. Despite this fact, this genre of music has been continuously dirtied through jokes. Many reflect the genre as one whereby an individual continuously loses their people or loved ones. An epitome of this is seen in the a joke common about country music. The joke starts by asking what would happen if one played country music backwards. The joke goes one to answer that one would get their wife, dog, and trailer back. This is based on the belief that one had previously lost the aforementioned possessions. To non-southerners listening to country music, they just might perceive the south as a place filled with depression.
The most recognized southern oriented song is Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama. To some extent, this song can be viewed by many as the anthem of the south. The song begins by paying their respect to everything that can be termed as being nice. This ranges from the endearing blue sky and inspiring qualities of the southern music. However, other musicians’s lyrics did not find anything good about the south. Neil Young’s song, the southern man, manages to bring down the cultivated, good southern reputation. Many individuals view the song as a scathing attack on the south. The song was meant to reinforce racial discrimination in the south. However, not many individuals can recognize this as being the case in the current times. Rather, the song would be taken as reinforcing the perceived beliefs about the southerners. Another song that continues the stereotypes of the south is Hank Williams, Jr.’s-Country Boy Can Survive. The lyrics bring out aspects of a wife, kids, a dog, and a rifle. In other stanzas, the song goes on to reflect that a southern man can plough the whole day, make their own whisky, and engage in catching a catfish for the whole night. All the activities discussed in the song are those that are usually associated with the traditional South.
In addition, musicians have propagated that what is thought of the south is true. Despite the entertainment perspective of the various artists, individuals have taken the songs to be a representation of the truth. An epitome of these negative portrayals in music is that of songs sang Robert Earl Keen (Merry Christmas from the family) and another by Gretchen Wilson (Redneck Woman). In his song, Robert reiterates all that is stereotyped about the southerners. Some of the stereotypes in the song include hate for Mexicans, drinking cheap liquor, kids having boyfriends, and even polygamy. Gretchen’s song displays a southern woman as being more macho as opposed to being gentle. The artist further goes on to reflect on taverns, four wheel drive, and barefooted women. However, despite the negative portrayal, some of the negative songs ended up topping charts and becoming best sellers. In some songs, the artists go to revel on the aspect of being a southerner. In addition, the fact that the songs became best sellers portrays the unanimous acceptance of south negativity as being the norm.
In retrospective, to cement the issue of rednecks, many musicians have found it as nice to refer to the Confederacy in their music. Some bands have gone as far as intertwining the term confederacy in their names. An example is the Confederate Railroad band. To further reinforce the intended message, the band went as far as adopting the confederate flag as their emblem. Other musicians caught on to this fad and decided to use the confederate flag on the album cover and convert posters. The use of the confederate manages to attract attention to the artist. This insinuation of the rednecks generates the required publicity for the artist in perspective.
In this case, music acts as a reflection of a society. This is because music carries a message in the storyline. In particular, a song's lyrics serve as a mirror that reflect a society’s view. In particular, the lyrics provide a description of the world to the listener. Thus, a biased portrayal leaves the listeners with a negative perception of the issue in perspective. Generally, music as the ability to influence an individual’s growth and overall, their beliefs. Thus, the negative portrayal of the south in music is one that bears a long term impact. In addition, with current technology, music is bound to reach larger area. Thus, the stereotypes end up reaching a larger audience. Overall, more people end up believing that what they have heard is what exists; in the south. This is true especially in cases of individuals who have never been in the south. The effect of these stereotypes has been the acceptance of these stereotypes by a majority of the individuals. However, the surprising aspect of the matter is the public ended up being avid supporters of this negativity. Negative stereotyping of the south has ended up creating a million dollar channel of making money. All one has to do is find the right, vile works, combine them in an entertaining way.
In conclusion, the media, through music, has managed to reinforce the stereotypical views about the south. The absorption of the stereotypes in all forms of media has created an aura of truthfulness in the negativity. In the case of movies, portrayal of junk cars, illiterate, violent, and poor individuals has come to be accepted as a representation of the south. Musically, much damage the southerners image has been created. This is because many individuals tend to lift messages from the lyrics. In addition, the music manages to spread over a larger area as opposed to other media forms. Thus, music end up being worst propagator of southern negativity.
Works Cited
Horton, Yurii , Raagen Price and Eric Brown. Portrayal of Minorities in the Film, Media and Entertainment Industries. 1 June 1999. Website. 17 October 2012.
Langman, Larry and David Ebner. Hollywood's Image of the South: A Century of Southern Films. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. Print.
McRobbie, A. In the culture society: Art, fashion and popular music. New York : Routledge, 1999 . Print.
Provosty, Laura and Douglas Donovan. White Trash in the Twentieth Century. 2012. Website. 17 October 2012.
Slade, Alison F, Dedria Givens-Carroll and Amber J Narro. Mediated Images of the South: The Portrayal of Dixie in Popular Culture. Maryland: Lexington Books, 2012. Print.
