Taking Sides: Southern stereotypes die hard

CLINT COOPER: If I were king of the forest, I would demand that actors in television, movies and even audio books learn how people talk in the South before they emote. I am listening to a fictional audio book now by an author whose work of nonfiction I enjoyed. However, two of the women characters in this novel are North Carolina residents, and their characters are being voiced by a man — in audio books, one person typically does male and female voices — whose characterizations are so syrupy it makes me sick. I know very, very few people in the South who speak with “ahs” and “uhs” on every word as these people do. It reminds me of the movie version of “Steel Magnolias,” which I saw onstage in Atlanta long before the movie was thought of. Although voiced by wonderful actresses, their accents were too stereotyped, which made many of the jokes fall flat.

LISA DENTON: Well, if I were queen for a day (besides the daily delusion in my mind), I would make sure filmmakers know we have finally discovered that newfangled invention called air conditioning here in the Deep South. I remember watching “A Time To Kill,” the movie based on the John Grisham novel, and wondering why everyone was sweating. I get that the film is set in Mississippi in July, but it’s not pre-AC Mississippi in July. I could understand the characters sweating in an outdoor scene, but even indoors everyone’s skin was glistening. I think maybe it was just an excuse for Matthew McConaughey to take his shirt off. You know how he hates to do that. Come to think of it, the accents were all over the place in that movie too.

CLINT: Ah, stereotypes of the South. That were never more at play than after the recent presidential election when it was being suggested that there was something wrong with Tennessee because, unlike the trend across the nation, it dared to elect a Republican majority in both its state House and Senate. More of its residents in the presidential election also voted for Sen. John McCain than Sen. Barack Obama. That, of course, followed the 2006 election when former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker was the only new Republican U.S. senator elected. Personally, I am thankful Tennesseans think on their own and don’t feel as if they have to follow a trend.

LISA: I couldn’t agree more. Why should we even bother to vote if the pollsters already have us pigeonholed into a category. The best thing to do when you’re pigeonholed is fly the coop, I say. I’m not sure the South will ever outgrow its stereotypes, though. I just try to remember that for every “Hee Haw” there’s an “Andy Griffith Show.” Of course, even we Southerners like to stereotype. I live in Soddy-Daisy, and I’ve heard the jokes and put-downs from the more sophisticated types from, say, Ooltewah. Several years ago, a radio personality said on air that his daughters had to dry their socks on the way to play in a ball game by hanging them out the car window. He said they called it a Soddy-Daisy clothes dryer. Ha ha. Bless his heart. I figure I might as well laugh as be insulted. Plus, it’s kind of funny to make people think we’re all “Green Acres” hicks. A friend from work once called me from downtown and asked why it took me so long to answer the telephone. I told him it was because I had to climb the pole.