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The South doesn't get any respect because it does a poor job marketing itself.
I didn't even know SC had palm trees until last year. There are alot of awesome areas but nobody markets them. A big marketing tool would be Hollywood. You see alot of movies and shows like Entourage (LA), Dark Knight (Chicago), and Departed (Boston) that uses the area as a backdrop and gets people saying "wow, thats a nice place" (hell I entertained grad school in Boston after seeing "The Town" despite me wanting to get away from the cold).
I don't think I've ever seen an exciting movie or show filmed in the south. You only see rural things like in Remember the Titans.
You've never seen Miami Vice, CSI: Miami, Dexter, Burn Notice, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Bad Boys?....just a couple of shows/movies set in Miami.
Last edited by clean_polo; 04-29-2011 at 12:54 PM..
You've never seen Miami Vice, CSI: Miami, Dexter, Burn Notice, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Bad Boys?....just a couple of shows/movies set in Miami.
Yes, Miami is in the South. However, the thing is, Miami isn't considered the "typical" southern city. Miami has a different flair from the rest of the Southeast. Miami is associated with the cocaine trade, the beaches, big money, salsa and merengue, the party life, basically, things that aren't considered typical for the South. Miami is considered to be closer in flavor to New York, Rio, or LA than to Mississippi, South Carolina, or Tennessee.
Actually, the only movie outside of Miami that gives any urban resemblence of the South(that I know of) is The Blindside, and this movie is about a football player from the projects of Memphis. Another one is Bad Lieutenant:Port of Call New Orleans, which takes place during the days of Hurricane Katrina.
[quote=CelticGermanicPride;18942148]the south is probably the biggest nationwide influence from rap, rock, blues, country, jazz, r&b, gospel. and then throw in great movies, oscar winners, like forrest gump. i think the south does a good job with its marketing. i don't think judging a place based on a tv series is a good idea, and if that's why people think a place is nice, then they're going to be disappointed when they find the place isn't like the tv show. new york and jersey folks probably know this best. quote]
I agree a lot of the original musicians came from the south. Particularly blues and jazz. However, the reason why they moved to Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit was due to jobs, like everyone else. Plus, the recording studios in the south were reluctant to record black artists. The original studios that were willing to record black artists were in major non southern cities, namely Chicago and later Los Angeles and were overwhelmingly comprised of Jewish producers.
Since rap derived from blues and jazz, I guess you can trace rap back to the south. Though rap music was largely NYC and LA rappers until the late 1990s. East Coast West Coast. By the late 1990s, ATL became a more major player as did Chicago to a limited extent. Miami has become a rap haven, but as I stated earlier, Miami is about as southern as pastrami on rye with mustard.
Obviously country and gospel are southern. Today if you look at the labels on the cds, most country albums are produced out of Los Angeles now, not Nashville. But Nashville rejected a lot of the more outlaw country musicians until about 20 years after they became stars. Waylon (lived in Arizona for decades), Willie, Dwight Yoakam (lived in LA for decades). The south has not always embraced their musical talent until well after.
I think the south has been portrayed as positively and negatively as any region in the country. Hollywood is obviously an "urban northern" creation. I don't think Hollywood has an agenda for the south or any other region. I think it depends on the writers, directors, actors/actresses. Some films portray the south in a good light like Forrest Gump and others like Deliverance, not so much. But compare the Blues Brothers (great for Chicago) and Street Kings (reaffirms stereotypes of LA).
Obviously country and gospel are southern. Today if you look at the labels on the cds, most country albums are produced out of Los Angeles now, not Nashville. But Nashville rejected a lot of the more outlaw country musicians until about 20 years after they became stars. Waylon (lived in Arizona for decades), Willie, Dwight Yoakam (lived in LA for decades). The south has not always embraced their musical talent until well after.
I think the south has been portrayed as positively and negatively as any region in the country. Hollywood is obviously an "urban northern" creation. I don't think Hollywood has an agenda for the south or any other region. I think it depends on the writers, directors, actors/actresses. Some films portray the south in a good light like Forrest Gump and others like Deliverance, not so much. But compare the Blues Brothers (great for Chicago) and Street Kings (reaffirms stereotypes of LA).
I hate to bust in on your argument, but this point is something I take issue with, many country records are still being produced in Nashville, but there also factories in such in other COUNTRIES outside of particular states. When it comes to Outlaw Country, it was a rejection of Nashville, Outlaw Country, to put it simple was country with grittier taste (talking about drinking, drugs, fighting, and sleeping around). Even though the Nashville establishment didn't care for the Outlaws, country's fanbase and fellow singers took to them like crazy. Another pure reaction (which sometimes does converse with Outlaw Country) was Bakersfield sound and that was things like Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Wynn Stewart.
But to be honest, I also don't feel that "Pulp Fiction" speaks for LA as "Mississippi Burning" doesn't speaks for Mississippi.
The South doesn't get any respect because it does a poor job marketing itself.
I didn't even know SC had palm trees until last year. There are alot of awesome areas but nobody markets them. A big marketing tool would be Hollywood. You see alot of movies and shows like Entourage (LA), Dark Knight (Chicago), and Departed (Boston) that uses the area as a backdrop and gets people saying "wow, thats a nice place" (hell I entertained grad school in Boston after seeing "The Town" despite me wanting to get away from the cold).
I don't think I've ever seen an exciting movie or show filmed in the south. You only see rural things like in Remember the Titans.
Is that the South's fault, or Hollywood's? A lot of filming does go on here...and states are making an effort to attract more of a film scene...but old perceptions die hard. Seems like Hollywood is more interested in making movies like the Dukes of Hazzard...and I'm not surprised that some folks don't find that as "exciting" or as compelling as Entourage, Dark Knight, Departed, etc.
I notice that people who aren't from the south speak very poorly about southern cities and people. Please tell me why no one likes the south. We got major metropolitan areas, great food, and great vacation destinations. So why do people hate us so much?
You answered your own question. Most people who talk negatively about the south have never been or live there. The south is full of history and culture. I was born and raised in Tennessee and now live in West Virginia. There are some places in West Virginia ( I love West Virginia ) that are so rural that it would make anyplace in Tennessee seem like the big city lol. I think most folks need to realize that every city and state has it's pluses and minuses. The south is no different. Basically, it's all pretty much to do with the politics and folks biases. That's about it.
Is that the South's fault, or Hollywood's? A lot of filming does go on here...and states are making an effort to attract more of a film scene...but old perceptions die hard. Seems like Hollywood is more interested in making movies like the Dukes of Hazzard...and I'm not surprised that some folks don't find that as "exciting" or as compelling as Entourage, Dark Knight, Departed, etc.
The Dukes of Hazzard was a great tv show, but a horrific movie. The Departed was a great movie and Entourage is a critically acclaimed television show. The Dukes could have taken place in any rural place in America, not just the south, but Nebraska, Maine, Montana, rural Illinois.
The Departed couldn't have taken place anywhere other than Boston. Boston was one of the few cities that had an Irish "Mafia" into the 21st century.
Entourage is a critically acclaimed show. It is based on the LA lifestyle. There are only a few cities where one can live that exact lifestyle and LA is by and far number one in that regard.
You have to remember that a significant portion of the "Hollywood scene" is from NYC/NJ and to a lesser extent Chicago, Boston, and Philly. That's just the industry, so naturally more films will take place and involve concepts more native to the NE and West Coast plus Chicago.
Buck Owen, Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam are all California.
Buck Owens is from Sherman, Texas and moved to Bakersfield when he was a teenager. Merle Haggard's parents were living in Oildale for two years when he was born (they barely moved there from Oklahoma) and Dwight Yoakam is from Kentucky.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nowincal11
The Dukes of Hazzard was a great tv show, but a horrific movie. The Departed was a great movie and Entourage is a critically acclaimed television show. The Dukes could have taken place in any rural place in America, not just the south, but Nebraska, Maine, Montana, rural Illinois.
The Departed couldn't have taken place anywhere other than Boston. Boston was one of the few cities that had an Irish "Mafia" into the 21st century.
Entourage is a critically acclaimed show. It is based on the LA lifestyle. There are only a few cities where one can live that exact lifestyle and LA is by and far number one in that regard.
You have to remember that a significant portion of the "Hollywood scene" is from NYC/NJ and to a lesser extent Chicago, Boston, and Philly. That's just the industry, so naturally more films will take place and involve concepts more native to the NE and West Coast plus Chicago.
Movies like Smokey and the Bandit, O Brother Where Art Thou, Driving Miss Daisy, etc. were all very successful movies that were filmed in and take place in the South.
Those 3 in particular are identified as being California country. Buck Owens lived in California for 5 decades, Merle for over 7, and Dwight for 3. Plus, Dwight grew up in Columbus, Ohio. They have a distinct California sound, particularly Dwight, whose band members are primarily of Latino descent and many songs are more Mexican based. If you go back far enough, you can trace country music back to Ireland and England from the Scotch Irish and the blues and jazz to parts of Africa.
As to the movies, plenty of great movies have taken place or where about the south. But the argument was that the South is negatively portrayed in movies versus the non South or is not as focused upon in movies as the non South.
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) that are so rural that it would make anyplace in Tennessee seem like the big city lol. I think most folks need to realize that every city and state has it's pluses and minuses. The south is no different. Basically, it's all pretty much to do with the politics and folks biases. That's about it.