Why the South?

                The South in film intrigues me.  There is a problem with defining the South. We discussed the idea of Southern authenticity on Thursday, and unsurprisingly, the conversation became a bit heated. We seemed to leave without what makes the South authentic. Can we say that any certain film depicts the true South?

I am skeptical. Films that we covered in class such as Babydoll, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and A Streetcar Named Desire seem a bit odd to me. These films do not typify the South that I grew up in. I have never even seen a plantation. The "decadent" South is only slightly relatable to me. The South is quite poor, and I think many members of the South would find Williams' representations to be incorrect. I would not fault Tennessee Williams for this. After all we are viewing the films 50 or 60 years after the original plays were written. The South is too large and too different to find one overarching representation. In my experience, the South questions authenticity on every level. After living in the central part of Arkansas for four years, family and friends at home remarked that my accent had turned northern and  that I had become a "yankee." My apathy towards hunting and fishing tends to align me with the North. Or the fact that I live outside of the city limits (it's across the street) puts me on the side of the true South.  The criteria for being in the South varies from state to state, town to town, even neighborhood to neighborhood. We simply cannot make a list of what the South is or is not. Creating a Southern film becomes very difficult with such ambiguity and contention.

As Susan Courtney asked, "Why the South?" The South exudes a certain mystique and romanticism. Even contemporary films like Friday Night Lights, The Notebook, and Black Snake Moan create ideal visions of the South: unification through sports fever, flourishing of love in a Southern plantation, and the healing power of blues and religion are common romancing themes. But the South is also intrinsically dangerous. Racism and bigotry, abuse, and poverty run deep in the South. Films such as Rosewood, Monster's Ball, and Hustle & Flow all display these dangers quite well. The South has dual nature of romance and violence which arise from passion. The South creates passionate lovers and even more passionate enemies. It feeds into the food, the music, love, anger, sports, religion. Why the South? Passion.

-Jerad Brown