Hillbillyland: What the Movies Did to the Mountains and What the Mountains Did to the Movies [Paperback]

J. W. Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 1995

The stereotypical hillbilly figure in popular culture provokes a range of responses, from bemused affection for Ma and Pa Kettle to outright fear of the mountain men in Deliverance. In Hillbillyland, J. W. Williamson investigates why hillbilly images are so pervasive in our culture and what purposes they serve. He has mined more than 800 movies, from early nickelodeon one-reelers to contemporary films such as Thelma and Louise and Raising Arizona, for representations of hillbillies in their recurring roles as symbolic 'cultural others.' Williamson's hillbillies live not only in the hills of the South but anywhere on the rough edge of society. And they are not just men; women can be hillbillies, too. According to Williamson, mainstream America responds to hillbillies because they embody our fears and hopes and a romantic vision of the past. They are clowns, children, free spirits, or wild people through whom we live vicariously while being reassured about our own standing in society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is highly likely to become a work as enduring as its popular subject.

Southern Cultures

Convincing and well documented.

Choice

Bold, adept, and often shrewd. . . . Rarely has so much rich food for thought been served with such panache.

Journal of Southern History

A complex, entertaining, and insightful book.

Journal of American History

For this splendid book Williamson should be given some kind of prize. . . . It is that good.

Journal of American Culture

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (June 30, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807845035
• ISBN-13: 978-0807845035
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #822,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars D.W. Griffith meets Andy Griffith (and the Coen brothers), March 2, 2005

By 

M. Bromberg "BellemeadeBooks" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hillbillyland: What the Movies Did to the Mountains and What the Mountains Did to the Movies (Paperback)

This is a well-researched look at Hollywood's never-ending fascination with moonshine, country bumpkins, and what goes on up there in the hills beyond Beverly. In the early 1920s as more people moved to the cities, Hollywood found it could make money telling audiences about the places they'd left behind. Lurid tales of sex and debauchery, such as 1950's "Tobacco Road," undercut the good-hearted goofiness of the Ma and Pa Kettle series of the 1940s. By the 1990s, the Coen brothers' "Raising Arizona" was a hit on the strength of Nicolas Cage's ironic portrayal of a lovable yokel (an updated edition of this book would have to include the current TV show "My Name Is Earl," proving this archetype isn't dead by a long shot).

Williamson covers a lot of ground here, from "The Andy Griffith Show" to John Boorman's "Deliverance," and his conclusions are fairly broad ones. His best writing narrows focus on a specific film or theme: the on-location making of the log-cabin potboiler "Stark Love" (1926) is wildly detailed, with newspaper reporting and interviews with local extras who made appearances in the film as members of an "authentic" mountain family. Lots of movie stills, contemporary cartoons, and detailed captions accompany the text. At times the book reads like a college course -- Williamson is a professor at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, and acknowledges the input of several students -- but for film buffs and general readers, "Hillbillyland" is an entertaining look at how the film industry exploits one facet of American culture.

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