HF Hollywood's Image of the South: A Century of Southern Films

Historical-Fiction

Belle Montgomery

2nd Lieutenant
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Oct 25, 2017
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This 2001 book looks to be a really good reference book, especially for movie buffs into old movies including back to the turn of the century! Goes back to 1908! Most are centered around the Civil War:
411XDo-CuKL._SX309_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
"Several hundred films set in the Old South and the New South" are organized under such topical headings as "Slaves and Slavery," "Southern Belles," and "Family Survival." Annotations focus on synopsis rather than commentary. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Available on Amazon:
"From the 1920s and 1930s, when American cinema depicted the South as a demi-paradise populated by wealthy landowners, glamorous belles, and happy slaves, through later, more realistic depictions of the region in films based on works by Erskine Caldwell, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Robert Penn Warren, Hollywood's view of the South has been as ever-changing as the place itself. This comprehensive reference guide to Southern films offers credits, plot descriptions, and analyses of how the stereotypes and characterizations in each film contribute to our understanding of a most contentious American time and place."
"Organized by subjects including Economic Conditions, Plantation Life, The Ku Klux Klan, and The New Politics, Hollywood's Image of the South seeks to coin a new genre by describing its conventions and attitudes. Even so, the Southern film crosses all known generic boundaries, including the comedy, the women's film, the noir, and many others. This invaluable guide to an under-recognized category of American cinema illustrates how much there is to learn about a time and place from watching the movies that aim to capture it."

LARRY LANGMAN is the author of A Guide to Silent Westerns (Greenwood, 1992), A Guide to American Crime Films of the Forties and Fifties (Greenwood, 1995), and American Film Cycles: The Silent Era (Greenwood, 1998).
DAVID EBNER has taught mathematics and history on the university and secondary school levels and has published extensively in professional journals. His books include The Encyclopedia of American Spy Films.
FOR A GLIMPSE INSIDE:
https://books.google.com/books?id=K...he South: A Century of Southern Films&f=false
 
This 2001 book looks to be a really good reference book, especially for movie buffs into old movies including back to the turn of the century! Goes back to 1908! Most are centered around the Civil War:
411XDo-CuKL._SX309_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
"Several hundred films set in the Old South and the New South" are organized under such topical headings as "Slaves and Slavery," "Southern Belles," and "Family Survival." Annotations focus on synopsis rather than commentary. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Available on Amazon:
"From the 1920s and 1930s, when American cinema depicted the South as a demi-paradise populated by wealthy landowners, glamorous belles, and happy slaves, through later, more realistic depictions of the region in films based on works by Erskine Caldwell, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Robert Penn Warren, Hollywood's view of the South has been as ever-changing as the place itself. This comprehensive reference guide to Southern films offers credits, plot descriptions, and analyses of how the stereotypes and characterizations in each film contribute to our understanding of a most contentious American time and place."
"Organized by subjects including Economic Conditions, Plantation Life, The Ku Klux Klan, and The New Politics, Hollywood's Image of the South seeks to coin a new genre by describing its conventions and attitudes. Even so, the Southern film crosses all known generic boundaries, including the comedy, the women's film, the noir, and many others. This invaluable guide to an under-recognized category of American cinema illustrates how much there is to learn about a time and place from watching the movies that aim to capture it."

LARRY LANGMAN is the author of A Guide to Silent Westerns (Greenwood, 1992), A Guide to American Crime Films of the Forties and Fifties (Greenwood, 1995), and American Film Cycles: The Silent Era (Greenwood, 1998).
DAVID EBNER has taught mathematics and history on the university and secondary school levels and has published extensively in professional journals. His books include The Encyclopedia of American Spy Films.
FOR A GLIMPSE INSIDE:
https://books.google.com/books?id=KHYR4ViHeVkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Hollywood's+Image+of+the+South:+A+Century+of+Southern+Films&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiAybex4Y_dAhVOrFMKHdblB7gQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=Hollywood's Image of the South: A Century of Southern Films&f=false
I enjoyed reading the preview. Thanks for posting the link.
 
If anyone wants to focus on present day media covering Dixie/The South shows like True Blood and Vampire Diaries which are related to the Civil War given that at one of the main characters there was a Confederate veteran (Stefan/Bill) and the latter is set in a town called Mystic Falls which was founded in 1860 the same year South Carolina seceded.
 
I enjoyed reading the preview. Thanks for posting the link.
What a price range! Amazon has it for Kindle at $60.00. Hardback is $64.00 new; but you can get a used copy for as little as $5.38, with free shipping! There's also a used copy for $123.67!!!, if you prefer.

Guess which one I'd buy!!!
If anyone wants to focus on present day media covering Dixie/The South shows like True Blood and Vampire Diaries which are related to the Civil War given that at one of the main characters there was a Confederate veteran (Stefan/Bill) and the latter is set in a town called Mystic Falls which was founded in 1860 the same year South Carolina seceded.
Hmmmm … since Halloween is approaching I'm going to have to check these out. :thumbsup:
 
Hmmmm … since Halloween is approaching I'm going to have to check these out. :thumbsup:
If you have checked out True Blood and The Vampire Diaries before what do you think of them I have been on the official subreddit of TB and from what I have been able to gather the early seasons (1-3) were good but things started to take a turn for the worst when the show was too inconsistent in its stories from season 5 to 7 have you experienced this before.
 
Honestly I have a small handful of films about my beloved South that I watch. My favorite hands down is Cold Mountain though it is a little romanticized in places. It's nice to see a book on the subject, but a lot of the films grate my nerves. Especially the accents. They have no clue what a Low Country Ga accent sounds like versus the more Metropolitan Atlanta accent versus the Low Country South Carolina accent, let alone the plethora of others that abound here (Gullah Geechee for instance ya'll?), and think every accent is identical. They don't seem to research the etymology of why our accents sound the way they do. That to me is pretty fascinating. I wish it was reflected in films more.
 
Honestly I have a small handful of films about my beloved South that I watch. My favorite hands down is Cold Mountain though it is a little romanticized in places. It's nice to see a book on the subject, but a lot of the films grate my nerves. Especially the accents. They have no clue what a Low Country Ga accent sounds like versus the more Metropolitan Atlanta accent versus the Low Country South Carolina accent, let alone the plethora of others that abound here (Gullah Geechee for instance ya'll?), and think every accent is identical. They don't seem to research the etymology of why our accents sound the way they do. That to me is pretty fascinating. I wish it was reflected in films more.
What's your opinion of "The Keeping Room?"
 
Virginia has its various accents too along with pronouncing the same words depending on what part of the state you come from.
 
What's your opinion of "The Keeping Room?"
I haven't seen it yet. I am a little leery of it honestly. It appears to be set in the mountains but I can't find anywhere that says where. I listened to the trailer and the accent so far doesn't match the setting. If you listen to a Mountain accent it tends to sound like an Amercianised Irish or Scottish accent if that makes sense. It has a rhythm to it like music. Depending on how isolated the community was during the war too sometimes it hadn't changed yet. It was only much later when radio and television began coming into prominence did the accents really change. A strange thing I only realized when I left home and watched my speech more is were I'm from we pronounce Iron as more like Urn. Back home people get it but when I leave I have to be very careful to enunciate the letters (not a good look mind you). I could run on this for days. Sorry
 
I haven't seen it yet. I am a little leery of it honestly. It appears to be set in the mountains but I can't find anywhere that says where. I listened to the trailer and the accent so far doesn't match the setting. If you listen to a Mountain accent it tends to sound like an Amercianised Irish or Scottish accent if that makes sense. It has a rhythm to it like music. Depending on how isolated the community was during the war too sometimes it hadn't changed yet. It was only much later when radio and television began coming into prominence did the accents really change. A strange thing I only realized when I left home and watched my speech more is were I'm from we pronounce Iron as more like Urn. Back home people get it but when I leave I have to be very careful to enunciate the letters (not a good look mind you). I could run on this for days. Sorry
Set in the path of Sherman's raid-I think Atlanta area. IMHO it's right up there with Cold Mountain in being that it's a modern movie (2014) that actually depicts Yankee soldiers as not the heroes as everyone likes them to be! In fact they're cruel in this one. It's more raw and true to life and shows how devastated the South near the end was as "Burning Billy" Sherman is on his way! Female survival at its best and I imagine many of them felt/lived this way until the end.
 
Set in the path of Sherman's raid-I think Atlanta area. IMHO it's right up there with Cold Mountain in being that it's a modern movie (2014) that actually depicts Yankee soldiers as not the heroes as everyone likes them to be! In fact they're cruel in this one. It's more raw and true to life and shows how devastated the South near the end was as "Burning Billy" Sherman is on his way! Female survival at its best and I imagine many of them felt/lived this way until the end.
 
I haven't seen it yet. I am a little leery of it honestly. It appears to be set in the mountains but I can't find anywhere that says where. I listened to the trailer and the accent so far doesn't match the setting. If you listen to a Mountain accent it tends to sound like an Amercianised Irish or Scottish accent if that makes sense. It has a rhythm to it like music. Depending on how isolated the community was during the war too sometimes it hadn't changed yet. It was only much later when radio and television began coming into prominence did the accents really change. A strange thing I only realized when I left home and watched my speech more is were I'm from we pronounce Iron as more like Urn. Back home people get it but when I leave I have to be very careful to enunciate the letters (not a good look mind you). I could run on this for days. Sorry
Oops! Just Googled it...it's set in South Carolina!
 
I haven't seen it yet. I am a little leery of it honestly. It appears to be set in the mountains but I can't find anywhere that says where. I listened to the trailer and the accent so far doesn't match the setting. If you listen to a Mountain accent it tends to sound like an Amercianised Irish or Scottish accent if that makes sense. It has a rhythm to it like music. Depending on how isolated the community was during the war too sometimes it hadn't changed yet. It was only much later when radio and television began coming into prominence did the accents really change. A strange thing I only realized when I left home and watched my speech more is were I'm from we pronounce Iron as more like Urn. Back home people get it but when I leave I have to be very careful to enunciate the letters (not a good look mind you). I could run on this for days. Sorry
If you don't mind my asking, where are you originally from? The accent you're describing sounds a lot like my family in Western North Carolina. "Fire" sounds like "far." I always find those accents reassuring because they remind me of family, but I discovered in college that some of my friends found my family's accents almost incomprehensible.

I agree with you on the similarities with Scottish and Irish. I've read some interesting theories on the origins of that, which I think make sense.
 
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