Tuesday, May 02, 2006

It's a good thing Southern skin grows thick

Will Ferrell was all over the place at Talladega over the weekend, promoting the movie he stars in that is going to be released Aug. 4.
The movie's called "Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby," and NASCAR is firmly in bed with the company that made the movie in terms of promoting it. "Ricky Bobby" merchandise went on sale at the track this weekend and the NASCAR public relations machine put Ferrell in front of the media as much as possible during the Aaron's 499 weekend.
I don't have anything against Ferrell, per se, but I took a pass on taking part in those sessions since the only possible objective of any of them was to promote his movie. All I've seen are a couple of trailers, so maybe I'm prejudging this film.
But my initial perception is that it's going to be full of the same old stereotypes about people who live in the South.
And if that's true, then I can tell you right now that I am going to hate it. It's not about being able to take a joke, because goodness knows if you're a Southerner you have to have a pretty thick skin to make it through life these days.
Funny's funny. But mean is mean, too, and frankly I am tired of having good, hard-working people made fun of just because they have a Southern accent.
Let's use Kellie Pickler as an example.
Now I know it's not cool to talk about "American Idol," but it's not the No. 1 show on television because nobody pays attention to it.
My sister-in-law, Lori, lives near Pickler's hometown of Albemarle and everybody there was pulling pretty hard for Pickler. So as the weeks went along, I began to hear and read about what people were saying about this young lady who's had a pretty tough life and was just trying to take an advantage of a big break that came her way.
And so, naturally, most of that hacked me off. The Ellie Mae Clampett stuff. The "Kellie can't possibly be that dumb"stories.
Pickler didn't know what calamari was until she went to California? Hey, take a pound of liver mush into the green room for an "American Idol" taping and see how many California natives could tell you what that was.
If you ask me, a slice of fried liver mush will kick calamari's butt in a taste test 100 times out of 100 - and I've had both.
But every week on "Idol," after Pickler sang her guts out, they'd parade her to center stage and do something or say something to make fun of her.
Simon Cowell called her a "minx" one night and Pickler didn't know what that was.
Reckon Cowell would have known what a "cooter" was if Pickler had called him that?
A couple of years ago, a guy named Jeff McGregor got himself a motor home, packed up his wife and spent a year going around in it to NASCAR races. He then wrote himself a book called "Sunday Money" about the experience.
The book was interesting, but in it McGregor kept talking about "off-ramp America."
It's actually a pretty good term to describe the sameness you can see when you travel from place to place if all you take the time to notice is what's within sight of the interstate. But what I kept thinking about when I read the book was that there's a heck of a lot more of that kind of America than there is the kind McGregor and his wife were used to as residents of New York City before they set off on their adventure.
There are a lot more people in this country who're like Kellie Pickler and the people around her hometown who pulled for and voted for her on "American Idol" that there are people who fly from New York to Los Angeles and back and think of everything in between as "flyover country."
And there are a lot more people in this country like the ones I'm betting Will Ferrell's movie will "spoof," which is an euphemism for "make fun of," than there the sycophants who followed him around Talladega all weekend telling him how hilarious his movie's going to be, too.

9 comments:

Monkeesfan said...

Movies like Talladega Nights and the antics of Will Ferrell are just examples of the smug, sanctimonious disconnect between Hollywood and the real world.

Anonymous said...

The difference, at least from my vantage point (southern, rural, educated and a pop culture junky), is in how the "stereotype" is delivered. I take more offense to shows and movies that "seriously" depict southerners as some cliche of ignorance than the ones that are comedies and skewer everyone and their brother. The catch to movies like this one (haven't seen it, plan on seeing it, hope the commercials are right and that it's all encompassing with the silly) is to make sure and skewer everyone, including the northerners who might be involved in racing, the Frenchman showing up to be a part of the sport...pretty much any cliche that can be nailed down. Honestly? I only saw Days of Thunder for the first time last year, and I found that to be the funniest thing I'd ever seen AND the most insulting cliche.

If a Will Ferrell comedy is EVER meant to be serious and taken as gospel truth of a stereotype, then I feel really, really sorry for the intelligence of those who worship at his alter.

Heather

Anonymous said...

I believe we will be hearing a lot more of Kelly Pickler. I'll bet she has a hit song/album before the end of this year. Will Ferrell's movie will be a hit because it targets NASCAR(not in spite of it). You can keep your liver mush and the calamari. I choose good old American pizza(with wine, not beer).

Anonymous said...

Let's see, being a "redneck" from KY, I usually find the dialect funny and delightful because simply put, they're more bumkins out there who talk worse than me. However, what irritates the fire out of me is that the number of people who take you as being a dumb Southerner. Excuse me! But, I happen to have 4-year degree, former military and have a unquinchable thirst for knowledge. Just because I may sound like a "hick" doesn't mean I am one. Just a sterotype that mean people like to put other people in and quite frankly, mean people still SUCK! However, don't insult my intelligence because it could come back to bite in you in the butt someday!

Tiredawg said...

Question is, if Ricky bobbi and kelli had kidshow smart would they be? LOL Oh who cares lets go racin!!!!!! Richmond at night. Boogity Boogity Boogity.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Poole, I usually disagree with you ohhh a 100% of the time but I must give you credit you nailed this one.

Anonymous said...

tiredawg....thanks for validating the stereotype even further.

anonymous from KY...might want to "quinch" that thirst for knowledge with a spell-checker.

Anonymous said...

Are we really debating the intellectual and social ramifications of a WILL FERRELL MOVIE? Dear Lord....

Anonymous said...

Just remember..."Ricky Bobby is not a thinker...Ricky Bobby is a driver"