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

by Larry Langman (Editor)

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.

Hardcover

First published September 5, 2000

About the author

Larry Langman is a film historian and writer, who has published extensively.

Reviews

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very comprehensive text that has introductions at the start of each chapter, for example a list of films that focus on Southern Belles like 'Jezebel' with Bette Davis. Discusses 'Gone with the Wind' and presents important scholarship on the film and book. Overall, a well-organized primer for readers looking to get introduced to which films fit specific Southern themes, and does include write-ups before the film listings that explain the significance of that particular area. Of particular interest is the discussion of the role of Black people in the South and how they are depicted in film, specifically in relation to transatlantic slavery and plantations.