Renewing Hollywood's Media Colony in Southern Reality

CAN YOU SAY IT MORE SOUTHERN?: RENEWING HOLLYWOOD’S MEDIA COLONY IN SOUTHERN REALITY TELEVISION by ROBERT THEODORE MCWHORTER CHAMPION JEREMY BUTLER, COMMITTEE CHAIR JASON EDWARD BLACK ROBIN M. BOYLORN JOLENE HUBBS MATTHEW PAYNE A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Communication and Information Sciences in the Graduate School of The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2016 Copyright Robert Theodore McWhorter Champion 2016 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Recent reality television programming has reawakened the popular use of the American South and, specifically, working-class white southerners, for mass entertainment purposes. Nonfiction media have historically represented the South as a distinct and often inferior region of the United States, and an occasional critic has attempted to raise concerns about the disenfranchisement of a subculture of people, but scholars have yet to conduct major research on southern-themed reality shows. Using multidisciplinary approaches, this dissertation examines how nonfiction media have exploited and are currently exploiting the image of the working-class white southerner. As both southern media historian and an active practitioner in the television industry, I have a unique perspective that allows me to address this current trend and its potential problems. I begin the research by surveying prior nonfiction media dating back to the 18th century. This understanding of past publishing, journalism, films, and broadcasting helps identify specific conventions that media producers have historically applied to the mediated South. Countless stereotypes include excessive drinking, obesity, indecency, and anti-intellectualism. I then closely examine three recent reality television series, analyzing how these past conventions are transformed for modern audiences. Finally, by directly observing and participating in the production of a new, southern-themed reality program, I offer insight on how production culture can foster the perpetuation of stereotypes and serve the needs of both producers and on-screen subjects. ii By using cultural studies theories such as postcolonialism, I approach such exploitation as potentially harmful because it can revive regional conflict, reinforce stereotypes that affect actual people who live in working-class conditions in the South, and simultaneously allow the dominant white majority to excise or deny its own negative qualities and maintain status quo power structures. My research leads to my conclusion that “southerners” and southern culture are fundamentally discursive formations, part of what I call the “mediated” or “media South,” and that the “real” South cannot be successfully defined within the confines of a television show, despite explicit claims otherwise. The voyeurism involving these discursive constructs is not new, but the form has evolved with the reality television trend. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I give sincere thanks to my committee chair Jeremy Butler for his patience and professionalism as we worked our way through this project. His expertise in a variety of media research methods has been invaluable. My appreciation also extends to each of my brilliant and diverse committee members for bringing so many different strengths and perspectives. Jason Edward Black showed me the world of cultural studies and encouraged me to seek out new ways to approach my research interests. Robin Boylorn’s own field work was fascinating for me to read and inspired my explorations into the arena of ethnography. Jolene Hubbs was the first scholar that I ever heard use the term “hicksploitation” and validated for me that research about poor whites could be an enriching endeavor. Matthew Payne’s perspective as both scholar and filmmaker added a highly respected voice to our discussions. For all my committee members, I hope I can repay the favor someday. My studies at Alabama were also greatly enhanced by the esteemed Jennings Bryant and David Sloan, both highly respected in their fields, and both so truly kind to me as I was making the transition from filmmaker to scholar. It was an honor to be one of their final graduate students before they retired. I also want to thank Shuhua Zhou and Diane Shaddix in the Graduate Studies office of the College of Communication and Information Sciences for their unwavering support during the long process of finishing this dissertation. The fellowships and the teaching opportunities in the College and the Department of Telecommunication and Film were extremely important in my career path over the past several years. As someone who prides iv himself on being interdisciplinary, it was also highly beneficial for me to work with the faculty in the Department of History and the Department of American Studies. I have encountered many outstanding colleagues during my years as a graduate student, but I want to give a special acknowledgment to Dianne Bragg, Kenon Brown, Justin Combs, and Ray Harrison for being good friends and keeping it real while pursuing your own degrees. It was great to work with them, at least indirectly, and their successes have inspired me. My family has been so supportive of me through the years, and I want to thank my mother, Betty Champion, for her love, confidence, and always being there when we need her. I wish my father, Jap Champion, could have lived a few years longer to see his grandchildren grow up. I think he would have liked this project, but more importantly he would have been proud to see his family happy and flourishing. My beautiful wife, Maya, and my amazing children, Lily and Jake, are truly part of this dissertation. It would be hard to imagine where I could have found the inspiration and ambition to approach my graduate studies without them in my life. I will do my best to give them all the love and support they need to accomplish their own goals in life. v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………………..ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ………………………………………………………………………iv LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………………………..vii CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION ...………………………………………….......................1 CHAPTER TWO. LITERATURE REVIEW: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO STUDYING SOUTHERN REALITY TELEVISION ...…………………………..……….......12 CHAPTER THREE. FROM BYRD TO BEVERLY HILLS: A SURVEY OF SOUTHERN NONFICTION ………………………………………………………………………………….64 CHAPTER FOUR. EVERY CABLE CHANNEL HAS ITS OWN HICKSPLOITATION REALITY SHOW: A CLOSE ANALYSIS OF THREE RECENT REALITY SERIES .........138 CHAPTER FIVE. WHAT WE WANT TO DO IS MAKE IT REALLY REAL: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC CASE STUDY ON A REALITY TELEVISION SET .............................198 CHAPTER SIX. CONCLUSION …......……………………………………….......................226 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………..242 APPENDIX ……………………………………………………………………………….......255 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 – Southern-themed reality series airing between 2003 and 2015 ………………….139 vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION On the set of a recent reality show production, the director asked one of the on-camera subjects, “Can you say it more southern?” The premise of the show is a rural, southern version of People’s Court, with a judge and attorneys taking on peculiar cases outside of the legal justice system. The director seemed to be suggesting that the scene could be funnier and more meaningful if the subject’s “southernness” were made more obvious for the audience. The cast, made up entirely of white southerners, acted out the scenario again, and this time the client not only accentuated his southern accent, he also improvised with anecdotes that, to him at least, were essentially southern, drawing big laughs from the cast and crew. As a white southerner and a film and television practitioner, I find myself curious about this incident and the dozens of southern-themed reality television series that have appeared in the past few years. From my perspective, the modern, multicultural “South” is nearly impossible to define, no matter how hard some people try to explain the culture and the inhabitants of the southeastern United States. Yet, when evoked as a collective people, white southerners are represented by writers, filmmakers, television producers, photographers, and even academics as a monolithic cultural group—probably more than any other geographic collection of Americans. Negative overtones often accompany rigid representations of any group, and the typical white southerner in the media is commonly associated with culturally devalued markers: rural, working class, poor, and so on. More extreme representations approach the grotesque. Despite historic 1 advancements in how mass media portray and empower other traditionally underrepresented groups, today’s television landscape contains more images of the peculiar, antisocial, redneck, white southerner than ever before.1 As this dissertation demonstrates, this “mediated” South is a relic from decades past that combines misunderstandings, sloppy research, and sometimes well-intentioned fun with the need to churn out serial stories, conventions, and archetypal characters. Prior generations of southern stories reinforced a few generalizations for entertainment purposes, with most audiences understanding the specific characters and situations to be largely fiction. In the post-network era of cable and video-on-demand television, however, reality TV has put to the forefront of mainstream entertainment images of “real” characters and situations that American audiences have consumed at historic rates. A&E’s Duck

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