Dreaming of Dixie

In her lecture, Karen Cox focused on perceptions of the American South, most specifically, by their compatriots in the North.  Through the media, Northerners created for themselves an image of "Dixie” as a paradise locked in a simpler time.  The glamour of the Old South--its romantic history, rustic Utopian setting, and entertaining characters--appealed to the Northerners.  Generations of popular culture portrayed this Southern iconography through advertisements, music, and films, all imagined by people who have never actually been there themselves.  Furthermore, the Southern states capitalized this ideal, romantic landscape to attract tourism and earn a profit.


In relating her talk to our course of study, Karen emphasized the media's ability, like the museum, to convey power, knowledge, and meaning.  In this case, the media is offering the commodity of the South to the Northern population in various ways.  Karen showed an assortment of examples in her slide show, particularly in the advertisements, which made proclamations that a product would contain some of the glamour of the South.  In the same way, museums are offering the commodity of knowledge, the opportunity to expand one's knowledge and cultural horizons.  The book Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge by Eilean Hooper-Greenhill offers an example on page 2 that conveys this message, describing an advertisement for a Monet exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1990, "Come see how one man's vision can change the way you look at the world."  She also affirms, "... this statement is recognition of the way in which museums and galleries can alter perception"; in the same way, Karen accused the media to have falsely shaped how the rest of the country was viewing the South, not only the landscape but also its inhabitants.


Still today, the public lumps a specific geographical area or group of people under one stereotype.  In many ways, this Southern "Dixie" representation has not changed but merely evolved to relate to the modern era.  The television show on HBO Tru Blood takes place in Louisiana and includes many examples of the iconography Karen mentions but brings excitement and modernity to the world by involving a race of vampires.  It is common for the media to rely heavily on stereotypes in creating entertainment and advertisements.  Her research was interesting because it traced the origins of our perception of the South, providing us with a better understanding of our own culture, both in the past and present.