MovieChat Forums > Sweet Home Alabama (2002) Discussion > is the south really like this? if so...

is the south really like this? if so...

posted 15 years ago by alexaw9
27 replies | jump to latest

If so, I want to move there :)

I've never been to the South, but I don't like how people are portrayed as ignorant or stupid. I live in Massachusetts, and I hate the constant busy hustle bustle uptight stressed feeling .. I like the friendly small town simple feel the South is portrayed with. And I don't mean simple in a bad way, like stupid. Just small and comfortable and about family and friends and not the materialistic money-obsessed uptight way places like Boston and New York City are .. people say it's more exciting, and maybe I'm being ignorant in looking at stereotypes, but I like, mostly, the way the South is portrayed sometimes including this movie. I've always preferred country over city anyway, people say NYC skyline is pretty .. thats not pretty. Nature is pretty. With all the huge tall buildings and lights you cant see the stars. Not like in the country .. or I guess how I picture the country to be. I just like the way it seems in this movie pretty much :)

So .. is it like that?

If I ever start referring to these as the best days of my life, remind me to kill myself.

[–] poisoned_heart 14 years ago

Personally I would rather live back up in Rhode Island then Florida.

[–] tehck 14 years ago

I don't think that the stereotypical portrayals of the South are necessarily wrong. The problem is that other than accents, regional foods, and things like that, the South is not nearly as unique as it is portrayed to be. As some have said, small towns are much alike everywhere, and there are rednecks, cretins, and *beep* all over the country in rural areas and big cities. One doesn't need a southern drawl to be stupid, bigoted, or ignorant. People raise chickens and pigs in Iowa, New York, and California just as they do in Arkansas. It's just that people like to laugh at and look down on people from somewhere else, and there's more people in the Northeast and West than there are in the South, so Southerners get laughed at looked down on more.

[–] ALAdwell 14 years ago

We are looked down on in the South. Like Jeff Foxworthy said, we lose IQ points when someone hears our accents.
Thar being said, I have been blessed to live in the city, but spend summers in the small towns on farms. I have actually been raised with roots and wings. And I am raising my kids that way! I've been all over the South. I've spent time with people from all over the world. We really are more hospitable. It's bred in us. i cannot be comfotable at any gathering I am hosting UNLESS EVERYONE is taken care of and happy. Only THEN can I relax.
Although people are money hubgry where ever you go, we are raised to think family first, period. We know that we you die, it's the company you kept and the times you had which mean more than any amount of money. Some of us may act quite the opposite living their lives, but in the end, we die with our memories, not our money!

I love the South, I welcome anyone at any time. Hell, we're polite to kin we hate, because mannners leave impressions that hateful words and punches could never convey. Like Momma taught me, you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. AND, what would bug you more? Someone you don't get along with throwing you out if you had to be in the same place OR wondering for the next week or month why they smiled and made you a (poison-free) drink?

[–] aliciasessions 14 years ago

Well, not everybody is the same in the south. If you want welcoming sweet people, most people ARE like that from the south. It actually depends on how you were brought up. I'm from Huntsville, Alabama and people are friendly and they just casually talk to you in the grocery stores:) Most people aren't ruse. If you want friendly people like that try not to move to a TOO big city and you should probably move to the midwest or south. :)

i wanna take a ride on your Yard stick

Woah. It 36 inches

hahaha

[–] LovesConfusingJoy 14 years ago

thats exactly was I was trying to get at in my post, but I completely agree

[–] jnic7594 13 years ago

Ya, I used to live in a small town in Nebraska, and it was A LOT like this one. It's not just limited to the south. There are small towns like this everywhere.

[–] emailraven 13 years ago

It's a stereotype. I have lived in Alabama all my life. What you will find is that there is some kernel of truth to these portrayals, but generally, they are an exaggeration and not based in reality. What is portrayed in movies like Sweet Home Alabama is really more true of rural life in general, regardless of what part of the country it is. The South simply tends to have more rural areas, where a lot of the values of the past are still held onto. However, even that is rapidly changing as our society in general becomes more urbanized and more culturally diverse (and it is happening here, same as evrywhere else).

[–] efuschia00 13 years ago

small towns are adorable, takes a bit to get used to the small town mentality. after a while left small towns, i am a city girl at heart! but small towns are a joy and I love to go back and visit.

[–] Brookiee124 9 years ago

No offense but you are stereotyping the north, as well. You are basically saying it's all city and rude people. Apparently you e never been to Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine? Lots of beautiful small towns in all of New England.

This movie is a stereotype of the south, too. There ARE towns like this, even more rednecky ones. But there are also cities and rude people.

[–] robocop-37224 8 years ago

People from the North make fun of people from the South just to make themselves feel better. And I'm sure the same thing happens if the situation was reversed. I'm from New Jersey and we get picked on. We're the but of a lot of jokes. And I could care less. And it must've backfired because more and more people are moving here. Any and all empty pieces of land do not stay that way for long. I lived in Florida back in 89-90 and couldn't stand it. Jobs were hard to find. I was there with my gf,her mother and her grandmother. And I had to go( long story). Anyway I loved the weather. People were nice. I'm a country boy at heart. I wanted to move to Texas or Tennessee. Maybe SOUTH CAROLINA. Fast forward to 2012 and I realized after going through a divorce( I got the kids and the house) I want to move to a place that has the "small town feeling". I also am strongly considering moving back to Florida. You don't have to be from the South to be polite. You don't have to be from the North to be a snob. People from the South,who move North, usually want to get away because they've lived there all of their life and want to experience new things. Different foods. And lots of other reasons. Now for a Northerner( myself included) we're tired of the "hustle and bustle"( whatever that means) of the city life and we want to move South for the slower pace of life. And if I may be modest ..I was raised with manners..yes ma'am/no ma'am.. Thank you Sir..have a nice day ladies.. well you get the picture. You do not have to be from the South to be considered polite. The people who have lived the fast pace of life I.e. New York are so use to that way of life that maybe it comes off like they're being rude, but they are not. Unfortunately a lot of people I've met from NY, Philadelphia,and New Jersey are do fn rude. So in closing i want to move somewhere where it doesn't snow. Or get freezing rain. And the temp stays warm all year round. Any suggestions??