MovieChat Forums > Sweet Home Alabama (2002) Discussion > Was Anyone From Alabama Offended by this...

Was Anyone From Alabama Offended by this Movie???


Come on guys.. we have got to stand up for ourselves.. this movie is an insult to the people of Alabama.. Although I don't deny we do have the "redneck,,white trash,beat up truck driving,beer drinking,baby making "billy bob".. but it definately does not represent the MAJORITY of Alabama. We are very classy, & well educated; and we have not JUST recently discovered recliners! If you do not live in or have never visited our beautiful State .. Please do not judge Alabama by this movie. Granted the hospitality & manners were right on!

I have an aunt who is 58 years old and has lived in New York for 40 years ^^^ she recently moved to Alabama because when she visited every Thanksgiving/Christmas she fell in love with the people and State as a whole. Although she does make fun of our southern accent a little.. I tell her as Jake told Melanie . just because we talk slow doesn't mean we're dumb! ;-)

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I'm Irish and feel your pain!!!

I've never been to Alabama but I just **knew** watching the film that every southern stereotype known to mankind had been thrown into the pot. I know it's Hollywood but it is hard to put your critical faculties aside when your people are being so badly misrepresented (again)

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Movies create stereotypes from everywhere so no i dont think you guys should be offended by this movie. Im from Scotland and the number of times ive been asked if ive seen braveheart when ive been in the U.S is unreal. Not all Scots are drunken, brawling kilt wearers who live on haggis, oatcakes and whiskey, but that seems to be the image given by movies. Movies exaggerate everything. (just for the record, most people only usually wear kilts to things like weddings lol)

"It's called Chemistry Clark. Some people have it, some people don't"

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Being Australian is the same thing. People naturally assume that I carry a copy of Crocodile Dundee with me, in case I get homesick. One also gets questions about kangaroos and how many I have hopping about in my backyard.

By the way, Alabamites, I wouldn't get too offended. If that song was called Sweet Home Louisiana, we'd have those guys complaining. If anything, blame the unimaginative screenwriters for naming their movie after a famous song, just so people will go see their movie.

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To be honest, people from Alabama shouldn't be offended by this movie - all it did was make me want to visit it, if the friendliness is what everyone says it is, and thats definetely shown in this film.

And besides, I think every part of the world gets portrayed to a stereotype in films. When an American girl started at our high school a few years ago, she was amazed to discover that people in England don't all talk in "Queen's English". In fact, I think only the queen does nowadays......

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I'm not gonna tell people not to be offended but I wouldn't be if I were you. Like someone else said, almost all states are given some sort of stereotype in films. I think a lot of people are able to realize though when the truth about a certain location is being stretched. I did want to point out one thing here, the main part of the movie took place in the dinky hicktownish "Pigeon Creek" but did you notice that on her way to Pigeon Creek Melanie drove through rows of gorgeous plantation mansions and polished yards. They didn't only portray the lower class area, thats just where the movie took place.

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Honestly people, although it has been said before, I'll say it again: there are stereotypes about everybody and they are mostly false. I'm from Northern New Hampshire and the stereotypes associated with New Hampshire include that we are hicks, or that we are morons, or that cows outnumber people. Those are all incredibly false, my town is full of hippie/hicks. Also, I'd like to note that we Northerners are not all elitist snobs who look down on the South or the West or the Midwest. We are not yankees, either. The people who believe stereotypes are not worth worrying about. Hopefully most people are smart enough to realize the exaggeration of the South. In any case, it is a movie. In this case, the movie is false. On a final note, PA means Pennsylvania.

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It said P.A. and refered to it as a "town". Don't think they meant Pennsylvania, but then again, uhhhh, judging from the post ya never know...lol.

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I get what you are saying, I am from Kentucky and whenever I go on vacation and I say that I am from Kentucky people look down at me (literally) and say, "OH MY GOD YOU WEAR SHOES DOWN THERE?!?!?!" because I was wearing shoes... it's annoying.

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Help save Veronica Mars!

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I have lived in the south all of my life, except for a couple of years in Pennsylvania and Belize, and I absolutely love it. My family and I are in Texas now but I was born and raised for ten years in Memphis, TN and the rest in Malvern (Billy Bob Thornton country) and Hot Springs, Arkansas. The first time I visited Arkansas, as a child, I fell in love with it. I have lived in and visited many, many places but the beauty of Arkansas surpasses them all.

As far as the movie goes, I loved it. And, yes, I know some people like the ones portrayed in the movie but I didn't take offense at all. It takes all kinds to make the world spin. The one thing I really resonated with are the strong ties represented by Renee's character and those of her friends. For example, some friendships would have ended (or been brutally damaged) by the stunt she pulled with Bobby Ray in the bar, but their bond was so rooted that they were able to move past it and remain close.

I believe the more people think themselves above another, the lesser of a life they actually have. The more we embrace each other, the richer we are for it.

When it comes to movies, I don't care about flare or blitz or bling. I love movies in which you can experience the relationships of characters who have deep love and affection for each other, no matter what type of relationship it is, and I, also, love movies that attract and inspire me by the location and scenery.

Personally, I think Hollywood spends way too much money on the former and not nearly enough on the latter...the stuff that really touches us and motivates our spirits and hearts.

Cheers,

Kimber

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I fell in love with this movie from the first time I watched it. It is a great movie. My husband and I can relate to it at some points. You see my husband would be as the movie says a stuborn redneck hick from a small town in Texas, and I would be his hoity toity yankee bitch born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. My husband likes this movie just as much as I do. We both find it extremly funny. Espically the part where Mel's male, gay, black friend is in her house and her dad obviously is not happy about that. We both can see his dad doing the same thing. We also find the recliner chair a hoot. Even though yes they do have them in small towns everywhere. Granted I have never been to Alabama before, but since this movie I have wanted to go and vist the state. Everybody seems so nice down there. As for the yankees doing southern accents...then don't ever get near me. If I hear an accent long enough I pick it up and start talkin like that. My husband of course does still at times (mostly when he gets really mad) have his southern twang, and I think it is the sexiest thing around. To tell you the truth we have towns just like that up here in the world of yankees as well. You should vist some of our small towns as well, you would be surprised.

Suzanne

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I live in Enterprise (the city with the infamous Boll Weevil Monument) and have lived here for pretty much all my life. I found that movie very offensive.

We are a southern state, not a third-world country. Did you see one restauraunt or fast food store? It was basically a dirt road with wooden buildings. I have been all around Alabama and I havent seen a town like this. There wasn't even a Wal-Mart, and Alabama is FULL of those.
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I <3 Aubrey Graham (and Pirates)

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Your comment kinda made me laugh.

Because there's this saying in Alabama that goes, "Thank God for Mississippi." Since Alabama is usually 49th in the 50 worst--only just recently bumped up to 48 for some lists because of Arkansas? See? Get it? Thank God for...

Oh whatever. It's funny if you're from here.

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i live in mobile too, but can tell you I have heard people pronounce one syllable words with two. Have you ever been out to Theodore? Semmes? Wilmer? I hate it too how Hollywood makes out ALL Southerners to be white trash, but, c'mon...you know there are some within our city.

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well i've lived in alabama for 18 years, and while the movie didn't really offend me, your comments did. apparently in your 2 months you didn't get a chance to see the pleasant side of alabama or mississippi, including the booming medical and economic contributions made from some of the big cities or the beautiful gulf coast beaches. get a life, pal.

as for the movie, i liked it alot if not just for the reason that it got alabama some p.r., but also because i thought it was just a good movie. yeah, the accents were too thick...i don't understand why directors make southern actors and actresses drawl out their accents more for effect...the average viewer can distinguish between sylvester stallone's accent and matthew mcconaughey's.

i thought the 'bear' and 'bryant' bit was hilarious...probably not every watcher got it, but as a 'bama fan i thought it was great.

i don't get stereotyped alot...my mom didn't get any service at a store on rodeo drive in l.a. a few years back, but most of the questions i get are just whether or not i know ruben or bo.

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i'm from tuscaloosa, alabama, more specifically samantha. i loved the movie and wasnt really all that offended. sure they had some stereotypical southern things in the movie, but it wasnt anything too bad. at least they didnt have people sleeping with their cousins in this one.

WAR EAGLE!

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Some people DO reenact the civil war.

Big Fish had some of it filmed in Alabama. A scene was filmed at one of my friends houses.

I don't consider myself to have an accent, since the way I speak is how Americans speak on television and in the movies. I don't know if other countries or if people with accents consider us to be accented or not.

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I'm from New Jersey. Is there a state that gets more grief in films than Jersey? I don't think so. I loved Sweet Home Alabama. However, I realized while I was watching that it was filled with stereotypes. It wasn't even those parts that attracted me to the film. The love story and the "it's hard going back home" theme are what got to me.

Besides, they didn't put New Yorkers in such a great light either (ie, Candice Bergen's character).

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I think out of all the sterotypes dealing with region, New Yorkers and Californians are the most negative (or rather I should say the most consistent)New Yorkers are almost never portrayed in a positive light. They're always shown as heavily accented, acid-tongued, self-centered, neurotic (and even sometimes promiscuous) loudmouths. Californians are shown usually as either modern-day flower children, or shallow ditzes (or surfer dudes).

I get that the media stereotypes everything, it's when there is no alternative to the alternative that there becomes a problem. If you only see a group of people portrayed one specific way over and over again, what else are you going to think about this group?

Multi-tasking is listening to you and pretending I'm interested.

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They werent mocking New Yorkers... just politicians. :P
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I <3 Aubrey Graham (and Pirates)

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I'm not surprised, look at her profile. We bamies should unite and go jihad on her a$$!

ever listen to K-Billy's super sounds of the seventies? Its my personal favorite.

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I live in Fayetteville, North Carolina and I was not at all offended by the movie. It was just a movie meant to entertain and it is by no means the greatest movie ever, I found it to be an enjoyable romatic comedy. Even though I was not born in NC I have lived here for almost 15 years. People stereotype for all races, cultures, and regions, for example I was born in Hawaii but that doesn't mean that my relatives are grass skirt wearing hula dansers nor native islanders when in fact they are chinese who moved there several generations ago. I find the south very enjoyable and pleasent and intend to live in this region for a long time. I don't appreciate it when people take pot shots at my adopted home when the south is home to several fine colleges and universities, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Emory, Vanderbilt University to name a few. I say those who respond so negatively need to get over themselves and go back to school because wherever they went obviously didn't get the lesson across on how to type and spell.

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sure, the forementioned auburn, one of the best vet schools in the country, and 13-0 single A football champs! WAR EAGLE!

ever listen to K-Billy's super sounds of the seventies? Its my personal favorite.

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Does anyone really take this movie literally? Well I guess they do. I resently visited NYC and I am from a small city in Canada and one night while walking in time square I wasen't wearing a jacket. This dosen't seem so strange to me but I guess to others it seemed kinda odd because every second person I talked to asked me if I was cold. I even went into a store where a man tried to sell me a jacket and another person on the street wanted to give me his jacket. For all those people who have never been up over the border Canada is not all snow and ice, where I live it rains a little but most of time the weather is an average of 25 C out which is warm but not too warm. So I guess their are stereo types but come on Canada and Alabama are not as bad as everyone says they are.

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Idea flash:
The South can rise again...up north, that is.
Y'all should come chill with Canada. Western Canada, at least. Ontario/Quebec is to The Rest of Canada what Yankee-territory is to the South. Torontonians are somehow bowled over by the seemingly paradoxical co-existence of clean, well-kept streets, and a Starbucks on the corner. (The only reason it's there is because my town is smack alongside the Trans-Canada, but otherwise in the middle of nowhere.)
Anyhow, we can have good ol' Southern/Canadian fun. :)
I just got back from a trip to NYC this morning, btw, and only as I stepped off the plane back home was I able to breathe deeply without wanting to cough or clear my throat. Ick. Not good for a girl who's used to blue skies, clear streams, and cool mountain air that smells like pine trees. :P

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wooo go canada! lol well i'm from new mexico and lots of my friends have been asked "have u ever been to the united states?" or "do u speak english?" i mean come on if u had to memorize ur states NEW MEXICO is one! lol its soo stupid well i've never been asked that but its only cuz i moved here a few years ago! but still some ppl! lol some ppl r just so ignorant!!! doncha think so?

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they're just showing how it is living in a small town where everyone knows you and making a life for yourself and coming back to your old life and seeing why and why not you missed it...im from a small town and everyone know you your family your business and at our school 50% of the people are dumb and 50% of the people are smart if you go to a place like New york and see how the other half lives of course you would be ashamed of your roots

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Ok so I'm not from a small town, I'm from a city of 4 million in Australia but this movie isn't saying that everyone in Alabama or the south is white trash. Its a movie! A fictional movie about a small town in Alabama with fictional charaters. That doesnt mean all towns down there are like that, thats just one town. I get offended when Hollywood makes a stupid, stereotypical and uninformed movie about Australia, but hey, if thats how they want to see us then thats how they are going to portray us. Dont take offense, I try not to when they make a movie saying that everyone is Australia is called Sheila and that we all have Kangaroos.
It does hurt to see the place where you live seem different and wrong, but its Hollywood and everyone knows that they exaggerate sometimes.
I hope this helps.

*But why is the Rum gone?*

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