Title: Hillbillyland
First published: 1995
Description: The stereotypical hillbilly figure in popular culture provokes a range of responses, from bemused affection for Ma and Pa Kettle to outright fear of the mountain men in Deliverance. In Hillbillyland, J. W. Williamson investigates why hillbilly images are so pervasive in our culture and what purposes they serve.

He has mined more than 800 movies, from early nickelodeon one-reelers to contemporary films such as Thelma and Louise and Raising Arizona, for representations of hillbillies in their recurring roles as symbolic "cultural others.".

According to Williamson, mainstream America responds to hillbillies because they embody our fears and hopes and a conflicted vision of the past. They are clowns, children, free spirits, or wild people through whom we live vicariously while being reassured about our own standing in society.
Subjects: Appalachians (People), Appalachians (People) in motion pictures, Social life and customs, Southern states, Montagnards (Sud des États-Unis) au cinéma, Montagnards (Sud des États-Unis), Mœurs et coutumes, Bergbewohner, Film, Südstaaten
LC classification: PN1995.9.M67 W54 1995