Movies have made the South ~ the American South ~ bigger than life. And I have to say, the South is bigger than life! Southern stereotypes are not always true, though. Lots of things about the South have gone the way of the dodo bird. But the region has a deep and rich cultural tradition, which hasn't completely been wiped out by air conditioning and MTV. Southern music, Southern cooking, Southern dialect, and unfortunately, Southern stereotypes still exist. Folks would be surprised to learn just how much of the culture is "gone with the wind." People who actually do move South are often surprised to learn that the South never was quite "Gone With the Wind" ~ that is, the film never gave a total picture of Southern culture. How could it? The South is as varied as any pocket of human civilization ever was. The Georgian plantation culture pictured in Gone With the Wind is representative of only a smidgen of Southern life and culture. Aside from really bad accents, Gone With the Wind only added another delightfully decadent chapter to the collective memory that is the South.

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