Dreaming of Dixie: How the South was Created in American Pop Culture

Yesterday, our class attended a lecture presented by Dr. Karen Cox, an author and historian specializing on the American south of the early 20th century. Dr. Cox's discussion was focused specifically on pop culture of the early 20th century and how it portrayed the south. The south in that period was a land with wounds of the American Civil War still fresh on peoples minds. Racism and inequality were a norm, and many former slaves were still indentured workers on plantations, having no other options to make a living. Despite these facts, pop culture of every form celebrated the south as a land of romance and "old southern values." Southern typology prevailed in pop culture from 1880 to 1940 and beyond. Southern stereotypes could be found in advertising, food, radio, music, film, and later television. The views of the south as a place of romance and grace was much like a mythology. People, especially those living in the south, knew that there was no truth in the interpretation, yet they encouraged it and believed in it none the less.

"Mammy," a common stereotype of the time. Specifically, this character is from Gone With the Wind.

This talk was rather stimulating, and it did take some thought to realize how it relates to our class and our topics. I came to realize some pretty stark connections, however. History, as has been said, is not just what people choose to remember, but what they choose to forget. This is exactly what was occurring in pop culture as Dr. Cox described it. By carefully selecting what people are exposed to, you are controlling how they think and what they think about. This method was effective in advertising, music, film and other media, and it is actually the exact method deployed by disciplinary museums. Much like in pop culture, disciplinary museums select what people see and how they see it, which effects the way they think and act.

I found Dr. Cox's lecture to be rather interesting. The idea of a romanticized south was one I knew, but I was never really aware of it and I had never thought about it. I was aware of many of the southern stereotypes of the time (the mammy, the southern belle, etc), which I had learned about in a Race and Diversity class previously. It was interesting to make the correlation with the pop culture of the early 20th century, though. It was also interesting figuring out the indirect ways in which the talk related to the topic of museums. Overall, I would say the talk was well organized and informative.

The Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia

Don't worry, I didn't take pictures. You can thank Google.

Today our class visited The Wagner Free Institute of Science. The first thing I can say is that The Wagner Institute is a truly unique place. Immediately upon entering the building, one is flooded with the sights of an antique library and a large auditorium with some very effective acoustics. The museum, established in 1855, houses all manner of artifacts of natural science from the mid to late 19th century. The real substance of the museum is on the second floor, where there is a huge room filled with rows of display cases. These display cases hold all manner of animal (mainly taxidermy or skeletal), vegetable, and mineral. I found the positioning of the particular displays to be very intriguing. From the entrance, one finds minerals and fossils, followed by all manner of sea creatures (notably, two Tarpon on the walls that I estimated to be at least 5ft in length, each), and then bugs of all sizes. Next were amphibians and reptiles, followed by a colorful and varied collection of birds. After that were marsupials, and then mammals. At the very end of the displays devoted to mammals were the primates, which were positioned in a line leading, rather conclusively, up to man. The human was notably placed front-and-center of the room. It gave one an impression of some extraordinary significance to man, as though to say "Here is the ultimate culmination of years of evolution, man."

I found myself almost put off by the idea of homo sapiens as the ultimate goal of evolution. However, this was the conclusion I expected from a museum that hasn't changed much since the 1880's (and I wouldn't be surprised by this conclusion in a modern museum, either). In fact, I was very impressed to see that the setup of the displays hasn't changed much in over a century.

Seeing The Wagner Institute provided a good grounding for the article we were asked to read beforehand. The article discussed some issues with museums that are constantly modernizing, especially that they are all focusing on entertaining children. I was glad to see that the Wagner had not done much changing, because major changes would cover up what the museum once was. The preserved museum acts as an exhibit within itself, a 19th century museum on display. I was also very happy to see that, while the museum's audience is often children, the museum took almost no measures to cater specifically to children. The museum kept a mature and interesting tone to it. On the whole, I was very impressed and pleased with The Wagner Institute.