Holy Hillbilly Batman.
To a sheltered, middle-class, living-on-the-fashion-island-that-is-Capitol-Hill, working-in-IT, white guy like me there is a BIG slice of the American cultural pie that I just don't have a clue about much less get to taste. Last night I got just a little sample when I watched The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia.
I can tell you this; stereotypes exist for a reason and if there is ANY hillbilly stereotype that you can imagine, the Whites emphatically demonstrate where it came from.
Here is the NY Times review.
Here is the IMDb listing.
It seems like every member of the (unfortunately much too large) White family is either a drug addict, a hardened criminal, has missing teeth, has no sense of social responsibility, is ignorant about birth control, lives for the moment with no thought of consequences, has been in trouble with the law or all of the above. Oh yeah, and just doesn't give a good goddamn what anyone else thinks.
Here are some of things that blew my mind.
- They actually say, "al-kee-hall".
- They also say "worser and worser".
- They joke about stupid they are or how stupid a thing that they did is AND THEN THEY GO AHEAD AND DO IT AGAIN. And laugh about it.
- Mom and son deal drugs and get wasted together.
- A boy gives his aunt a tattoo and comes ever so close to misspelling the words THREE TIMES IN A ROW.
- Hours after giving birth a Mom snorts some crushed pills.
- Mom, daughter and friend head into a bar and proudly proclaim they won't come out until they are shit faced.
There are simply to many priceless moments to list. I was laughing out loud in bed watching this while Shelley was trying to read. It's so incredibly outrageous and since any misery they suffer is entirely self-imposed that you just can't feel much pity.
The Whites are like a machine. You can see the children being raised to replace the elders and all the same (lack of) values are being instilled and solidified at an incredibly early age.
Totally nuts.
If you subscribe to Netflix you can stream it for free. I recommend that you do this.
No comments:
Post a Comment