[Multimodal reading/multimedia piece followed by questions (on the same page):]
The Beverly Hillbillies
[TV episode]
The central premise of the classic sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971) reflects the enduring trend of “fish out of water” shows that would include other classics like Green Acres as well as more recent shows like Third Rock from the Sun and Two Broke Girls. The setup is simple: the Clampetts, a poor family from the mountains of Oklahoma, strike oil, become wealthy, and transplant themselves to the posh community of Beverly Hills, California. Most of the comedy from the show is wrung from the Clampetts’ cultural misunderstanding of their new surroundings, misunderstandings that continually foil and frustrate their new financial adviser, Millburn Drysdale, and his assistant, Miss Jane Hathaway. The following episode is the series’s second, and its first in which the Clampetts are fully situated in Beverly Hills. As you watch it, consider how the episode employs the same types of hillbilly stereotypes that Michelle Dean discusses in “Here Comes the Hillbilly, Again” (p. 283).
Source: http://www.archive.org
Media Education Foundation, www.mediaed.org
Reading the Signs
After watching “Getting Settled,” consider the questions below. Then submit your response.
1. What are some stereotypes about “the hillbilly” (as described by Michelle Dean) that you notice in The Beverly Hillbillies?
2. In “Here Comes the Hillbilly, Again,” Dean writes, “The hillbilly’s backwardness highlights the progress more upstanding Americans in the cities or the suburbs have made. These fools haven’t crawled out of the muck, the story goes, because they don’t want to” (para. 4). How do you think the audience for The Beverly Hillbillies is supposed to feel about the “backwardness” of the Clampetts? Why do you think so?
3. Do you think the Clampetts as pop-culture representations of “the hillbilly” exhibit the same kinds of traits as the family in Here Comes Honey Boo Boo? How are they similar? How are they different?
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