J.W. Williamson, author of "Hillbillyland: What the Movies Did to the Mountains and what the Mountains Did to the Movies," writes, "Like the fool of the village idiot, the American hillbilly clown is an impudent mirror held up in front of us - both a reflection of and a window into something rarely glimpsed, the native deep and sable face of this creature we still are" (27).
From the The Andy Griffith Show's inept but well-meaning Barney and Gomer Pyle to the fool found in Shakespeare's plays, the fool is often used for comic purposes but can sometimes teach the audience something as well.
Quotes I want to use...
"What the American hillbilly fool most often stands in opposition to is capitalism. He is usually lazy, or inept, or an outlaw on the fringes of the economy, the idiot of capitalism" (27)
"If capitalism operates by inducing its workers to believe in the virtues of work and by comdeming the evils that interfere with work, such as strong drink, roaming the woods and hunting, and various social indiscretions including murder, mayhem, and bastardy - if, in other words, capitalism has indeed learned to control our collective imagery for our own good - then clearly the hillbilly is a warning, a keep-away sign enjoining us to avoid the rocky rural edges outside the grasp of urban economy" (27).
From the The Andy Griffith Show's inept but well-meaning Barney and Gomer Pyle to the fool found in Shakespeare's plays, the fool is often used for comic purposes but can sometimes teach the audience something as well.
Quotes I want to use...
"What the American hillbilly fool most often stands in opposition to is capitalism. He is usually lazy, or inept, or an outlaw on the fringes of the economy, the idiot of capitalism" (27)
"If capitalism operates by inducing its workers to believe in the virtues of work and by comdeming the evils that interfere with work, such as strong drink, roaming the woods and hunting, and various social indiscretions including murder, mayhem, and bastardy - if, in other words, capitalism has indeed learned to control our collective imagery for our own good - then clearly the hillbilly is a warning, a keep-away sign enjoining us to avoid the rocky rural edges outside the grasp of urban economy" (27).