The Rebel Behind the Wheel: An Examination of the ‘Redneck’ Rebel Cultural Trope in <i>The Dukes of Hazzard</i>

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31261/rias.11815

Keywords:

cars, television series, redneck culture, The Dukes of Hazzard

Abstract

The heyday of ‘Redneck’ cinema—the 1970s to early 1980s, saw the rise of the Redneck Rebel—a Southern or otherwise ‘hick’ anti-hero who rode around the countryside like a modern-day cowboy vanquishing evil. His ‘horse’ was his car—a beefed up/souped up muscle car that often became the star of the show and overshadowed the anti-hero himself. This article examines the Redneck Rebel through the lens of one American TV series—The Dukes of Hazzard. This popular 1980s TV series, along with its antecedents and contemporaries, underscore several important points that reinforce typical conservative American virtues: freedom, fighting the ‘good fight,’ an overt heterosexuality, a particular reveling in a sarcastic ‘sticking out the tongue’ at the overly sophisticated, overly arrogant, ‘anti-American,’ and well-heeled parts of American society.

Author Biography

John Eric Starnes, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

Eric Starnes is a native of Catawba county, North Carolina. He holds a B.A. (1990) and an M.A. (1995) in Russian/East European History from Appalachian State University and a PhD (2018) in American Literature from the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. He has published several articles on American white nationalist fiction, the men’s movement and men’s adventure fiction. His current research interests include: American white nationalist fiction, Nazi occultism in American pulp fiction and conspiracy theories in American pulp fiction.

References

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Hofstede, David. The Dukes of Hazzard: The Unofficial Companion. St. Martin’s 1998.

Hollis, Tim. ‘Ain’t That a Knee-Slapper’: Rural Comedy in the Twentieth Century. University Press of Mississippi, 2008.

Joyce, Jaime. Moonshine: A Cultural History of America’s Infamous Liquor. Zenith Press, 2014.

Nystrom, Derek. Hard Hats, Rednecks and Macho Men: Class in 1970s American Cinema. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Roebuck, Julian B. and Mark Hinson, III. The Southern Redneck: A Phenomenological Case Study. Praeger Publishers, 1982.

Them Idiots Whirled Tour, featuring Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy. 2012. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2302925, Accessed 05 Oct. 2021.

Von Doviak, Scott. Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema. McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2005.

Car Culture(s): Machines, Roads, Mythologies

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Published

2021-12-19

How to Cite

Starnes, J. E. (2021). The Rebel Behind the Wheel: An Examination of the ‘Redneck’ Rebel Cultural Trope in <i>The Dukes of Hazzard</i>. Review of International American Studies, 14(2), 89–102. https://doi.org/10.31261/rias.11815

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2021): Car Culture(s): Machines, Roads, Mythologies—RIAS Vol. 14, Fall–Winter (2/2021)

Section

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