Redneck rising
Cowboy hats, camouflage, cutoffs ... y'all might have noticed plenty of young people embracing this recent pop culture trend.
The redneck renaissance has arrived.
Twenty years ago, “redneck” was an expression reserved for hillbilly jokes and poking fun at the uneducated and overall-wearing. Now, being considered a redneck is even trendier than fro-yo and the newest iPhone — and certainly a lot more backwoods.
The fad became evident in reality television about a year ago, with shows such as “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” “Duck Dynasty” and “Rocket City Rednecks” taking pop culture by storm. Since then, well over a dozen rustic-inspired series have emerged, including MTV’s recently canceled “Buckwild” — deemed the “Redneck Jersey Shore” — which featured nine young adults participating in “all-American” activities such as mud racing and squirrel hunting.
America’s obsession with redneck-ism now reaches far past TV. Country music has been steadily gaining enormous popularity among younger generations (the same kids who undoubtedly at one time wrote on their Myspace, under musical interests, “anything but country”). Twitter accounts such as Cloyd Rivers (“Unsweet tea? More like terrorist tea. Merica”) have cult followings, and anyone who’s been to the mall in the past six months knows there’s nothing more in vogue these days than American flag print. Even camouflage, cowboy hats and cutoffs have made a comeback.
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In several ways, the trend is refreshing, albeit a bit unexpected.
The posh lifestyles of Kim Kardashian and the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” are no longer sought after so ardently — now, everyone’s dying to be part of the 99 percent. As Honey Boo Boo says, “You better redneckognize.”
Many have been praising this shift in pop culture, claiming it promotes traditional American values such as southern simplicity, tight-knit communities, a do-it-yourself attitude and a particular emphasis on family life.
Lily Neumeyer, vice president of Nonfiction and Alternative Programming for A&E, the channel that produces “Duck Dynasty,” explained the show’s appeal earlier this year: “What viewers have found in ‘Duck Dynasty’ is the flip side of (fortune and fame): a family that has worked hard, provided for itself, lives off the land and doesn’t aspire to something that they’re not.”
Of course, there are two sides to every coin. Others have taken offense to the fad, and not entirely without warrant. The U.S. Board of Education is investigating an Arizona high school for sponsoring a “redneck day” on May 1, during which one student wore a Confederate flag as a cape.
Furthermore, shows like “Honey Boo Boo” have received a bad rap for feeding into negative “white trash” stereotypes of Southerners.
So which is this new blue-collar chic attitude — a return to a simpler, more wholesome lifestyle or just another fleeting fad?
As much as I hate to say it, probably the latter. True rednecks have never really left the scene — they’ve been farming in the boondocks for a couple hundred years now — but the image many young Americans are trying to portray these days is somewhat laughable in comparison. Wearing cutoff Levi jeans and Timberlands while calling everyone who drives a foreign car a “communist” does not make you a redneck. A bit attention-grabbing, maybe, but not a redneck.
As an impressionable teenager, I’ll admit the country livin’ craze hasn’t been lost on me completely. My friends will tell you I’ll wear just about anything with stars and stripes print, and cowboy boots are a staple in my wardrobe. I even recently went to my first country concert and bought an America poster for my dorm room.
That being said, the key to everything is moderation. I may have a wee bit of Southern belle in me, but make no mistake — the day I start singing Johnny Cash, wearing clothing from Cabela’s or trade in my Toyota for a used Ford F-150, feel free to hold an immediate intervention.