White Trashing
Dirty asphalt, endless sunny days, a dusty haze covering entire towns. One of my favorite subgenres is white trash media. I’m obsessed with it, there’s something completely enchanting about a dilapidated lawn and flickering light poles.
White trash is a bit of a harsh name, there’s levels to the exploration of the American South after all, but I’m obsessed with all of them. From the southern gothic madness of The Reflecting Skin to the Americana blues of Joan Baez to the white trash excellence that is Gummo, I eat it all up.
Gummo (1997) | Image Credit: FilmGrab
The thing is, I find myself wondering why I love this type of media. I’m Nicaraguan-American from a predominantly Latin city. A Floridian city that, despite being one of the most southern cities in the country, is still not considered part of “The South”. An exclusion that I completely understand. We do not share the same cultural experiences and histories with people of bible belt states, but is that where my love stems from? The fact that it’s a whole, foreign world? If that's the case, why don’t other depictions of differing subcultures interest me the same way? What is it about this subgenre that pumps my white trash heart?
The Reflecting Skin (1990) | Image Credit: FilmGrab
When reflecting on my admiration for this aesthetic, I find myself thinking about the line between appreciation and glorification, not just in how I am consuming this type of media, but what I’ve noticed overall. The authors, singers, filmmakers, for these types of projects are glaringly white, this is not a fact that has gone unnoticed by me. I’m taking in a predominantly white view of the South, and while most of these projects are inspired by lived experiences, there is a point where one has to step back and categorize what is satirical, what is factual, and what is being aestheticized to the upteenth degree.
The problem is that if a majority of the projects being consumed regarding the American South are from a white lens, this creates a slewed view on interacting with the South and its histories in the present day. It creates songs from artists that do not have the tact to make satirical art regarding the South, relishing and yearning to be loved like it’s 1965, domestic violence and all. It creates a culture of conservativity and complicity where one does not think deeper into the media they are interacting with. Taking the traditional beliefs on display at face value and not battling with its predilections.
Nashville (1975) | Image Credit: FilmGrab
It’s a fine line to toe, one that artists like Nicole Dollanganger and Robert Altman walk well. Dollanganger’s seminal 2015 alt-rock album, Natural Born Losers, turned 10 this past month, and revisiting it recently was a riveting experience.
High school champs, lonely poachers, plastic Jesus’; the characters in Dollanganger’s album feel alive and raw. She’s lamenting the cyclical nature of the South in Natural Born Losers. It’s a place and people that could be so beautiful, yet it’s a place that falls victim to its old habits. I think that’s where my fascination comes from. I’m drawn to stories about guilty souls desperately trying their best to be good, but still feeling like bad humans when they look in the mirror. The South is a similar character in these types of projects. A moral tale collective caught between the intersection of tradition and modernity.
Mississippi Masala (1991) | Image Credit: FilmGrab
Recommendations for further southern viewing:
Wild at Heart (1990)
Bug (2006)
Nickel Boys (2024)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Mississippi Massala (1991)
These films capture the soul of the south and its heat-stained denizens. From the clash of cross-cultural romances to the paranoia of a humid, cricket-flooded night to the loneliness of a small town. A region trying its damnedest to deny its inheritance through good-natured values, faith, and community. A shimmer shining through the rust.
Strike Out,
Ariel Rivera
Miami
Ariel Rivera is a senior at Florida International University, majoring in Media Communications with a minor in English Studies. Rivera is passionate about expanding on current, hot-button cultural moments that may seem frivolous at first glance, but which, through his unique point of view, become pillars of discussion. A self-described crazy film nerd, Rivera enjoys watching and reviewing movies in his free time, as well as reading and lounging with his dog, Neo.
