MMMM # 409 -- Fictional Influences

   

  I remember a story about the Alabama economic developers pitching Vance, Alabama, as a site for a new Mercedes plant in the mid-1990's.

     They really didn't know all of the influences working for or against them in their sales effort, and it was almost by accident that one of them discovered a belief by some of the Germans that Uncle Tom's Cabin was a realistic book about the South, including Alabama. With that knowledge, they were able to counter the misinformation and eventually convince Mercedes to select Alabama 20 years ago today for what is now a huge and hugely successful plant.

     And over the weekend I heard an NPR interview with a AP Asia Correspondent Tim Sullivan, who had been able to spend six weeks in North Korea. He was astounded to discover the influence Gone With The Wind has had there. The book was a little slow in arriving there...it was in the 1990's when it became well known. The movie has been seen by few North Koreans. But apparently the North Koreans could identify with all of the suffering in The South at the hands of The North (Even though they're The North in their own story.)

     Movies and TV are criticised for portraying America in a bad light---as though filmmakers and broadcasters should instead be cheerleaders. But note that the two examples above were printed books. Books of fiction. And they've played an important role in defining the image of The South.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of TimLennox.com]