Oklahomans Are Not Hicks
How TV Gets it Wrong
The first fifteen minutes of the premiere of "Saving Grace" last week left me with a knot of anger in my stomach. The show, which airs on TNT on Monday nights at 9:00 p.m. CST, features Holly Hunter as a booze swilling Oklahoma City cop who hits a man with her car and then calls on God, who sends his answer in the form of a denim wearing angel named Earl (who also has a drawl).
Who researches these shows? Certainly there are rundown parts of Oklahoma City. I've managed to get myself lost in a few of them over the years. However, it is also a city with many beautiful homes, parks, shopping and recreational areas. Why is it that none of these things are ever shown on television?
It is obvious that this is a show that is meant to be gritty, but is it necessary to portray the city in which it is set as one of the circles of hell?
I have a news flash for the Hollywood hotshots: most Oklahomans do not speak in long drawls or heavy southern accents. We are not hicks. I find it unlikely that a woman working in an Oklahoma police crime lab would talk as if she had dropped out of that Steinbeck novel, nor would she wear large framed black glasses suitable for a man. We also have plenty of department stores and shopping malls and do not look as if we have picked our wardrobe out of a dumpster. Police detectives do not dress like they are going out for a day of hunting and fishing. They wear slacks and shirts and look like professionals.
Police shows set in multi-cultural centers such as New York City and Los Angeles always seem to have the obligatory Latino cop. Saving Grace gives us a Native American cop. Stereotyping anyone? Not to mention the fact that most Native Americans who become police officers in Oklahoma work as tribal police officers.
Many of use are intelligent, some of us are educated and the majority of us have the ability to make it home at night without stopping at a bar first.
I will give them props for using what looks like a modern day police station. They also managed to use real Oklahoma license plates, an Oklahoma state flag, and they even placed Sooner paraphernalia outside someone's home, which is something you would most definitely see in Oklahoma.
Still, I am left to wonder if any of the people writing the show have ever been to Oklahoma or if they just base the show on what they've heard or read.
Published by Becky Smith
I served as the Senior Editor of a local parenting publication for 2 years and am now the Layout Editor for OKIE magazine, a local arts, news and entertainment publication.Writing was always my dream job. I... View profile
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22 Comments
Post a Commentthat is not true, at all. OK is full of stupidity. We cherish toddlers playing football and are eons behind the curve in anything international or progressive.
that is not true, at all. OK is full of stupidity. We cherish toddlers playing football and are eons behind the curve in anything international or progressive.
hahahaha basing your facts all because of the select few people who actually vote in oklahoma. what deep arrogance you have. you must live in a arrogant state and all the people in the state must be arrogant because of that one comment.....no . you fail Oklahoma hater. almost every single state south of the Mason Dixon line is going to have some "hicks" but i guess everyone from (place state name here) are arrogant pieces of crap that think they are better all because of the retards that did vote. nothing is more backwards than you sir.
Hahahahaha! too bad that the TV show is dead on about Oklahoma. Oklahoma is without a doubt the most backwards hick infested state in the U.S. Nice try Becky, but you aren't fooling anyone. Just look at how Oklahoma votes to get a better picture.
2004 - Every county went for Bush
2008 - Every county voted for McCain
Senator James Inhofe - Re-elected 3 times on the platform of God, Guns, and Gays. Believes that gays are diseased animals and that global warming is a hoax unless it can be proven on biblical proportions.
Sally Kern (R-OKC) - Made headlines when she said in 2008 that gays are the biggest threat to America, even more so than Islam and terrorism.
Need I continue?
If Oklahoma isn't filled with hicks then why does it continue to elect people who have hick mentalities? Until you and the rest of the backwards Okies decide to change your ways, you can expect Oklahoma to be the butt of many more jokes.
@Pam Kirkwood cont:
And frankly, I don't want to sit back and let people heap on stupid ideas about Oklahomans just because I've decided to "reclaim" that mean-spirited word "hick". If you want a reclaimed insult, use "Okie". In and of itself, it was derogatory.
@Pam Kirkwood,
If you're not bothered about being stereotyped as a "hick," then that's very gracious of you. However, you shouldn't assume that because some of us ARE bothered by it that we must not appreciate our heritage. Frankly, it's BECAUSE I am proud of Oklahoma Heritage that I don't like it being boxed in by the word "hick."
There's nothing wrong with a Southern drawl or twang, nor jeans, nor a strong work ethic and a down-to-earth attitude, but the word "hick" itself implies that there is. When I hear it, I don't think of the positive aspects of the "country", I think of missing teeth and incest--neither of which I've even seen in OK.
Oklahomans aren't just the sum total of their clothes and their accents! Moreover, let's be honest, not all Okies have particularly strong accents, or wear a lot of denim. (And you might take note, the author wasn't annoyed about denim, she was annoyed about clothes that look like they come out of the garbage.)And frankly, I don't want t
Good to know!
You are so right! My mom's from Kentucky, but she lost her drawl years ago. Some times jokes can be fun, but that's only if you aren't the one they are poking fun at. I see your point completely. Well done!
And NJ is not populated by people like Tony Soprano -- TV plays to stereotypes for entertainment purposes (I guess). Good article.
I love it Deborah, it is like Indiana Hoosiers all play basketball and grow corn!