Southern belle

Southern belle

A southern belle (derived from the French "belle", 'beautiful') is an archetype for a young woman of the American Old South's antebellum upper class. During the period, Kentuckian Sallie Ward of Louisville was the most noted belle in the South, and her portrait, which hangs in the Speed Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, is often called "The Southern Belle." A Southern Belle epitomized southern hospitality, cultivation of beauty and a flirtatious yet chaste demeanor. The stereotype continues to have a powerful aspirational draw for many people, and books like "We're Just Like You, Only Prettier", "The Southern Belle Primer", and "The Southern Belle Handbook" are plentiful. Other current terms in popular culture related to "southern belles" include "Ya Ya Sisters," "GRITS (Girls Raised In The South)," "Sweet Potato Queens," and "Bulldozers disguised as powder-puffs."

To detractors, the southern belle stereotype is a symbol of repressed, "corseted" young women nostalgic for a bygone era.

Use in popular culture

"Gone with the Wind" is probably the most famous treatment of the southern belle. Mittie Bulloch, a true southern belle from Roswell, Georgia, and the mother of President Theodore Roosevelt, was a probable inspiration for the character of Scarlett O'Hara. The character of Blanche DuBois in the play and film "A Streetcar Named Desire", by Tennessee Williams, is a woman who tries desperately to convince others that she is a belle despite contradicting evidence. Both characters, Scarlett O'Hara and Blanche DuBois, are played by Vivien Leigh. She won an Oscar for both of them. The character Amanda in Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" considers herself to be a southern belle, yet clearly has long since passed her years of youth. The movie "Steel Magnolias" showcases a variety of southern belles from differing social classes. Daisy Buchanan, a character in "The Great Gatsby" also epitomises the characteristics of being a southern belle, having been raised in Louisville, Kentucky.

Rogue of Marvel Comics' X-Men is probably the most well-known "southern belle" in comic books.

Although a southern belle can be of any background, traditional symbols in film have often been juxtaposed to the enslaved woman or hired maid servant.

In modern culture

In MTV's show True Life during the 9th season one episode was dedicated to following Southern belles in modern culture.

External links

* [http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1584227&vid=223504 MTV's True Life episode titled "I'm a Southern Belle"]

MTV had a program on southern belles of todays society


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