This week we have been watching the movie Deliverance, one of the most criticized films about Appalachia from our textbooks. For this week’s prompt, I want you to look at how people talk about the movie online. Find a website, social media site, blog, etc. and see how the writer discusses the movie. Do they mention the criticism of the movie from an Appalachian standpoint? Do they discuss the fact that the movie was filmed in Appalachia and that most of the time Appalachians are negative, stereotypical characters? Do they acknowledge that the movie is stereotypical in any way? Why do you think the website does/does not mention these concerns? What seem to be the most memorable parts of the movie for people? Why?

For example, I found the Wikipedia (a website that is constructed by everyday people) site for the movie, and it didn’t mention anything controversial about the depiction of Appalachians at all. This means that no one has added this to the Wikipedia site.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/deliverance-1972

This particular movie review doesn’t give much opinion in the review but did use the phrase “demented hillbilly.” This review is more of a summary and how city people come to the country of Georgia.  I was expecting more of a criticism or support of the film over a summary.

New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173BE567BC4950DFB1668389669EDE)

This review is more what I expected. It describes the adventurers as “three of whom are less fit for hiking across a steep cornfield than for watching televised football.” It describes the locals as “sodomy-inclined hillbillies.”  This still was a film review describe what happened as well as its relationship to the book.

Slant Magazine (http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/deliverance)

This review focuses more on the representation of going on a trip to a place where they don’t know and discussing the rape scene. It says “men respond to the canoe trip and the boy’s adventure aspect of the story, but that women are the ones who really know what it’s about.” This i think is a representation of how society prepares women for these situations and not men.

I am most shocked that none of the reviews I have read discussed the representation of the Appalachian people as I had expected. I know when i first saw the film that bothered me very much. But the review address the city boys and how they were traveling and unprepared, but nothin on the stereotyping of the Appalachian people, which they should have done.