A couple of recent threads got me thinking about this.
If they made a movie that takes place in your state what would they show? We know for Maine it would be the rocky coast, and possibly pine trees or moose.
If people from the other states were asked to name the 3 most famous people from your state who would they say?
Sadly I can’t think of much of an answer for Rhode Island, except for being small and being the only island not totally surrounded by water we’re barely known at all. Some people might be able to name Roger Williams, and fewer maybe Buddy Cianci.
I live in Nevada. We have Las Vegas: Elvis, Liberace, Sinatra, etc. Many of our hotels and our Strip are easily recognized at the moment.
Las Vegas is pretty well-known (I’m taking an online class in Understatement) but the rest of the state not so much… Area 51 would be the thing most people would recognize, prolly.
How about Newport, and Gatsbyesque millionaires? Or Family Guy? Sure, your state’s a little obscure, but I think perhaps you overestimate its cultural invisibility. I can tell you more about Rhode Island than I can about Nebraska, f’r instance.
As far as Georgia is concerned, I would guess most people would think Jimmy Carter, crunk, and The Walking Dead. Movies about Georgia tend to be set in Atlanta. As far as famous Georgians, the top three are probably Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr. and … well, Julia Roberts is hugely famous, and from suburban Atlanta, but she’s not really associated, ISTM, with her native state. Ten years ago, I would have said Newt Gingrich, but he’s kinda fallen off the radar. (Thank Og.) Hmm. Gladys Knight? Ludakris? The Indigo Girls? Not sure.
The Family Guy would be pretty good for some circumstances. While people have heard of Newport and it’s wealth they’d wouldn’t have an easy time recognizing it if it was used in an establishing shot in a movie. You’d definitely need a caption for it.
California here, if I am in the south people tend to ask about Hollywood a lot. If a am in the east they talk about the beach and the nightlife. Years ago we were known for citrus, Hollywood and Disneyland. Now there are just too many possibilities for people to focus on.
I’m a resident of Fargo, North Dakota. They did make a movie about it. They got the cold winter weather right, but everything else is wrong. Fargo is suburban. It’s peaceful and safe. Few people get pushed into wood chippers up here. Few people even have wood choppers, because there’s not much wood.
(Also, it pisses me off that they try to establish the setting and mood with a shot of a statue of Paul Bunyan. That statue is in an amusement park in Minnesota, nowhere near Fargo.)
[ul]
[li]Teddy Roosevelt. He was a cowboy out here for two or three years. Obviously he’s not from here, but we take what we can get.[/li][li]Lawrence Welk. of course young whippersnappers will say, “Who was Lawrence Welk?” Again we take what we can get.[/li][li]Ummmm… maybe Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse? Sioux chieftains who ranged over lands including what’s now North Dakota.[/li][/ul]
The Movie Fargo explicitly takes place almost entirely in suburban and exurban Minneapolis. The only way the city of Fargo is involved in the movie is that the two criminals Jerry hires come from there. There is a brief scene at the end in North Dakota, but it’s in Bismarck.
They have made some movies there, and the subjects tend to be: the Amish (Witness), steel mills, hunting and Russian Roulette (The Deer Hunter), and minor league hockey (Slap Shot).
Uh, drawing something of a blank here. Taylor Swift, Joe Paterno and James Stewart?
Oh, there’s that guy the state (or Commonwealth, rather) was named for. I think he invented the pennsyl or something.
Thinking of a couple of variants - listing what you think your state is most popular for, and seeing if other folk can identify it. Or seeing if residents and nonresidents agree.
So here goes:
Political corruption, corn and soybeans, Al Capone, the Blues Brothers.
Most famous, probably Abe Lincoln (tho born elsewhere).
Mormons, Mormons, and Mormons. Utah’s history and culture are inextricably linked to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And pretty much everyone famous from Utah (Osmonds, etc.) is Mormon.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind Mormonism would be things like our ski resorts and canyonlands.
