The Kansas-Nebraska Acts (Part I)

As I was watching the political comedy "Election" last Tuesday, I began thinking about how badly Hollywood treats states like Kansas and Nebraska. These states comprise the proverbial "fly-over" country that Hollywood treats pretty shabbily in its films.

"Election" is set in Omaha, Nebraska. The Omaha of "Election" is portrayed as kind of a dumpy, plain Jane Midwest town. There may be some truth to this. The problem is that this is how Hollywood portrays states like Nebraska and Kansas (my home state) time after time. At the end of "Election", the two main characters of Tracy Flick (played by Reese Witherspoon) and Jim McAllister (played by Matthew Broderick) flee to big East Coast towns (Washington, D.C. and New York City respectively). Now I have nothing against Washington, D.C. and New York City. I have lived in both towns and have visited both frequently. But Hollywood has gone a little overboard with its treatment of "fly-over" country. As I think back through time, I can't think of a single positive film portrayal of my home state of Kansas, or my home town of Kansas City. Not that there are that many of them to think about. Kansas is usually a forgotten endnote in the catalog of Big Screen films. But when Kansas (or Nebraska, or any other state from "fly-over" country) are portrayed, it is rarely in a positive light. From "The Wizard to Oz" to "Little House on the Prarie" to "Gunsmoke", it is just one long saga of tornadoes, cow manure, and "cowboys & indians". Unfortunately, Kansas and Nebraska are the set of a new political stage - depicting and mocking middle class red-state Americans as being un-enlightened, leading futile lives (a.k.a. the "unexamined life" of Thoreau) and not being as "hip" as our blue state brethen on the two coasts (California, New York City, Seattle, Washington D.C., etc.).

I can think of one recent film that was filmed and set in Kansas City. That was the 1990 film "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" was shot on location in Kansas City. It is a tale about a 1930s upper-class Kansas City couple that lead a morose and sad life amidst the turbulence of the Great Depression. Paul Newman's character is a real piece of work. He rules his household with an iron fist and has driven his wife into oblivion. Joanne Woodward's character is the repressed Kansas City housewife who is trapped in a meaningless existence. What a wonderful depiction of my home town (sarcasm off).

Even more unfair is the depiction of Wichita, Kansas in the 1987 comedy "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" starring Steve Martin and John Candy. The Wichita presented in this film is filled with half-educated cretins who can barely speak English. These rednecks carry rabied dogs in the back of their antique pick-up trucks and are throwbacks to the Civil War era. This contrasts with the more civilized Chicago and New York City depicted at the beginning and end of the film. Once again, Kansas gets stiffed on the Silver Screen.

Last night, I was watching the Alexander Payne movie "Sideways" on HBO. "Sideways" is a clever little film about two friends, one of whom is a week away from being married, who take off for a week of driving through California's wine country in a Saab 9000 while getting in romantic misadventures. I doubt you will find a similar movie made about or set in any "fly-over" state. Instead, you will find more of the same depictions of "fly-over" country in the 2003 horror movie "Wrong Turn". "Wrong Turn" is about a group of crazy young college kids who get lost in the back roads of West Virginia and accidentally run across a tribe of hillbilly cannibals. The cannibalistic hillbillies are grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding, and they like to eat Blue State tourists. If you thought "Deliverance" was bad in terms of its negative portrayal of the South, wait until you see "Wrong Turn". This is par for the course in terms of Hollywood's double-standard against the Heartland.

I guess low costs of living, low crime rates, and the industrial and agricultural backbone of America (all attributes of my home state and home town) just aren't sexy enough for Hollywood's standards. I guess I am just being a spoil-sport because I don't live in a state deemed "cool" enough by the grand pooh-bahs of Tinseltown to merit a better film portrayal. I am miffed that Gwynneth Paltrow doesn't come visit in Lenexa, Kansas and sip Starbucks while enlightening me with a view from the top. I will have to suffice with living in a town that has no traffic gridlock, miniscule crime, a great environment to raise children, and plentiful jobs. But wait - these are all bad things, according to Hollywood, and need to be mocked in films! Oh well, such is life. They say the best revenge is living well. I will keep Kansas City - and Hollywood can keep "Sideways".