Southerners as the Other

Is it possible? Am I really going to be criticizing Joss Whedon for something? Let the disclaimer show that I still think he's the god of all things narrative and TV, but this minor thing struck me while watching Angel today.

The character of Winifred Burkle (or Fred, as she's called) is introduced to us late in Season 2 when Angel & Co rescue her from the demon dimension of Pylea. She comes off as shy and nerdy, a clear misfit (of course, in a dimension of demons and very few humans, of course she's a misfit). We don't learn until later that she's from Texas, in the episode, "Fredless." In the ep, her parents come to take LA to find her and take her home. And like all Southern characters portrayed in our lovely entertainment world, they speak with that heavy, hick-like Southern accent. An indication of their Otherness, since they don't speak perfect LA English (or, in Wesley's case, perfect British English). Secrets like the existence of demons and vampires are kept from them. They are clearly not a part of the in-crowd, and the audience is clearly supposed to laugh when Fred's mother, when talking about doing "rounds" refers to bus driving rather than medical doctoring. The stereotype of the low-class, blue-collar hick family raises its familiar head.

The ending, in true Whedon-like fashion, of course, turns our assumptions and stereotypes on its head, when Fred's parents are inevitably sucked into battle with a giant mommy bug-like demon looking for her little lost baby bugs. Fred's mother, using her bus-driving skills, squashes the bug monster with her truck. Additionally, Fred herself is a highly intelligent physicist, which shatters the Southern "dumb" stereotype.

Interestingly enough, and paradoxically, given the shattering of stereotypes that Joss Whedon is so famous for, Fred's acceptance into the in-crowd of Angel Investigations coincides neatly, and almost immediately, with the loss of her Southern accent. In the following episode, "Billy", she all but speaks like she was born and raised in Los Angeles, with nary a trace of her accent. The question is, why was that decision made for her to lose the accent? After all, Alexis Denisof, who plays the British character Wesley, is American, but maintains a British accent throughout the series. Why can't we have a character from the South with a genuine Southern accent in a setting that is not in the South (and not made fun of like in "Drop Dead Gorgeous" or "Sweet Home Alabama", where having a Southern accent marks you as white trash)? Is it because audiences feel like they can't relate to a character who is Southern, yet displays high intellect and is an important leading character of a mainstream TV show, because that's not what they're familiar with? Because someone who has a Southern accent is inherently the Other in our upper-middle class, urban/suburban, Hollywood-constructed America?