BIBFRAME Work

Title

The rural primitive in American popular culture

Other Titles (e.g. Variant)

All too familiar

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  • Text
  • Monograph

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Subject

Language

Illustrative Content

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Supplementary content

Summary

Hayden examines how the mythology of the primitive rural other became linked to evolutionary theories, both biological and social, that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century. This mythology fit well on the imaginary continuums of primitive to civilized, rural to urbanormative, backward to forward-thinking, and regress versus progress. In each chapter of this volume, Hayden uses popular cultural depictions of the rural primitive to illustrate the ways in which this trope was used to set poor, rural whites apart from others. Not only were they set apart, however; they were also set further down on the imaginary continuum of progress and regress, of evolution and devolution. Hayden argues that small, rural, tight-knit communities, where "everyone knows everyone" and "everyone is related" came to be an allegory for what will happen if society resists modernization and urbanization. The message of the rural, close-knit community is clear: degeneracy, primitivism, savagery, and an overall devolution will result if groups are allowed to become too insular, too close, too familiar. --Adapted from publisher description.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The rural primitive in American popular culture -- Inbreeding, cousin marriage, and the rural primitive in nineteenth century America -- Inbred horror and the rural primitive in twentieth-century popular culture -- Inbred horror revisited: the rural primitive in twenty-first century backwoods horror films -- Murder Comes to Town: the rural primitive on true crime television -- Not so familiar: thinking beyond rural stereotypes.

Authorized Access Point

Hayden, Karen E. (Professor). The rural primitive in American popular culture

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Geographic Coverage

Admin Metadata

  • Date: 2026-09-11T20:16:50.639435+00:00
  • Agent: cbc
  • Status: c
  • Derived from: 23975016

Admin Metadata

  • Date: 2026-09-11
  • Cataloger id: Unknown
  • Description level: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe-2-6-0/
  • Description language: eng
  • Description authentication: pcc

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