tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post813713183341545121..comments2024-03-28T02:29:13.507-07:00Comments on Legal Ruralism: Rural trappings and urban trendsLisa R. Pruitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16469550950363542801noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-80798783150363381652011-04-17T21:09:53.450-07:002011-04-17T21:09:53.450-07:00Here's one of my favorite stories about "...Here's one of my favorite stories about "rural chic," from 2005:<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/22/national/22land.html?scp=1&sq=florida%20rural%20tractor&st=cseLisa R. Pruitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16469550950363542801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-72815676401907125792011-04-12T13:35:13.871-07:002011-04-12T13:35:13.871-07:00Good post, I too have noticed the romanticizing of...Good post, I too have noticed the romanticizing of the rural in popular culture a lot these days. One of my favorte TV shows is called American Pickers, where two guys drive around the country in a van collecting old stuff to sell to hipsters at triple the value. It's kind of like when you buy new jeans that already come with holes in them. I definitely see this trend continuing until the cool people play it out, and its not cool to them anymore. I'm going to start planning a coffee shop for my uncles rusty car graveyard soon.vlshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07044629424339304003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-76779557918549715682011-04-12T11:18:50.620-07:002011-04-12T11:18:50.620-07:00I have to agree with Sarah - I think even rural fo...I have to agree with Sarah - I think even rural folk like to romanticize the rural. Romanticizing rural has been going on for a long time. Film, plays, and television more often than not, fall into this trap. The musical "Oklahoma" came out in 1943 and is filled with charming rural images. A recently canceled TV show, Men in Trees, glorifies life in a small Alaskan town. And there are hundreds of other examples. I frequently fall into idealizing my own small town, especially when city life brings me parking tickets. Many media images and urban impressions are one sided, but rural communities do have many wonderful attributes. There is much to be said for living in an area that is close to its natural environment. My mother moved from Long Beach California to a small mountain town. She is very aware of the town's struggles with meth, nasty politics that lead to election a City Council dominated by the Tea Party, and issues with inefficiencies and limited access to resources, but she loves walking her dogs in the woods and smelling the earth after the rain. Some rural characterizations celebrate the beauty of rural life. Barns, hay fields, and rusted out trucks covered in growth are beautiful. These seem like the more harmless idealizations. TV shows about perfect families in perfect loving communities might be more problematic.D'Arcyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06550806149112592307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-71100399076251621182011-04-12T10:05:52.126-07:002011-04-12T10:05:52.126-07:00The growing trends of embracing Americana has actu...The growing trends of embracing Americana has actually been a large part of how several cities have sought to rebuild to their former glory. One example, found in the NY Times a few months ago related to a city in the middle of Pennsylvania that used to be a big urban town that was using this image of rurality to get urban individuals to move back into the town. For example, they used urban farming, the small town relationships, and the ability to rebuild a city from the ground up the way to get people to move into the area. This is an interesting blend of rural and urban - but mostly the notion that rural is being used as a marketing device.N.P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08296347844003958446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-36440711740324956152011-04-10T16:19:15.488-07:002011-04-10T16:19:15.488-07:00I am most definitely guilty of romanticizing the r...I am most definitely guilty of romanticizing the rural - I wear flannel, have chickens in my backyard, attempt to grow herbs and vegetables at home, and dream of owning a goat farm one day. Yet I can't wait to get out of Davis and live in San Francisco when law school ends. How to explain the dichotomy? I think Sarah's grass-is-greener hypothesis is spot-on. I also think that other rural stereotypes of authenticity and natural beauty have something to do with urbanites' fascination with the rural. There is also something to be said for achieving a semblance of balance between the loud, crowded city and quiet, isolated rural space.Jen Wickenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12731583154740920149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171420941776673660.post-10355048824681635892011-04-09T15:49:35.505-07:002011-04-09T15:49:35.505-07:00Thanks, Lauren. I feel like I've had similar e...Thanks, Lauren. I feel like I've had similar experiences, both in observing what's "new" and "hip" in our beloved urban centers, as well as in the wedding planning context. To answer your question, from my perspective I think we do romanticize the rural. For one thing, I think people normally romanticize whatever it is they do not have. When I lived in San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica, I would have given anything to "take a break" and spend a few weeks getting to know the small, rural mountain towns. When I lived in a small, rural town in Malaysia, trips to the capital city were all that I thought about. So, naturally, an urbanite will drool over anything that invokes the countryside, and perhaps vice versa. I think the trendiness of the "urban farm" ideal is a result of this phenomenon. Admittedly, I have been sucked in as well, as that truck-porch looked really cool.Sarah Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17442096376589715649noreply@blogger.com