Flipping the Script on the Civil War
The narrative surrounding the Civil War is changing. That’s a good thing, but it’s also worrying.
On January 26, 1979, a new television show debuted on CBS. It was a show of the concluding 70s when trucker culture reigned. That show, the Dukes of Hazzard, was a popular television show running for seven seasons from 1979 to 1985.
It was also a show that could not be made today.
The Dukes of Hazzard focused on a two cousins Bo and Luke Duke, their Uncle Jesse and cousin Daisy, reformed moonshiners who outfoxed the corrupt county executive and sheriff. That by itself is not what would make it radioactive. What makes it a troubling show in our day are all the references to the Confederacy. Bo and Luke drove a 1969 Dodge Charger named the General Lee after Robert E. Lee. It had a big Confederate flag on its roof. When you hit the horn, it sounded the opening notes from “Dixie.” The county executive, Boss Hogg’s full name was Jefferson Davis Hogg, after the Confederate President.
This show couldn’t be made today because of the changing narrative about the Civil War. The late 70s and early 80s was a time where the Civil War had a large place in pop culture.
