What is 'hicksploitation'?

When it comes to reality TV, it is the exploitation of the lives of rural and possibly southern people for the benefit of television shows. We tune in to see the messed up lives of the people on reality TV. When they are country folk, some are calling this use of their lives 'hicksploitation'.

Well, it is some kind of 'sploitation'. I'll be honest, I never watched Honey Boo Boo to learn anything. I didn't tune in because the writing dazzled me, or because of the production value.

I watched because it was just such a mess.

Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty - Getty Paul Zimmerman
Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty - Getty Paul Zimmerman
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Hicksploitation pieces may stereotype southern and rural culture. I've heard Duck Dynasty lumped in this category, but I don't see it that way. The guys on Duck Dynasty aren't struggling financially. They've got acres and acres of beautiful American land and a successful business that comes from them doing what they love. From what I can see, they are rocking it.

Honey Boo Boo on the other hand, is probably some sort of exploitation. It doesn't seem to be so much about being southern as it does lack of education. And possibly nutrition.

Now that Honey Boo Boo has been cancelled because Mama June is dating a sex offender, I know I was right when I was feeling I shouldn't be watching it.  I still did and ended up writing about my favorite train wreck TV shows. I am culpable in the whole mess because I supported it by watching it and talking about it.

The big difference is that Duck Dynasty and Swamp People and some of these other shows may be hicksploitation, but at least they are hicksploitation of adults. Honey Boo Boo, Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms, seem to rely on the bad behavior of parents, so maybe we should stop watching them.

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