The construction of the stereotype of the «Deep America» and its validity today: the case of True Detective

Abstract

The concept of «Deep America» takes shape in a stereotype that, on the basis of the historical circumstances that led to the excision to the states of the South and the North of United States, will be set up gradually through the contributions of the literature and some classic film genres such as the western and melodrama. During the social, political and cultural crisis that would bankrupt this country in the 1970s, the horror genre modern giving final shape to this stereotype, subverting many of the archetypes of the American culture. The thematic and iconographic catalogue opened by films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would last over the decades, to be reformulated in new productions as the television series True Detective, which confirms the power of the film medium for the creation of stereotypes and their survival.