Strangers and kin

This documentary explores the images depicting and often afflicting the people of Appalachia, from colonial times to the present. Like other ethnic groups which have fallen prey to stereotyping, hillbillies have often been portrayed as backward, strange and peculiar people living in a region where time has stood still. This study juxtaposes Hollywood film clips, network television shows, dramatic sketches, and interviews with Appalachians to show the evolution of these stereotypes, and then questions their validity. The film examines the source of these images and the ways in which they are used to rationalize exploitation of the region's land and people. The program chronicles a people struggling to create an identity amidst technological changes that threaten to make them strangers to their kin.