Story by Henry W. Thomas & Photo courtesy of press.wbd.com.
On Feb. 16, 2.4 million viewers tuned in for the season three premiere of the popular television series, The White Lotus.
Unlike most shows, which see a reported 25% decrease in ratings after the premiere episode, this season’s viewership ballooned throughout the course of the season.
Despite the internet’s bereavement of Jennifer Coolidge’s Emmy-award winning portrayal of the wealthy and emotionally unstable Tana McQuoid, the White Lotus broke its own viewership record multiple times throughout the series’ third installment.
Fans had an almost entirely new cast of maladjusted, materialistic resort goers this season, set on the Thai island of Koh Samui. Standouts included a 40-something girl group harboring decades-long resentments, a man intent on avenging his father’s death and – perhaps most controversially – the Ratliff family, hailing from Durham, North Carolina.
Within the first few minutes of being introduced to the Ratliffs, the audience is presented with the rivalry between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The youngest Ratliff sibling, Lachlan, is preparing to graduate high school. He’s been accepted to both colleges, and family members from both sides pressure him to follow in their footsteps.
Social media users have voiced their opinions on The White Lotus’ portrayal of North Carolina natives and the Duke-UNC rivalry, not to mention Tim and Victoria Ratliff’s distinctive Durham accents. The debate has extended beyond the internet, implicating Triangle natives and local academic institutions.
Throughout the season, creator and director Mike White uses the Ratliff family to explore themes that nod to stereotypes of Southern identity, with references to members of the “Southern family” being ditsy, eccentric, and even incestuous.
In an interview with the New Yorker, White made it clear that these sorts of taboos aren’t new to his writing style, mentioning his career-spanning character studies that often deal with human behaviors that violate the convention. The White Lotus is a “social satire,” and White said he specializes in creating characters that may seem polarizing to the viewer.
Protected: hate speech to fair use
White’s characterization of the Ratliffs has caught the attention of more than just the average viewer. A representative from Duke addressed the usage of a University trademark in scenes involving dark subject matter.
According to The New York Times, Frank Tramble, the vice president for communications, marketing and public affairs at Duke, said that the White Lotus’ use of Duke branding without permission “simply goes too far.”
In the series, Jason Isaacs’ character, Timothy Ratliff, and his oldest son, Saxon, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, share Duke as an alma mater. On-screen the Duke alums, in typical White Lotus fashion, exhibit a range of questionable behaviors which include alleged fraud, substance abuse, misogyny, and even incest.
But perhaps the biggest point of contention came from a scene in which the Ratliff patriarch considered taking his own life. In the scene, Isaacs’ character held a gun to his head while sporting a Duke T-shirt, including the official trademarked logo.
The image quickly became widespread across Twitter memes right before the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. In response to a tweet mentioning the use of the image as a reaction photo, Duke replied on their official Twitter account with a message on suicide prevention:
“Suicide is the second-leading cause of death on college campuses. Rivalry is part of March Madness, but some imagery goes too far. If you or someone you know needs support, call or text the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988,” the post read.
Despite Duke’s concerns, however, Ryan Tuck, a media law professor at UNC, said he does not anticipate that the university will pursue legal recourse. Tuck said that he believes the legal ground for Duke in this instance is “far from firm.”
Tuck said trademark identification in a creative setting is often protected by the First Amendment and the Lanham Act, which protects the system of trademarks and their owners in the United States.
He added that he believes a lawsuit may bring more attention to an issue that may eventually fade from the public consciousness.
“By next year, will anybody really, truly remember this by even season four of the White Lotus?” Tuck said. “Not as many people as would remember it if Duke were to take this lawsuit through the courts and keep it in the public eye.”
Stereotyping in The White Lotus
Maya Barile, a content creator who moved to the Triangle from the West Coast, said that White’s character development of the Ratliff clan’s mother, Victoria, veers into the stereotypical with its depiction of Southern identity.
“I feel like the Ratliffs were portrayed maybe a little bit more negatively when it comes to the cultural awareness that comes with being in Thailand,” Barile said.
Maggie Ferguson, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill and a fan of the show, said Parker Posey’s portrayal of Victoria nailed the “upper middle class Triangle area” Southern accent. However, she explained that she feels Victoria Ratliff’s accent became offensive when paired with the character’s lack of cultural awareness.
“I think, stereotypically, people with Southern accents have a very one-sided worldview,” Ferguson said. “And people that have a Southern accent are very steeped in Southern culture and don’t have an interest in other ones.”
A lack of cultural awareness isn’t exclusive to the Ratliffs in the White Lotus. In season one, Mark Mossbacher, portrayed by Steve Zahn, sits at a table with his family and best friend of his daughter. He explains that his former heroism for standing up against bigots has shifted, and he now is encouraged not to say anything “on account of [his] inherited traits” as a white man.
However, Victoria’s insensitivity and dits are a recurring punchline and a major facet of her characterization.
Throughout the season, several jokes are made at the expense of the Ratliff mother. In one scene, the Ratliff daughter, Piper, tells Victoria that she wants to move to Thailand post-grad to develop her spirituality, to which the Ratliff mother mistakenly exclaims, “You want to move to Taiwan?”
In another scene, Victoria reads traditional Thai dishes off a menu when ordering room service. Isaacs said in an interview with CinemaBlend that rehearsing the scene in the room with the Thai cast and crew was “borderline racist, but that’s the character.”
Ferguson said that she believes a one-dimensional worldview has become synonymous with being from the South. She added that she thinks oftentimes portrayals of Southern accents in media include “cheap shots” that associate the accent with a lack of intelligence.
Ferguson is not alone in her criticism of the portrayal of Southerners in the media.
Social media influencer Landon Bryant also shared Ferguson’s apprehension about media that includes Southern characters on the podcast, “Prestige Junkie with Katie Rich.”
“My base perspective on movies and coming into them, if they have something Southern I automatically assume the worst,” Bryant said.
Bryant said he believes that while there’s more Southern representation in media than before, there is still progress to be made. He added that he believes up until recently, the American South has been looked down upon as a “barefoot backwards type of a place.”
The stereotypes of being Southern
A 2009 doctoral dissertation study by Karen C. Hamilton at Georgia State University, dissects the ability of television to construct a group identity of the American South.
Titled “Y’all Think We’re Stupid: Deconstructing Media Stereotypes of The American South,” Hamilton’s study explains how media-driven representations of the South may contribute to the audience’s generalizations, especially if the audience has little to no in-person interaction with actual Southerners:
“While some images may portray a small region or population segment of the South, non-Southerners may unconsciously perceive these images to be an accurate portrayal of what the South is truly like in a widespread manner,” Hamilton wrote.
A popular example can be seen in the comedy TV series, “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
The Dukes of Hazzard centers around the Duke cousins, Bo and Luke, who live on a farm in the fictional Hazzard County, Georgia.
Hamilton explained that the characters sport caricatured Southern accents and are overly family-oriented. The “Duke boys” also comment on their attraction toward the show’s tertiary protagonist – and the boys’ cousin – Daisy.
Another popular show that centers rural lifestyle and satirizes the American South is Adult Swim’s “Squidbillies,” also set in Georgia.
The late-night show takes a more racy, black-comedic approach to its portrayal of Southerners, with each episode centered around the blatant racism, lack of education and substance abuse of the humanoid squid protagonists.
Exaggerated, but effective
Stereotypes aside, many White Lotus fans and critics alike just aren’t convinced by the Ratliff parents’ accents in the show.
Walt Wolfram, a William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, criticized Isaacs’ fluidity with the dialect, in spite of the actor’s public appearances claiming a thorough study of the Durham accent.
In two separate interviews, Isaacs claimed that he studied two vowels that are residual from the colonial United States. In an interview with Andy Cohen on his radio show, Isaacs said these two vowels are “pretty unique” to Durham.
“We have done over 100 interviews in Durham – we have interviews all over North Carolina,” Wolfram said. “No linguist has ever said there are two vowels that are unique in Durham.”
Wolfram said that dialect coaches focus on a few prominent features of an accent when teaching them to an actor. He claimed that this is the reason that many authentic Southerners may not identify with the portrayals of their accents on-screen.
McCurdy added that other challenges a dialect coach may face is teaching exceptions to a pattern of speech.
One example, McCurdy said, is the presence of monophthongization, or the simplification of a dipthong into a single syllable–which only happens in certain circumstances. While native speakers of a dialect may be familiar with the exceptions and use them naturally, actors learning the dialect may not.
However, Wolfram said that Posey’s accent is somewhat authentic, though she sometimes overdoes the dialect.
“For example, when she has a vowel like ‘boat’ she glides it too long,” Wolfram said. “And so it calls attention to itself.”
Victoria Ratliff’s reliance on the anxiety relief medication Lorazepam may also contribute to the character’s speech patterns.
“It’s hard to tell how much her speech is also adjusted to sort of the drugs that she’s on now,” Wolfram said.
Brody McCurdy, a linguist and PhD student at N.C. State University, agreed that Posey’s speech pattern may just be a feature of her character. “Is it super accurate? It’s exaggerated, but I think it’s super effective,” McCurdy said.
Bryant affirmed Posey’s Southern accent in the White Lotus is authentic, being from the actress’ hometown of Laurel, Mississippi.
“You hear how I sound like cornbread?” Bryant asked, defending his credentials in a TikTok video addressing Posey’s accent.
Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Neal III, North Carolina natives and co-hosts of the YouTube web series, “Good Mythical Morning,” also commented on the accents on the White Lotus.
On Episode 463 of their podcast, “Ear Biscuits,” McLaughlin and Neal expressed their approval of Isaacs’ performance. However, McLaughlin said his opinion of Posey’s accent has evolved from initially criticizing the accent for its dramatism.
“When they come in real strong, I’m like, ‘oh come on, we don’t talk like that,’” McLaughlin said, “but the fact is that some of us do.”
