Southern Accents

I agree that southern accents sometimes make Southern people seem dumb or uneducated. In many movies and television shows, a dumb character usually has a Southern accent and is depicted with many other Southern stereotypes, like wearing overalls or going barefoot. In Forrest Gump, Forrest has a very blatant Southern accent. He is not necessarily dumb, but more simple minded. However, there needs to be a distinction when talking about Southern accents. When Southern accents are combined with bad grammar, then the Southern stereotype becomes negative. However, when the speaker has an accent, but has good grammar, the stereotype becomes somewhat positive. It starts to take on the connotation of being laid back and open. Take Paula Deen, for example. She is notorious for her accent, but nobody really thinks that she is dumb or illiterate. She is known for her Southern hospitality.

So I think that it really depends on the type of English that the movie portrays. A southern gentleman like Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind has the accent, but the accent does not make his character seem illiterate. Bad grammar in combination with appearance and other factors make a character seem dumb and illiterate.