Since Donald Trump named J.D. Vance as his vice presidential pick for the 2024 election race, people have been piling in on the film version of Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.
The 2020 drama film was based on Vance’s 2016 memoir of the same name. Starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close, it told the story of the author’s journey from a disadvantaged Appalachian upbringing to a successful professional life.
On Monday, Trump picked Vance, now the junior senator from Ohio, as his running mate for the upcoming election, despite the fact that Vance spent several years as one of the most outspoken critics of Trump in the Republican party.
Even at the time of Hillbilly Elegy’s original release, it garnered a number of negative reviews, with many critics labelling its storytelling as “bland melodrama”, while its depiction of the Deep South was criticised for lapsing into stereotypes. It currently sits on a 25 per cent score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
In a two-star review of the film, NME wrote: “It’s hard to imagine [director] Ron Howard having anything other than the best intentions when he took on this adaptation of J.D. Vance’s bestselling 2016 memoir, published at a time when those depicted in it decided Donald J. Trump would be their best bet for an improved life.”
“Perhaps he saw it as an opportunity to shine a light on an overlooked chunk of the population. Unfortunately, the director’s Netflix drama about bygone days in middle America has ended up a blinkered depiction of the working classes.”
With Vance’s elevation to Trump’s running mate fresh in mind, many have taken a moment to reflect on Hillbilly Elegy’s legacy.
“JD Vance grew up 15 minutes from where I did so the fact that he called his book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ will never not be insanely funny to me,” wrote on X/Twitter user. “Like, dude you grew up in the suburbs of Western Ohio.”
jd vance grew up 15 minutes from where i did so the fact that he called his book "hillbilly elegy" will never not be insanely funny to me, like dude you grew up in the suburbs of western ohio
— Matt Williams (@pixelpreaching) July 15, 2024
Another wrote: “Man I fucking hate Trump but I REALLY FUCKING HATE JD VANCE. Half my family is from/lives in Bell County Ky (real poor hillbilly Appalachia) and this goddamn grifter makes my fucking blood boil. Made his name pretending a life he never knew. Absolute scum, liar, loser.”
Man I fucking hate Trump but I REALLY FUCKING HATE JD VANCE. Half my family is from/lives in Bell County Ky (real poor hillbilly Appalachia) and this goddamn grifter makes my fucking blood boil. Made his name pretending a life he never knew. Absolute scum, liar, loser.
— Dakota Renae (@dakotaarenae) July 15, 2024
See some other recent reflections on Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy below:
Hillbilly Elegy looks like a gag in 30 Rock where Jenna is playing both roles in an attempt to win two Oscars for the same movie. pic.twitter.com/F1IYTUQKOG
— Sooz Kempner is doing Edinburgh and then a tour (@SoozUK) July 15, 2024
Hillbilly Elegy is actually really inspiring because despite all the abuse, poverty, and addiction issues J. D. Vance dealt with in his childhood he still managed to grow up to be a terrible person
— gaz (@gazpachomachine) July 16, 2024
As someone who is actually from Appalachia, regardless of his politics, J.D. Vance completely misrepresented us in Hillbilly Elegy and isn't actually from there himself. I'd love to do a more thorough breakdown of the misrepresentations of the area in his book at some point. pic.twitter.com/4AgPF9rtkF
— giggly ♡ (@xgigglypuff) July 15, 2024
HILLBILLY ELEGY was always a mean and nasty work of an author lashing out at the flawed but complicated community that nurtured him, and it duped a lot of bookish coastal types because it used cherry-picked anecdotes and “proper” language to reinforce easy stereotypes.
— mattgallagher0 (@MattGallagher0) July 13, 2024
Hillbilly Elegy is now #1 on Amazon. The lengths some authors will go to sell books is truly incredible.
— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) July 16, 2024
“I think the themes of this movie are very universal,” Adams told NME in 2020, in response to the film’s original negative reviews.
“Whether it be generational trauma, whether it be just examining where we come from to understand where we’re going and who we are. I think the universality of the themes of the movie far transcend politics.”
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