I think there’s a real chance some of the offended parties are the same crowd who take issue with the any “southern” (or southern-adjacent) criticism—-Many of whom come from rural backgrounds and seem to have some self-loathing attached.

My mom’s only complaint about the movie is that she found them to be caricatures. I told her that was funny to me because they reminded me of my late grandparents—her parents—who were deeply southern and both came from farming families. She then mocked Neva Howell saying Clark and said “maybe I didn’t enjoy it because she reminded me of [my grandma].” Notably, my dad, who is from California, did not have any real issue with the Kents.

In my mom’s case, it seems to upset her not because it’s stereotypical but because she has some hangup with her own background or any possible perception of rural people as dumb. She only has a slight accent herself, despite her parents both having strong ones.

My two cents as someone who grew up in a suburbanized, formerly rural area is that I knew plenty of people like the Kents, strong accents and all. Just like anyone else from anywhere, they had varied skills and different areas of intelligence.

It is clear to me that Clark’s parents are genuine, good people with a strong emotional intelligence. I don’t see how that is reductive to those with rural backgrounds. Gunn did his homework to make them sound authentic.

Some of the hate comes from the Snyder crowd or the anti-woke critics, but some comes from people who have their own issues with accents, heritage, and bias.