4. The comics exaggerated Appalachian mannerisms and customs
Both Li’l Abner and Snuffy Smith used true Appalachian events and customs as plot devices, though in a humorous manner which created many of the stereotypes still prevalent. The Hatfield-McCoy feud served as fodder for “feudin'” in the comics, which carried over in motion pictures (some comedic, some less so) and later to television, as in The Andy Griffith Show of the 1960s. Hillbillies were portrayed as either pious teetotalers or ravenous consumers of their own home-distilled moonshine. Mountain people were simple folk, always wary of the strangers who found their ways to their communities, certain that they were in the neighborhood for no good, but welcomed anyway.