Lost Cause Nostalgia - "Virginia"

"Virginia" is a song from Frank Wildhorn's Tony-nominated musical, "The Civil War" (1999).

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Lost Cause
• Civil War
• memory
• Confederacy
• nostalgia
• Civil War music

[smrt1111111111111]

what is the name of picture on 1:10

[cggdh]

@smrt1111111111111

The painting at 1:10 is by Mort Kunstler and is called "Tender is the Heart." It is a scene from the 1864 baptism of General Hill's infant daughter. This painting is one of many modern pieces that advances the Lost Cause proposition that Lee was a kind, gentle, reluctant Christian who was the paragon of Southern manly virtues, as opposed to the cruel, devious, godless mercenaries of the North.

[cggdh]

@MikeyM1977

I have seen this show several times and aware of the context. My point is not that "remembering the old south is pointless," but that 20th- and 21st-century Americans (like the writers of this song) often choose to memorialize it in a way that elides the reality of slavery in favor of a moonlight-and-magnolias vision. In the song and images presented here, the Lost Cause nostalgia machine remembers the "splendor and grace," but not the violence. This choice is not apolitical.

[cggdh]

Try listening again.

This song is pro-Confederate in a very disturbing way. As you said, it portrays antebellum Virginia as a "noble and beautiful place," all moonlight and magnolias. It is the Gone With the Wind version of the antebellum South.

The whole point is that the decision to portray pre-war Virginia as Eden is a political statement that ignores the realities of slavery and the causes for the war. It allows us to think of Confederates as noble heroes without thinking about slavery.

[Lubbockrebel]

I hope the creator of this video is living in Philadelphia or Detroit where he can enjoy the fruits of the Yankee victory.

[redjack809]

Although I agree with the intent of the video, I felt as if I needed to cleanse my spirit by listening to "John Brown's Body" after viewing it. :P

[sugarfoot59]

@myanrueller A fact! Not widely known or taught, but then, the winners ALWAYS write the history after their victory, right? Now, being politically correct is what is taught, and the South portrayed as a 'villain', as in: North, good.....South, bad! What a bunch of bunk! Is it any wonder why I'm sick of political correctness. If you're offended, then tis best you walk away, for we will be at war if you press it.. I do NOT believe in political correctness!

[sugarfoot59]

@cggdh I am a native Virginian, and I have always thought of 'Old Virginia', a place where those 'noble hero's' lived and walked in abundance. Slavery was a fact, but that's the way it was, we lived with it, and did will enough without black interference. The causes were political, and again, that is the way it was, and even in the north, the blacks really didn't fare any better, only they were paid meager wages, to offset being called slavery.

[WishWielder]

@cggdh And I would argue to this that you completely misunderstood the context. He's not singing about the "antebellum south"; this is a soldier in the middle of the war. There is no "antebellum south" at this point (at least how we view it). All this soldier sees is the war-torn countryside, his brothers dying, families being ripped apart - and he's yearning for the time when war was not a part of the equation. I'm not saying glorify slavery south; I'm saying understand the real context.

[Gbpfbftw]

Slavery was as American as baseball. The South was just lagging behind in abolition, do to the heavier necessity of agricultural labor.

It was a necessary evil that at one point was used throughout the entire country. People fool themselves into believing that it was simply a southern institution, because in general, people are fools and fail to capture the reality of it.

[vahoo92]

@cggdh How is this song pro-Confederate in anyway? The song is about Virginia. Read Apostles of Disunion, and you will find that the issue of slavery did not have an effect on VA going to war with the United States. How can you group Confederates with slavery when the vast majority of them didn't own a single slave? Have some knowledge on a subject before you make a poorly made video on it....

[country100193]

@cggdh - I know what Lost Cause means, I was only arguing with terracottapie because he was attempting to make the whole war about slavery. Anyhow, did you view my video? I am from Virginia and currently live in NC, I really want to go home but the economy won't allow it right now. The pictures of the plantation in the video that I did are from a place that I use to live - as it was and as it is now.

[myanrueller]

@terracottapie I never said slavery was awesome, that is putting words in my mouth. Slavery is an evil that built the economy of the South. But it is evil. But the civil war was fought over more than slavery, but unfortunately it is only remembered by that issue. It was fought over State Sovereignty versus National Control/Supremacy. The south wanted less central government. It was an issue of state's rights, one of which was slavery yes. But, the right to leave a contract not signed by force...

[cggdh]

@myanrueller

"Experience with the piece"? You mean that you have good memories of singing it in show choir? That's what the Lost Cause is supposed to do — give you warm fuzzies about the antebellum South while skating over the sticky bits. If the song made you feel nostalgic, it has done its job well.

This is not a video about an "enlightened" North vs. an "evil" South — it is about how modern art/music perpetuates the myth of the Lost Cause.