Texas stereotypes

I wasn’t surprised by what I read in your article about the “King of the Hill” writers going to Texas (“Deep in the heart of Arlen, Texas,” Oct. 20).

I just can’t understand why people writing about Texas have to always keep writing the same old mundane stereotypes -- rednecks and barbecue, horses and trucks, twangy talk and country music, etc.

Same old garbage from Hollywood. Every book and every movie, from “The Last Picture Show” to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” When will these people find different material in Texas for a change? Most of us are nothing like that. People come here and expect to see it and get confused when they can’t find it. At least “Terms of Endearment” wasn’t “Bubbafied.”

On the other hand, most people never realize that “Rollerball” wasn’t Detroit -- it was Houston -- and they don’t believe it when you tell them. And they also don’t believe you when you tell them that the U.S. Open scene in “Tin Cup” was not filmed in North Carolina. It was filmed in Houston.

I had a small part in that movie. I asked the director, Ron Shelton, why they were doing that, and he said that nobody would believe it was Texas. Too many trees. I said, “Do you think that’s because of all the stupid stereotypes about Texas from years of movies?”

He said, “Exactly.”

Kriss Brink

Kingwood, Texas