Welcome to the white-trash nation

In a scene from the “American Idol” satire “American Dreamz,” an industry suit tells the Kelly Clarkson-styled character (Mandy Moore) and her mom that a “white trash” background is great for her image.

“We’re not white trash,” the mom counters, taken aback.

“Of course you’re not,” the suit replies, rolling his eyes at their garishly decorated middle-class home. “But look how well it did for Britney Spears.” Mandy Moore’s character nods vigorously, ready to embrace any persona that promises fame.

In life, as in art (or at least this movie), the suit is right. Whether it’s America’s embrace of our verbally-challenged president, backlash against Hollywood’s hoity-toity values or the omnipresence of obnoxious reality show jerks, white trash is white hot.

Formerly an insult originated in the antebellum South, the term now describes a growing state of cool, moving beyond the now-passé trucker hats and PBR-in-a-can to full-on “keeping it real.” In fashion lingo, white trash is the ghetto fabulous for spring.

To illustrate the growing white trash cachet, witness “My Name is Earl” (a postmodern “Roseanne”) or the budding movie career of “Blue Collar” comedian Larry the Cable Guy. (An “Ernest” for the new millennium?) Someone tell “The Simpsons”: Between the rise of NASCAR and Dick Cheney’s hunting accident, white trash ain’t just for Cletus and Brandine anymore.

Take Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. On “The Simple Life,” these silver-spoon skanks don’t need a Southern background or humble beginnings typically associated with the low-class moniker. Despite their trustafarian benefits, Paris and Nicole wear their riches like white-trash lottery winners, blowing their cash on pricier versions of regular junk: jewel-encrusted PDAs and cell phones, silk wife-beaters, etc.

Trailer park? What trailer park?
Trucker hats aside, white-trash accoutrements are still all the rage. Swag bags given to celebrities at this year’s Oscars included T-shirts from online retailer White Trash Palace, emblazoned with such slogans as “Every mother is a working mother.” George Clooney auctioned his Oscar bag for charity, but other celebrities wear the white-trash logo as a badge of honor. And that doesn't even include country artists such as Toby Keith, with his new CD “White Trash with Money,” or Candye Kane's “White Trash Girl.”

Kid Rock, with his “White Trash on Dope” tour, worked this shtick from the beginning. Perfectly coifed Jessica Simpson used her own backwoods background to win the coveted Daisy Duke role in the big-screen “Dukes of Hazzard.” Hilary Swank, in the acceptance speech for her second Oscar, crowed about her trailer-park beginnings, much to the dismay of her family, who didn’t remember their life quite as gritty as Swank described.

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