Fever Beach

The state of Florida holds a unique place in American culture. As one of the primary destinations for vacationers, it is a place many Americans have visited on a break from their “real” lives. The experience of enjoying a brief visit under the stage-managed conditions of tourism creates a paradoxical image of Florida as simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar, real and artificial. The state’s climate, geography, and wildlife also seem exotic to many, setting Florida further apart from the rest of the country in the popular imagination. Florida is also home to Walt Disney World, part of a vast entertainment empire that lends another layer of exoticism and fantasy to the state’s reputation.

In recent times, Florida has also been stereotyped as a state of eccentric, bumbling residents with little regard for social convention. Many trace the beginnings of this stereotypical representation to the 2000 presidential race, when Florida’s antiquated balloting system held up the presidential election results for several weeks. Media attention turned to Florida for an extended period, and stories and articles often framed the state as backward. Confirmation bias and the frequency illusion played a part in the snowballing of national attention to events in Florida over the next decade.