document_title: Fundamental rights in India

question_text: article 16(3) of indian constitution amended by

question_tokens: article 16 ( 3 ) of indian constitution amended by

text: Fundamental rights in India

text: Genesis[edit]

text: The development of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights in India was inspired by historical examples such as England's Bill of Rights (1689), the United States Bill of Rights (approved on 17 September 1787, final ratification on 15 December 1791) and France's Declaration of the Rights of Man (created during the revolution of 1789, and ratified on 26 August 1789).[2]

text: In 1919, the Rowlatt Act gave extensive powers to the British government and police, and allowed indefinite arrest and detention of individuals, warrant-less searches and seizures, restrictions on public gatherings, and intensive censorship of media and publications. The public opposition to this act eventually led to mass campaigns of non-violent civil disobedience throughout the country demanding guaranteed civil freedoms, and limitations on government power. Indians, who were seeking independence and their own government, were particularly influenced by the independence of Ireland and the development of the Irish constitution. Also, the directive principles of state policy in Irish constitution were looked upon by the people of India as an inspiration for the independent India's government to comprehensively tackle complex social and economic challenges across a vast, diverse nation and population.

text: In 1938, the Nehru Commission composing of representatives of Indian political parties proposed constitutional reforms for India that apart from calling for dominion status for India and elections under universal suffrage, would guarantee rights deemed fundamental, representation for religious and ethnic minorities, and limit the powers of the government. In 1931, the Indian National Congress (the largest Indian political party of the time) adopted resolutions committing itself to the defence of fundamental civil rights, as well as socio-economic rights such as the minimum wage and the abolition of untouchability and serfdom.[3] Committing themselves to socialism in 1936, the Congress leaders took examples from the Constitution of the Soviet Union, which inspired the fundamental duties of citizens as a means of collective patriotic responsibility for national interests and challenges.

text: Task of developing a constitution for the nation was undertaken by the Constituent Assembly of India, composing of elected representatives. The Constituent Assembly first met on December 9, 1946 under the presidency of Dr. Sachidanand later Dr. Rajendra Prasad was made its President. While members of Congress composed of a large majority, Congress leaders appointed persons from diverse political backgrounds to responsibilities of developing the constitution and national laws.[4] Notably, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar became the chairperson of the drafting committee, while Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel became chairpersons of committees and sub-committees responsible for different subjects. A notable development during that period having significant effect on the Indian constitution took place on 10 December 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and called upon all member states to adopt these rights in their respective constitutions.

text: The fundamental rights were included in the First Draft Constitution (February 1948), the Second Draft Constitution (17 October 1948) and final Third Draft Constitution (26 November 1949), prepared by the Drafting Committee.

text: Significance and characteristics[edit]

text: The fundamental rights were included in the constitution because they were considered essential for the development of the personality of every individual and to preserve human dignity. The writers of the constitution regarded democracy of no avail if civil liberties, like freedom of speech and religion were not recognised and protected by the State.[5] According to them, "democracy" is, in essence, a government by opinion and therefore, the means of formulating public opinion should be secured to the people of a democratic nation. For this purpose, the constitution guaranteed to all the citizens of India the freedom of speech and expression and various other freedoms in the form of the fundamental rights.[6]

text:
Rights

Theoretical distinctions

Claim rights and liberty rights
Individual and group rights
Natural and legal rights
Negative and positive rights

Human rights

Civil and political
Economic, social and cultural
Three generations

Rights by beneficiary

Animals
Authors
Children
Consumers
Creditors
Elders
Fathers
Fetuses
Gun owners
Humans
Natives
Intersex
Kings
LGBT
Men
Minorities
Mothers
Patients
Plants
Prisoners
Students
Victims
Women
Workers
Youth
Disabled persons

Other groups of rights

Civil liberties
Digital
Linguistic
Property
Reproductive
Self-determination of people
Water and sanitation

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text: All people, irrespective of race, religion, caste or sex, have been given the right to petition directly the Supreme Court or the High Courts for the enforcement of their fundamental rights. It is not necessary that the aggrieved party has to be the one to do so. Poverty stricken people may not have the means to do so and therefore, in the public interest, anyone can commence litigation in the court on their behalf. This is known as "Public interest litigation".[7] In some cases, High Court judges have acted suo moto on their own on the basis of newspaper reports.

text: These fundamental rights help not only in protection but also the prevention of gross violations of human rights. They emphasise on the fundamental unity of India by guaranteeing to all citizens the access and use of the same facilities, irrespective of background. Some fundamental rights apply for persons of any nationality whereas others are available only to the citizens of India. The right to life and personal liberty is available to all people and so is the right to freedom of religion. On the other hand, freedoms of speech and expression and freedom to reside and settle in any part of the country are reserved to citizens alone, including non-resident Indian citizens.[8] The right to equality in matters of public employment cannot be conferred to overseas citizens of India.[9]

text: Fundamental rights primarily protect individuals from any arbitrary state actions, but some rights are enforceable against individuals.[10] For instance, the Constitution abolishes untouchability and also prohibits begar. These provisions act as a check both on state action as well as the action of private individuals. However, these rights are not absolute or uncontrolled and are subject to reasonable restrictions as necessary for the protection of general welfare. They can also be selectively curtailed. The Supreme Court has ruled[11] that all provisions of the Constitution, including fundamental rights can be amended. However, the Parliament cannot alter the basic structure of the constitution. Since the fundamental rights can be altered only by a constitutional amendment, their inclusion is a check not only on the executive branch but also on the Parliament and state legislatures.[12]

text: A state of national emergency has an adverse effect on these rights. Under such a state, the rights conferred by Article 19 (freedoms of speech, assembly and movement, etc.) remain suspended. Hence, in such a situation, the legislature may make laws that go against the rights given in Article 19. Also, the President may by order suspend the right to move court for the enforcement of other rights as well.

text: Right to equality[edit]

text: Right to equality is an important right provided for in Articles 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the constitution. It is the principal foundation of all other rights and liberties, and guarantees the following:

text:
Equality before law: Article 14 of the constitution guarantees that all people shall be equally protected by the laws of the country. It means that the State[5] will treat people in the same circumstances alike. This article also means that individuals, whether citizens of India or otherwise shall be treated differently if the circumstances are different.
Social equality and equal access to public areas: Article 15 of the constitution states that no person shall be discriminated on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Every person shall have equal access to public places like public parks, museums, wells, bathing ghats and temples etc. However, the State may make any special provision for women and children. Special provisions may be made for the advancements of any socially or educationally backward class or scheduled castes or scheduled tribes.
Equality in matters of public employment: Article 16 of the constitution lays down that the State cannot discriminate against anyone in the matters of employment. All citizens can apply for government jobs. There are some exceptions. The Parliament may enact a law stating that certain jobs can be filled only by applicants who are domiciled in the area. This may be meant for posts that require knowledge of the locality and language of the area. The State may also reserve posts for members of backward classes, scheduled castes or scheduled tribes which are not adequately represented in the services under the State to bring up the weaker sections of the society. Also, there a law may be passed that requires that the holder of an office of any religious institution shall also be a person professing that particular religion. According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2003, this right shall not be conferred to Overseas citizens of India.[9]
Abolition of untouchability: Article 17 of the constitution abolishes the practice of untouchability. Practice of untouchability is an offence and anyone doing so is punishable by law. The Untouchability Offences Act of 1955 (renamed to Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1976) provided penalties for preventing a person from entering a place of worship or from taking water from a tank or well.

text: Abolition of Titles: Article 18 of the constitution prohibits the State from conferring any titles. Citizens of India cannot accept titles from a foreign State. The British government had created an aristocratic class known as Rai Bahadurs and Khan Bahadurs in India – these titles were also abolished. However, Military and academic distinctions can be conferred on the citizens of India. The awards of Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan cannot be used by the recipient as a title and do not, accordingly, come within the constitutional prohibition".[13] The Supreme Court, on 15 December 1995, upheld the validity of such awards.

text: Right to freedom[edit]

text: The Constitution of India contains the right to freedom, given[14] in articles 19, 20, 21, 21A and with the view of guaranteeing individual rights that were considered vital by the framers of the constitution. It is a cluster of four main laws. The right to freedom in Article 19 guarantees the following six freedoms:

text:
Freedom of speech and expression, on which the State can impose reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.[15]
Freedom to assemble peacefully without arms on which the State can impose reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order and the sovereignty and integrity of India.
The Freedom to form associations or unions or co-operative societies on which the State can impose reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order, morality and the sovereignty and integrity of India.
Freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India though reasonable restrictions can be imposed on this right in the interest of the general public, for example, restrictions may be imposed on movement and travelling, so as to control epidemics.
Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India, subject to reasonable restrictions by the State in the interest of the general public or for the protection of the scheduled tribes because certain safeguards as are envisaged here seem to be justified to protect indigenous and tribal peoples from exploitation and coercion.[16] Article 370 restricts citizens from other Indian states and Kashmiri women who marry men from other states from purchasing land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.[17]

text: Freedom to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business on which the State may impose reasonable restrictions in the interest of the general public. Thus, there is no right to carry on a business which is dangerous or immoral. Also, professional or technical qualifications may be prescribed for practising any profession or carrying on any trade.

text: Article 21A gives education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.

text: The constitution also imposes restrictions on these rights. The government restricts these freedoms in the interest of the independence, sovereignty and integrity of India. In the interest of morality and public order, the government can also impose restrictions. However, the right to life and personal liberty cannot be suspended. The six freedoms are also automatically suspended or have restrictions imposed on them during a state of emergency.

text: Right to Information (RTI)

text: Right to Information has been given the status of a fundamental right under Article 19(1) of the Constitution in 2005. Article 19 (1) under which every citizen has freedom of speech and expression and have the right to know how the government works, what role does it play, what are its functions and so on.[18]

text: Right against exploitation[edit]

text: The right against exploitation, given in Articles 23 and 24, provides for two provisions, namely the abolition of trafficking in human beings and Begar (forced labour), and abolition of employment of children below the age of 14 years in dangerous jobs like factories, mines, etc. Child labour is considered a gross violation of the spirit and provisions of the constitution. Begar, practised in the past by landlords, has been declared a crime and is punishable by law. Trafficking in humans for the purpose of slave trade or prostitution is also prohibited by law. An exception is made in employment without payment for compulsory services for public purposes. Compulsory military conscription is covered by this provision.

text: Right to freedom of religion[edit]

text: Right to freedom of religion, covered in Articles 25, 26, 27 and 28, provides religious freedom to all citizens of India. The objective of this right is to sustain the principle of secularism in India. According to the Constitution, all religions are equal before the State and no religion shall be given preference over the other. Citizens are free to preach, practice and propagate any religion of their choice.

text: Religious communities can set up charitable institutions of their own. However, activities in such institutions that are not religious are performed according to the laws laid down by the government. Establishing a charitable institution can also be restricted in the interest of public order, morality and health. No person shall be compelled to pay taxes for the promotion of a particular religion. A State run institution cannot be impart education that is pro-religion. Also, nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any further law regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity that may be associated with religious practice, or providing for social welfare and reform.

text: Right to life[edit]

text: The constitution guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, which in turn cites specific provisions in which these rights are applied and enforced:

text:
Protection with respect to conviction for offences is guaranteed in the right to life and personal liberty. According to Article 20, no one can be awarded punishment which is more than what the law of the land prescribes at that time. This legal axiom is based on the principle that no criminal law can be made retrospective, that is, for an act to become an offence, the essential condition is that it should have been an offence legally at the time of committing it. Moreover, no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself. "Compulsion" in this article refers to what in law is called "Duress" (injury, beating or unlawful imprisonment to make a person do something that he does not want to do). This article is known as a safeguard against self incrimination. The other principle enshrined in this article is known as the principle of double jeopardy, that is, no person can be convicted twice for the same offence, which has been derived from Anglo Saxon law. This principle was first established in the Magna Carta.
Protection of life and personal liberty is also stated under right to life and personal liberty. Article 21 declares that no citizen can be denied his life and liberty except by law. This means that a person's life and personal liberty can be disputed only if that person has committed a crime. However, the right to life does not include the right to die and hence, suicide or an attempt thereof, is an offence. (Attempted suicide being interpreted as a crime has seen many debates. The Supreme Court of India gave a landmark ruling in 1994. The court repealed section 309 of the Indian penal code, under which people attempting suicide could face prosecution and prison terms of up to one year.[19] In 1996 however another Supreme Court ruling nullified the earlier one.[20]) "Personal liberty" includes all the freedoms which are not included in Article 19 (that is, the six freedoms). The right to travel abroad is also covered under "personal liberty" in Article 21.[21]
In 2002, through the 86th Amendment Act, Article 21(A) was incorporated. It made the right to primary education part of the right to freedom, stating that the State would provide free and compulsory education to children from six to fourteen years of age.[22] Six years after an amendment was made in the Indian Constitution, the union cabinet cleared the Right to Education Bill in 2008.[23]
Rights of a person arrested under ordinary circumstances is laid down in the right to life and personal liberty. No one can be arrested without being told the grounds for his arrest. If arrested, the person has the right to defend himself by a lawyer of his choice. Also an arrested citizen has to be brought before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours. The rights of a person arrested under ordinary circumstances are not available to an enemy alien. They are also not available to persons detained under the Preventive Detention Act. Under preventive detention, the government can imprison a person for a maximum of three months. It means that if the government feels that a person being at liberty can be a threat to the law and order or to the unity and integrity of the nation, it can detain or arrest that person to prevent him from doing this possible harm. After three months such a case is brought before an advisory board for review.

text: Cultural and educational rights[edit]

text: As India is a country of many languages, religions, and cultures, the Constitution provides special measures, in Articles 29 and 30, to protect the rights of the minorities. Any community that has a language and a script of its own has the right to conserve and develop it. No citizen can be discriminated against for admission in State or State aided institutions.

text: All minorities, or linguistic, can set up their own educational institutions to preserve and develop their own culture. In granting aid to institutions, the State cannot discriminate against any institution on the basis of the fact that it is administered by a minority institution. But the right to administer does not mean that the State cannot interfere in case of maladministration. In a precedent-setting judgement in 1980, the Supreme Court held that the State can certainly take regulatory measures to promote the efficiency and excellence of educational standards. It can also issue guidelines for ensuring the security of the services of the teachers or other employees of the institution. In another landmark judgement delivered on 31 October 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that in case of aided minority institutions offering professional courses, admission could be only through a common entrance test conducted by State or a university. Even an unaided minority institution ought not to ignore the merit of the students for admission.

text: Right to constitutional remedies[edit]

text: Right to constitutional remedies [Article 32 to 35] empowers the citizens to move a court of law in case of any denial of the fundamental rights. For instance, in case of imprisonment, any citizen can ask the court to see if it is according to the provisions of the law of the country by lodging a PIL. If the court finds that it is not, the person will have to be freed. This procedure of asking the courts to preserve or safeguard the citizens' fundamental rights can be done in various ways. The courts can issue various kinds of writs. These writs are habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar rightly declared Right to constitutional remedies as "the heart and soul" of Indian constitution. When a national or state emergency is declared, this right is suspended by the central government.

text: Article 32 is also called citizens right to protect and defend the constitution as it can be used by the citizens to enforce the constitution through the judiciary.

text: Right to Privacy[edit]

text: The right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution. It protects the inner sphere of the individual from interference from both State, and non-State actors and allows the individuals to make autonomous life choices. On 24 August 2017 the Supreme Court[24] ruled that:

text: "Right to Privacy is an integral part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution,"

text: Critical analysis[edit]

text: The fundamental rights have been revised for many reasons. Political groups have demanded that the right to work, the right to economic assistance in case of unemployment, old age, and similar rights be enshrined as constitutional guarantees to address issues of poverty and economic insecurity,[25] though these provisions have been enshrined in the Directive Principles of state policy.[26] The right to freedom and personal liberty has a number of limiting clauses, and thus have been criticised for failing to check the sanctioning of powers often deemed "excessive".[25] There is also the provision of preventive detention and suspension of fundamental rights in times of Emergency. The provisions of acts like the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and the National Security Act (NSA) are a means of countering the fundamental rights, because they sanction excessive powers with the aim of fighting internal and cross-border terrorism and political violence, without safeguards for civil rights.[25] The phrases "security of State", "public order" and "morality" are of wide implication. People of alternate sexuality are criminalised in India with prison term up to 10 years. The meaning of phrases like "reasonable restrictions" and "the interest of public order" have not been explicitly stated in the constitution, and this ambiguity leads to unnecessary litigation.[25] The freedom to assemble peaceably and without arms is exercised, but in some cases, these meetings are broken up by the police through the use of non-fatal methods.[27][28]

text: "Freedom of press" has not been included in the right to freedom, which is necessary for formulating public opinion and to make freedom of expression more legitimate.[25] Employment of child labour in hazardous job environments has been reduced, but their employment even in non-hazardous jobs, including their prevalent employment as domestic help violates the spirit and ideals of the constitution. More than 16.5 million children are employed and working in India.[29] India was ranked 88 out of 159 in 2005, according to the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians worldwide. But in 2014, India has improved marginally to a rank of 85.[30][31] The right to equality in matters regarding public employment shall not be conferred to overseas citizens of India, according to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2003.[9]

text: As per Article 19 of Part III of the Indian constitution, the fundamental rights of people such as freedom of speech and expression, gathering peaceably without arms and forming associations or unions shall not effect the interests of the sovereignty[32] and integrity of India but not unity of India. The words sovereignty and integrity are the qualities to be cultivated / emulated by Indian people as urged by the Indian constitution but not used related to territory of India. Article 1 of Part 1 of the Indian constitution,defines India (Bharat) as union of states. In nutshell, India is its people not its land as enshrined in its constitution.

text: Since speedy trial is not the constitutional right of the citizens, the cases involving violations of fundamental rights take inordinate time for resolution by the Supreme Court which is against the legal maxim 'justice delayed is justice denied'.[33]

text: Amendments[edit]

text: Changes to the fundamental rights require a constitutional amendment, which has to be passed by a special majority of both houses of Parliament. This means that an amendment requires the approval of two-thirds of the members present and voting. However, the number of members voting should not be less than the simple majority of the house – whether the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

text: The right to education at elementary level has been made one of the fundamental rights under the Eighty-Sixth Amendment of 2002.[22]

text: Fundamental rights not sacrosanct[edit]

text: Up till the 24th constitutional amendment in 1971, the fundamental rights of the people were permanent and can not be repealed or diluted by the Parliament. 24th constitutional amendment introduced a new Article 13(4) enabling Parliament to legislate on the subjects of Part III of the constitution using its constituent powers per Article 368 (1). In the year 1973, the 13 member constitutional bench of supreme court also upheld with majority the validity of 24th constitutional amendment. However it ruled that Basic structure of the constitution which is built on the basic foundation representing the dignity and freedom of the individual. This is of supreme importance and cannot be destroyed by any form of amendment to the constitution.[34] Many constitutional amendments to Part III of the constitution were made deleting or diluting the existing fundamental rights after the validity of 24th constitutional amendment is upheld by the Supreme Court.

text: Amendment to Article 31C[edit]

text: Section 4 of the 42nd Amendment, had changed Article 31C of the constitution to accord precedence to the Directive Principles (earlier applicable only to clauses b & c of Article 39) over the fundamental rights of individuals. In Minerva Mills v. Union of India case, supreme court ruled that the amendment to the Article 31C is not valid and ultra vires.

text: Right to property[edit]

text: The Constitution originally provided for the right to property under Articles 19 and 31. Article 19 guaranteed to all citizens the right to acquire, hold and dispose of property. Article 31 provided that "no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law." It also provided that compensation would be paid to a person whose property has been taken for public purposes.

text: The provisions relating to the right to property were changed a number of times. The Forty-Fourth Amendment of 1978 deleted the right to property from the list of fundamental rights[35] A new provision, Article 300-A, was added to the constitution, which provided that "no person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law". Thus if a legislature makes a law depriving a person of his property, there would be no obligation on the part of the State to pay anything as compensation. The aggrieved person shall have no right to move the court under Article 32. Thus, the right to property is no longer a fundamental right, though it is still a constitutional right. If the government appears to have acted unfairly, the action can be challenged in a court of law by citizens.[25]

text: The liberalisation of the economy and the government's initiative to set up special economic zones has led to many protests by farmers and have led to calls for the reinstatement of the fundamental right to private property.[36] The Supreme Court has sent a notice to the government questioning why the right should not be brought back but in 2010 the court rejected the PIL[37]

text: Right to education[edit]

text: Article 21A – On 2 April 2010, India joined a group of few countries in the world, with a historic law making education a fundamental right of every child coming into force.[38] Making elementary education an entitlement for children in the 6–14 age group, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act will directly benefit children who do not go to school at present. This act provides for appointment of teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications.

text: The former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced the operationalisation of the Act. Children, who had either dropped out of schools or never been to any educational institution, will get elementary education as it will be binding on the part of the local and State governments to ensure that all children in the 6–14 age group get schooling. As per the Act, private educational institutions should reserve 25 per cent seats for children from the weaker sections of society. The Centre and the States have agreed to share the financial burden in the ratio of 55:45, while the Finance Commission has given Rs.250 billion to the States for implementing the Act. The Centre has approved an outlay of Rs.150 billion for 2010–2011.

text: The school management committee or the local authority will identify the drop-outs or out-of-school children aged above six and admit them in classes appropriate to their age after giving special training.

text:
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Constitution of India/Part III


document_title: Lois Griffin

question_text: who voices lois in family guy season 1

question_tokens: who voices lois in family guy season 1

root

text: Lois Griffin

text: Role in Family Guy[edit]

text: Lois Griffin was born to affluent WASP parents, Carter and Barbara Pewterschmidt. It is revealed in the episode "Family Goy" that her mother is actually a Holocaust survivor who concealed her Judaism,[1][2] though she was raised a Protestant. Lois and the rest of the Griffins live in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island, which is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island.[3][4][5] Lois primarily works as a housewife throughout the series, though she did give piano lessons in early episodes. Lois has also had various jobs in single episodes such as in "FOX-y Lady", where she becomes the new reporter for Fox News Channel, in "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", Lois is elected the mayor of Quahog, and in "Call Girl" Lois gets a job doing phone sex.

tag: p

text: Character[edit]

text: Creation[edit]

text: When he was still in college, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane created a cartoon short called The Life of Larry.[6] The short centered around a middle-aged man named Larry and his anthropomorphic dog Steve.[7] He made a sequel called Larry & Steve, which Cartoon Network broadcast in 1997.[8] In 1999, MacFarlane was working for Hanna-Barbara Studios, writing for shows such as Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, and Cow and Chicken.[9] The short caught the eye of 20th Century Fox representatives, who asked him to create a TV series revolving around the characters.[7] MacFarlane received a US$50,000 budget to develop a pilot for the show, which was about one twentieth of what most pilots cost.[9] MacFarlane claims to have drawn inspiration from several sitcoms, namely The Simpsons and All in the Family.[10] Several premises were also carried over from several 1980s Saturday morning cartoons he watched as a child, namely The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, and Rubik, the Amazing Cube.[11]

text: In three months, MacFarlane created the Griffin family and developed a pilot for the show he called Family Guy.[12] Brian's character was largely based on Steve from the Larry and Steve cartoon, with Larry serving as the primary basis of the Peter character.[13]  The character's personality was also partially inspired by a friend of his father who rudely fell asleep while watching the 1993 film Philadelphia.[14] The network executives were impressed with the pilot and ordered thirteen episodes, giving MacFarlane a 2 million dollar per-season contract.[12]

text: Voice[edit]

text: Lois Griffin is voiced by producer and staff writer,[15] Alex Borstein, who also voices recurring characters such as Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt.[16] Borstein has been part of the main voice cast from the beginning of the series including the pilot, and has been voicing Lois from the start.[17]

text:
"I was doing this character in a stage show, so I brought that over, which was very slow... that was based on my cousin in Long Island and Seth said that 'It would be a four hour show if you talked at that pace so could you make it quicker and raise it?'.
"Over the years you can notice that it started lower and slower and it's gotten higher and higher and quicker and quicker."

Alex Borstein, on Lois Griffin's Origins, Interview with IGN.[17]

tag: div

text: At the time Family Guy was being developed, Borstein was working in the sketch comedy, MADtv.[17] She was asked to audition by a member of the MADtv staff who was helping MacFarlane develop the show. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any artwork and said it was "really sight unseen".[17][18] At the time, she was doing a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother, whose voice she had based on one of her cousins from Long Island, New York.[16][18] She took the voice of the character to the set and use it for Lois. The voice was originally slower, when MacFarlane heard it, he asked her to make it faster and higher. Borstein has noted that the voice of Lois has been changing from the slower original voice to the quicker up tempo voice of the present episodes.[17]

text: There have been occasions where Borstein does not voice Lois, such as in the episode "Road to the Multiverse", where Lois is not voiced by Borstein in a scene and instead was voiced by Japanese actress Kei Ogawa, who was required for a scene where everything in the world was Japanese (she also did the voice of Meg for the scene).[19]

text: Personality[edit]

text: Lois's personality has evolved throughout the episodes. She is commonly the voice of reason to Peter's shenanigans, but in some episodes she can act darker than normal and sometimes shows a taste for sadomasochism. In the episode "The Son Also Draws", Lois showed a gambling addiction when the family went to an Indian casino and lost the family car. In the episode "Model Misbehavior", Lois becomes a bulimic model. However, in "Sibling Rivalry", just the opposite happens where Lois gains a ton of weight after Peter has a vasectomy and loses his sex drive. As a result, Peter makes fun of her causing her to get even fatter out of spite. He doesn't stop until he discovers just how amazing "fat-sex" is and force feeds her to make her even fatter which in turn will please him. By the end of the episode she is returned to her normal weight by the family doctor after having a heart attack. "Stuck Together, Torn Apart" shows Peter and Lois splitting up because of Peter's jealousy, only to discover that Lois has the same character flaw of jealousy and the two decide to live with their mutually jealous nature.[20] She has also hinted at or been shown using drugs. After the first two seasons, Lois is shown to have more of an egotistical, neglectful, and cold-hearted personality,[21][22][23][24] usually towards Brian or Meg (and later Stewie).

text: Though she still truly loves Peter, Lois is somewhat promiscuous and has cheated on Peter several times, with older and younger men, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Her extramarital affair with former President Bill Clinton, who was quick to seduce her, would result in temporary separation from Peter. She herself would seduce her daughter Meg's boyfriend, Anthony, and have an affair that would result in the separation of Meg and Anthony. She also passionately kissed Meg's classmate and would-be lesbian girlfriend, Sarah. Peter and Brian have claimed Lois to have conceived Meg from an extramarital affair with a man named Stan Thompson. She would cheat on Peter several times when she and Meg became prostitutes to pay for Chris' high class school education, a job in which she ultimately made more money than Meg. Lois has attempted to cheat on Peter with Bob Barker and Justin Bieber, both of whom she unsuccessfully tried to seduce. She has unknowingly cheated on Peter with Brian when the two swapped bodies with each other.

text: She has been shown to have numerous ex-boyfriends, including Gene Simmons of the band KISS and a friend of Peter's named Jerome — both of whom have given her the nickname "Loose Lois". In the episode And I'm Joyce Kinney, it was revealed that Lois had participated in a Pornographic film called "Quest For Fur" in college, which further cemented her promiscuity. This episode has also reveals Lois' mean image in high school as a bullying head cheerleader who bullied and once humiliated Joyce Kinney. In one episode (Lethal Weapons), she shows a violent personality after learning martial arts, which leads to the whole family fighting. Lois's interests are usually pursued in an attempt to separate from Peter, and his antics, or when she feels he's being controlling. She displays an underlying intelligence, and has an interest in the arts.

text: Sexuality[edit]

text: Many episodes have suggested that Lois is bisexual. In an interview, Borstein stated that Lois became "a little more snarky and sassy and sexual" since the first season to challenge "those sitcom rules that a woman is supposed to be a total wet blanket and not like sex and is no fun".[18] In the first straight-to-DVD feature, Stewie Griffin, The Untold Story, Lois also states, "women are such teases. That's why I went back to men." She reveals in "Partial Terms of Endearment" that she had a lesbian affair with Naomi while they were students at Salve Regina University, and she passionately kisses Meg's lesbian classmate Sarah in "Brian Sings and Swings". In the pilot episode for The Cleveland Show, she and Bonnie make out to fulfill Cleveland's wish.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Commendations[edit]

text: Lois ranked number 12 spot on "IGN's Top 25 Family Guy Characters".[25] In "IGN's top 10 musical moments in Family Guy" ranked number three spot with the song, This House Is Freakin' Sweet from the episode, "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater", (season 2, 1999).[26] In "IGN's Family Guy: Top 10 Fights", Lois ranked on two places, in number seven and number 6 for Lois's fight with Stewie in "Lois Kills Stewie" and in the Griffin Family Fight from "Barely Legal", respectively.[27]  In 2018, Watchmojo.com ranked her #2 on their "Top 10 Cartoon MILFs" list.

text: Cultural influence[edit]

text: Appearances in other media[edit]

text: Lois has had several television appearances outside of Family Guy. She and Peter both had a cameo on Drawn Together in the episode "The Lemon-AIDS Walk" where she was voiced by Borstein. In the Family Guy parodies of the Star Wars original trilogy titled "Blue Harvest", "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" and "It's A Trap" which are parodies of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi respectively,[28][29] Lois appears as Princess Leia.[30] Lois, and most of the central characters on Family Guy, also appeared in the pilot episode of the show's spin-off The Cleveland Show.[31] She came in at No. 85 out of 100 on Maxim's 2012 Hot 100.[32]

text: Merchandise[edit]

text: Lois is also featured on the Family Guy: Live in Vegas CD,[33] and plays a significant part in Family Guy Video Game!, the first Family Guy video game, which was released by 2K Games in 2006.[34] Borstein recorded exclusive material of Lois for a 2007 pinball machine of the show by Stern Pinball.[35] In 2004, the first series of Family Guy toy figurines was released by Mezco Toyz, each member of the Griffin family had their own, except for Stewie, of whom two different figures were made.[36] Over the course of two years, four more series of toy figures have been released, with various forms of Peter.[37]

text: As of 2009, six books have been released about the Family Guy universe, all published by HarperCollins since 2005.[38] These include Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One (ISBN 978-0-7528-7593-4), which covers the entire events of the episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One",[39] and Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded (ISBN 978-1-4051-6316-3), a collection of seventeen essays exploring the connections between the series and historical philosophers which include Lois as a character.[40]


document_title: World Trade Center (1973–2001)

question_text: how many stories in the world trade center

text: World Trade Center (1973–2001)

text: Before the World Trade Center

text: The western portion of the World Trade Center site was originally under the Hudson River, with the shoreline in the vicinity of Greenwich Street. It was on this shoreline close to the intersection of Greenwich and the former Dey Street that Dutch explorer Adriaen Block's ship, the Tyger, burned to the waterline in November 1613, stranding Block and his crew and forcing them to overwinter on the island. They built the first European settlement in Manhattan. The remains of the ship were buried under landfill when the shoreline was extended starting in 1797, and were discovered during excavation work in 1916. The remains of a second ship from the eighteenth century were discovered in 2010 during excavation work at the site. The ship, believed to be a Hudson River sloop, was found just south of where the Twin Towers used to stand, about 20 feet below the surface.[12]

text: Later, the area became Radio Row. New York City's Radio Row, which existed from 1921 to 1966, was a warehouse district on the Lower West Side in the Financial District. Harry Schneck opened City Radio on Cortlandt Street in 1921, and eventually the area held several blocks of electronics stores, with Cortlandt Street as its central axis. The used radios, war surplus electronics (e.g., ARC-5 radios), junk, and parts often piled so high they would spill out onto the street, attracting collectors and scroungers. According to a business writer, it also was the origin of the electronic component distribution business.[13]

text: The idea of establishing a World Trade Center in New York City was first proposed in 1943. The New York State Legislature passed a bill authorizing New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey to begin developing plans for the project[14] but the plans were put on hold in 1949.[15] During the late 1940s and 1950s, economic growth in New York City was concentrated in Midtown Manhattan. To help stimulate urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, David Rockefeller suggested that the Port Authority build a World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.[16]

text: Plans for the use of eminent domain to remove the shops in Radio Row bounded by Vesey, Church, Liberty, and West Streets began in 1961 when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was deciding to build the world's first world trade center. They had two choices: the east side of Lower Manhattan, near the South Street Seaport; and the west side, near the H&M station, Hudson Terminal.[17] Initial plans, made public in 1961, identified a site along the East River for the World Trade Center.[18] As a bi-state agency, the Port Authority required approval for new projects from the governors of both New York and New Jersey. New Jersey Governor Robert B. Meyner objected to New York getting a $335 million project.[19] Toward the end of 1961, negotiations with outgoing New Jersey Governor Meyner reached a stalemate.[20]

text: At the time, ridership on New Jersey's Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (H&M) had declined substantially from a high of 113 million riders in 1927 to 26 million in 1958 after new automobile tunnels and bridges had opened across the Hudson River.[21] In a December 1961 meeting between Port Authority director Austin J. Tobin and newly elected New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes, the Port Authority offered to take over the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad. The Port Authority also decided to move the World Trade Center project to the Hudson Terminal building site on the west side of Lower Manhattan, a more convenient location for New Jersey commuters arriving via PATH.[20] With the new location and Port Authority acquisition of the H&M Railroad, New Jersey agreed to support the World Trade Center project.[22] As part of the deal, the Port Authority renamed the H&M "Port Authority Trans-Hudson", or PATH for short.[23]

text: In compensation for Radio Row business owners' displacement, the PANYNJ gave each business $3,000 each, without regard to how long the business had been there or how prosperous the business was.[24] After the area had been purchased for the World Trade Center in March 1964,[25] Radio Row was demolished starting in March 1965.[26] It was completely demolished by 1966.[27]

text: Approval was also needed from New York City Mayor John Lindsay and the New York City Council. Disagreements with the city centered on tax issues. On August 3, 1966, an agreement was reached that the Port Authority would make annual payments to the City in lieu of taxes for the portion of the World Trade Center leased to private tenants.[28] In subsequent years, the payments would rise as the real estate tax rate increased.[29]

text: Design and construction

text: Design

text: On September 20, 1962, the Port Authority announced the selection of Minoru Yamasaki as lead architect and Emery Roth & Sons as associate architects.[30] Yamasaki devised the plan to incorporate twin towers; Yamasaki's original plan called for the towers to be 80 stories tall,[31] but to meet the Port Authority's requirement for 10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m2) of office space, the buildings would each have to be 110 stories tall.[32]

text: Yamasaki's design for the World Trade Center, unveiled to the public on January 18, 1964, called for a square plan approximately 208 feet (63 m) in dimension on each side.[31][33] The buildings were designed with narrow office windows 18 inches (46 cm) wide, which reflected Yamasaki's fear of heights as well as his desire to make building occupants feel secure.[34] Yamasaki's design included building facades sheathed in aluminum-alloy.[35] The World Trade Center was one of the most-striking American implementations of the architectural ethic of Le Corbusier, and it was the seminal expression of Yamasaki's gothic modernist tendencies.[36]

text: A major limiting factor in building height is the issue of elevators; the taller the building, the more elevators are needed to service the building, requiring more space-consuming elevator banks.[32] Yamasaki and the engineers decided to use a new system with two "sky lobbies"—floors where people could switch from a large-capacity express elevator to a local elevator that goes to each floor in a section. This system, inspired by the local-express train operation that New York City's subway system used,[37] allowed the design to stack local elevators within the same elevator shaft. Located on the 44th and 78th floors of each tower, the sky lobbies enabled the elevators to be used efficiently, increasing the amount of usable space on each floor from 62 to 75 percent by reducing the number of elevator shafts.[38] Altogether, the World Trade Center had 95 express and local elevators.[39]

text: The structural engineering firm Worthington, Skilling, Helle & Jackson worked to implement Yamasaki's design, developing the tube-frame structural system used in the twin towers. The Port Authority's Engineering Department served as foundation engineers, Joseph R. Loring & Associates as electrical engineers, and Jaros, Baum & Bolles (JB&B) as mechanical engineers. Tishman Realty & Construction Company was the general contractor on the World Trade Center project. Guy F. Tozzoli, director of the World Trade Department at the Port Authority, and Rino M. Monti, the Port Authority's Chief Engineer, oversaw the project.[40] As an interstate agency, the Port Authority was not subject to local laws and regulations of the City of New York, including building codes. Nonetheless, the structural engineers of the World Trade Center ended up following draft versions of the new 1968 building codes.[41]

text: The tube-frame design, earlier introduced by Fazlur Khan, was a new approach that allowed more open floor plans than the traditional design that distributed columns throughout the interior to support building loads. The World Trade Center towers used high-strength, load-bearing perimeter steel columns called Vierendeel trusses that were spaced closely together to form a strong, rigid wall structure, supporting virtually all lateral loads such as wind loads, and sharing the gravity load with the core columns. The perimeter structure containing 59 columns per side was constructed with extensive use of prefabricated modular pieces, each consisting of three columns, three stories tall, connected by spandrel plates.[42] The spandrel plates were welded to the columns to create the modular pieces off-site at the fabrication shop.[43] Adjacent modules were bolted together with the splices occurring at mid-span of the columns and spandrels. The spandrel plates were located at each floor, transmitting shear stress between columns, allowing them to work together in resisting lateral loads. The joints between modules were staggered vertically, so that the column splices between adjacent modules were not at the same floor.[41]

text: The core of the towers housed the elevator and utility shafts, restrooms, three stairwells, and other support spaces. The core of each tower was a rectangular area 87 by 135 feet (27 by 41 m) and contained 47 steel columns running from the bedrock to the top of the tower. The large, column-free space between the perimeter and core was bridged by prefabricated floor trusses. The floors supported their own weight as well as live loads, providing lateral stability to the exterior walls and distributing wind loads among the exterior walls.[44] The floors consisted of 4 inches (10 cm) thick lightweight concrete slabs laid on a fluted steel deck. A grid of lightweight bridging trusses and main trusses supported the floors.[42] The trusses connected to the perimeter at alternate columns and were on 6 foot 8 inch (2.03 m) centers. The top chords of the trusses were bolted to seats welded to the spandrels on the exterior side and a channel welded to the core columns on the interior side. The floors were connected to the perimeter spandrel plates with viscoelastic dampers that helped reduce the amount of sway felt by building occupants.

text: Hat trusses (or "outrigger truss") located from the 107th floor to the top of the buildings were designed to support a tall communication antenna on top of each building.[42] Only 1 WTC (north tower) actually had an antenna fitted; it was added in 1978.[45] The truss system consisted of six trusses along the long axis of the core and four along the short axis. This truss system allowed some load redistribution between the perimeter and core columns and supported the transmission tower.[42]

text: The tube frame design, using steel core and perimeter columns protected with sprayed-on fire resistant material, created a relatively lightweight structure that would sway more in response to the wind compared to traditional structures, such as the Empire State Building that have thick, heavy masonry for fireproofing of steel structural elements.[46] During the design process, wind tunnel tests were done to establish design wind pressures that the World Trade Center towers could be subjected to and structural response to those forces.[47] Experiments also were done to evaluate how much sway occupants could comfortably tolerate; however, many subjects experienced dizziness and other ill effects.[48] One of the chief engineers Leslie Robertson worked with Canadian engineer Alan G. Davenport to develop viscoelastic dampers to absorb some of the sway. These viscoelastic dampers, used throughout the structures at the joints between floor trusses and perimeter columns along with some other structural modifications, reduced the building sway to an acceptable level.[49]

text: Construction

text: In March 1965, the Port Authority began acquiring property at the World Trade Center site.[25] Demolition work began on March 21, 1966, to clear thirteen square blocks of low rise buildings in Radio Row for construction of the World Trade Center.[26] Groundbreaking for the construction of the World Trade Center took place on August 5, 1966.[50]

text: The site of the World Trade Center was located on landfill with the bedrock located 65 feet (20 m) below.[51] To construct the World Trade Center, it was necessary to build a "bathtub" with a slurry wall around the West Street side of the site, to keep water from the Hudson River out.[52] The slurry method selected by Port Authority's chief engineer, John M. Kyle, Jr., involved digging a trench, and as excavation proceeded, filling the space with a "slurry" mixture composed of bentonite and water, which plugged holes and kept groundwater out. When the trench was dug out, a steel cage was inserted and concrete was poured in, forcing the "slurry" out. It took fourteen months for the slurry wall to be completed. It was necessary before excavation of material from the interior of the site could begin.[53] The 1,200,000 cubic yards (920,000 m3) of material excavated were used (along with other fill and dredge material) to expand the Manhattan shoreline across West Street to form Battery Park City.[54][55]

text: In January 1967, the Port Authority awarded $74 million in contracts to various steel suppliers.[56] Construction work began on the North Tower in August 1968, and construction on the South Tower was under way by January 1969.[57] The original Hudson Tubes, which carried PATH trains into Hudson Terminal, remained in service during the construction process until 1971, when a new station opened.[58] The topping out ceremony of 1 WTC (North Tower) took place on December 23, 1970, while 2 WTC's ceremony (South Tower) occurred later on July 19, 1971.[57] The first tenants moved into the North Tower on December 15, 1970,[1] while the South Tower started accepting tenants in January 1972.[59] When the World Trade Center twin towers were completed, the total costs to the Port Authority had reached $900 million.[60] The ribbon cutting ceremony was on April 4, 1973.[61]

text: In addition to the twin towers, the plan for the World Trade Center complex included four other low-rise buildings, which were built in the early 1970s. The 47-story 7 World Trade Center building was added in the 1980s, to the north of the main complex. Altogether, the main World Trade Center complex occupied a 16-acre (65,000 m2) superblock.[62][63]

text: Criticism

text: Plans to build the World Trade Center were controversial. The site for the World Trade Center was the location of Radio Row, home to hundreds of commercial and industrial tenants, property owners, small businesses, and approximately 100 residents, many of whom fiercely resisted forced relocation.[64] A group of affected small businesses sought an injunction challenging the Port Authority's power of eminent domain.[65] The case made its way through the court system to the United States Supreme Court; the Court refused to accept the case.[66]

text: Private real estate developers and members of the Real Estate Board of New York, led by Empire State Building owner Lawrence A. Wien, expressed concerns about this much "subsidized" office space going on the open market, competing with the private sector when there was already a glut of vacancies.[67][68] The World Trade Center itself was not rented out completely until after 1979 and then only due to the fact that the complex's subsidy by the Port Authority made rents charged for its office space relatively cheaper than that of comparable office space in other buildings.[69] Others questioned whether the Port Authority should have taken on a project described by some as a "mistaken social priority".[70]

text: The World Trade Center design brought criticism of its aesthetics from the American Institute of Architects and other groups.[35][71] Lewis Mumford, author of The City in History and other works on urban planning, criticized the project and described it and other new skyscrapers as "just glass-and-metal filing cabinets".[72] The Twin Towers were described as looking similar to "the boxes that the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building came in".[73] The twin towers' narrow office windows, only 18 inches (46 cm) wide and framed by pillars that restricted views on each side to narrow slots, were disliked by many.[34] Activist and sociologist Jane Jacobs also criticized plans for the WTC's construction, arguing that the waterfront should be kept open for New Yorkers to enjoy.[74]

text: The trade center's "superblock", replacing a more traditional, dense neighborhood, was regarded by some critics as an inhospitable environment that disrupted the complicated traffic network typical of Manhattan. For example, in his book The Pentagon of Power, Lewis Mumford denounced the center as an "example of the purposeless giantism and technological exhibitionism that are now eviscerating the living tissue of every great city".[63]

text: In 1982, the immense plaza between the twin towers was renamed after the Port Authority's late chairman, Austin J. Tobin.[75] During the summer, the Port Authority installed a portable stage within Tobin Plaza for performers.[76] For many years, the Austin J. Tobin Plaza was often beset by brisk winds at ground level owing to the Venturi effect between the two towers.[77] In fact, some gusts were so high that pedestrian travel had to be aided by ropes.[78] In 1999, the outdoor plaza reopened after undergoing $12 million renovations, which involved replacing marble pavers with gray and pink granite stones, adding new benches, planters, new restaurants, food kiosks and outdoor dining areas.[79]

text: Complex

text: On a typical weekday 50,000 people worked in the towers[80] with another 200,000 passing through as visitors.[81] The complex was so large that it had its own zip code: 10048.[82] The towers offered expansive views from the observation deck atop the South Tower and the Windows on the World restaurant on top of the North Tower. The Twin Towers became known worldwide, appearing in numerous movies and television shows as well as on postcards and other merchandise, and became seen as a New York icon, in the same league as the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and the Statue of Liberty.[83] The World Trade Center was compared to Rockefeller Center, which David Rockefeller's brother Nelson had developed in midtown Manhattan.[84]

text: North and South Towers

text: One World Trade Center and Two World Trade Center, commonly the Twin Towers, the idea of which was brought up by Minoru Yamasaki, were designed as framed tube structures, which provided tenants with open floor plans, uninterrupted by columns or walls.[85][86] They were the main buildings of the World Trade Center.[57] The North Tower (One World Trade Center), the tallest building in the world at 1,368 feet (417 m) by the time of its completion, began construction in 1966 with the South Tower (2 World Trade Center);[87] extensive use of prefabricated components helped to speed up the construction process, and the first tenants moved into the North Tower in December 1970, while it was still under construction.[88] When completed in 1973, the South Tower, Two World Trade Center (the South Tower) became the second tallest building in the world at 1,362 feet (415 m); the South Tower's rooftop observation deck was 1,362 ft (415 m) high and its indoor observation deck was 1,310 ft (400 m) high.[89] Each tower stood over 1,350 feet (410 m) high, and occupied about 1 acre (4,000 m2) of the total 16 acres (65,000 m2) of the site's land. During a press conference in 1973, Yamasaki was asked, "Why two 110-story buildings? Why not one 220-story building?" His tongue-in-cheek response was: "I didn't want to lose the human scale."[90]

text: When completed in 1972, 1 World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world for two years, surpassing the Empire State Building after a 40-year reign. The North Tower stood 1,368 feet (417 m) tall and featured a telecommunications antenna or mast that was added at the top of the roof in 1978 and stood 362 feet (110 m) tall. With the 362-foot (110 m)-tall antenna/mast, the highest point of the North Tower reached 1,730 feet (530 m).[89] Chicago's Sears Tower, finished in May 1973, reached 1,450 feet (440 m) at the rooftop.[91] Throughout their existence, the WTC towers had more floors (at 110) than any other building.[89] This number was not surpassed until the advent of the Burj Khalifa, which opened in 2010.[92][93] Each tower had a total mass of around 500,000 tons.[94]

text: Top of the World observation deck

text: Although most of the space in the World Trade Center complex was off-limits to the public, the South Tower featured two public viewing areas called Top of the World Trade Center Observatories: an indoor one on the 107th floor and an outdoor one on the roof. Visitors would pass through security checks added after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,[95] then were sent to the 107th-floor indoor observatory at a height of 1,310 feet (400 m). The exterior columns on each side of the floor were narrowed to allow 28 inches of window width between them. The Port Authority renovated the observatory in 1995, then leased it to Ogden Entertainment to operate. Attractions added to the observation deck included a simulated helicopter ride around the city. The 107th-floor food court was designed with a subway car theme and featured Sbarro and Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.[96][97] Weather permitting, visitors could ride two short escalators up from the 107th-floor viewing area to an outdoor platform at a height of 1,377 ft (420 m).[98] On a clear day, visitors could see up to 50 miles (80 km).[96] An anti-suicide fence was placed on the roof itself, with the viewing platform set back and elevated above it, requiring only an ordinary railing and leaving the view unobstructed, unlike the observation deck of the Empire State Building.[97]

text: Windows on the World restaurant

text: The North Tower had a restaurant on its 106th and 107th floors called Windows on the World, which opened in April 1976. The restaurant was developed by Joe Baum at a cost of more than $17 million.[99] Aside from the main restaurant, two offshoots were located at the top of the North Tower: "Hors d'Oeuvrerie" (offered a Danish smorgasbord during the day and sushi in the evening) and "Cellar in the Sky" (a small wine bar).[100] Windows on the World also had a wine school program run by Kevin Zraly, who published a book on the course.[101]

text: Windows on the World was closed following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[99] Upon reopening in 1996, Hors d'Oeuvrerie and Cellar in the Sky were replaced with the "Greatest Bar on Earth" and "Wild Blue".[100] In 2000, its last full year of operation, Windows on the World reported revenues of $37 million, making it the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States.[102] The Sky Dive Restaurant, on the 44th floor of the North Tower, was also operated by Windows on the World.[100]

text: In its last iteration, Windows on the World received mixed reviews. Ruth Reichl, a New York Times food critic, said in December 1996 that "nobody will ever go to Windows on the World just to eat, but even the fussiest food person can now be content dining at one of New York's favorite tourist destinations." She gave the restaurant two out of four stars, signifying a "very good" quality rather than "excellent" (three stars) or "extraordinary" (four stars).[103] In his 2009 book Appetite, William Grimes wrote that "At Windows, New York was the main course."[104] In 2014, Ryan Sutton of Eater.com compared the now-destroyed restaurant's cuisine to that of its replacement, One World Observatory. He stated, "Windows helped usher in a new era of captive audience dining in that the restaurant was a destination in itself, rather than a lazy byproduct of the vital institution it resided in."[105]

text: Other buildings

text: Five smaller buildings stood around the 16 acres (65,000 m2) block.[106] One was the 22-floor hotel, which opened at the southwest corner of the site in 1981 as the Vista Hotel;[107] in 1995, it became the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC).[106] Three low-rise buildings (4 WTC, 5 WTC, and 6 WTC) in the same hollow tube design as the towers also stood around the plaza. 6 World Trade Center, at the northwest corner, housed the United States Customs Service and the U.S. Commodities Exchange. 5 World Trade Center was located at the northeast corner above the PATH station and 4 World Trade Center was at the southeast corner.[108] In 1987, construction was completed on a 47-floor office building, 7 World Trade Center, located to the north of the superblock.[109] Beneath the World Trade Center complex was an underground shopping mall, which in turn had connections to various mass transit facilities, including the New York City Subway system and the Port Authority's PATH trains.[110][111]

text: One of the world's largest gold depositories was stored underneath the World Trade Center, owned by a group of commercial banks. The 1993 bombing detonated close to the vault.[112] Seven weeks after the September 11 attacks, $230 million in precious metals was removed from basement vaults of 4 WTC, which included 3,800 100-Troy-ounce 24 carat gold bars and 30,000 1,000-ounce silver bars.[113]

text: Operating history

text: February 13, 1975, fire

text: On February 13, 1975, a three-alarm fire broke out on the 11th floor of the North Tower. Fire spread through the tower to the 9th and 14th floors by igniting the insulation of telephone cables in a utility shaft that ran vertically between floors. Areas at the furthest extent of the fire were extinguished almost immediately and the original fire was put out in a few hours. Most of the damage was concentrated on the 11th floor, fueled by cabinets filled with paper, alcohol-based fluid for office machines, and other office equipment. Fireproofing protected the steel and there was no structural damage to the tower. In addition to damage caused by the fire on the 9th – 14th floors, water from the extinguishing of the fires damaged a few floors below. At that time, the World Trade Center had no fire sprinkler systems.[7]

text: February 26, 1993, bombing

text: The first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center occurred on February 26, 1993, at 12:17 p.m. A Ryder truck filled with 1,500 pounds (680 kg) of explosives, planted by Ramzi Yousef, detonated in the underground garage of the North Tower.[8] The blast opened a 100-foot (30 m) hole through five sublevels with the greatest damage occurring on levels B1 and B2 and significant structural damage on level B3.[114] Six people were killed and 1,042 others were injured during escape attempts complicated by smoke infiltration from the base of the building up to the 93rd floor of both towers. Many people inside the North Tower were forced to walk down darkened stairwells that contained no emergency lighting, some taking two hours or more to reach safety.[115][116]

text: Yousef fled to Pakistan after the bombing but was arrested in Islamabad in February 1995, and was extradited back to the United States to face trial.[117] Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman was convicted in 1996 for involvement in the bombing and other plots.[118] Yousef and Eyad Ismoil were convicted in November 1997 for their carrying out the bombing.[119] Four others had been convicted in May 1994 for their involvement in the 1993 bombing.[120] According to a presiding judge, the conspirators' chief aim at the time of the attack was to destabilize the north tower and send it crashing into the south tower, toppling both landmarks.[121]

text: Following the bombing, floors that were blown out needed to be repaired to restore the structural support they provided to columns.[122] The slurry wall was in peril following the bombing and loss of the floor slabs that provided lateral support against pressure from Hudson River water on the other side. The refrigeration plant on sublevel B5, which provided air conditioning to the entire World Trade Center complex, was heavily damaged.[123] After the bombing, the Port Authority installed photoluminescent markings in the stairwells.[124] The fire alarm system for the entire complex needed to be replaced because critical wiring and signaling in the original system was destroyed.[125] As a memorial to the victims of the bombing of the tower, a reflecting pool was installed with the names of those who had been killed in the blast.[126] However, the memorial was destroyed following the September 11 attacks. Names of the victims of the 1993 bombing are included in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.[127]

text: January 14, 1998, robbery

text: In January 1998, Mafia member Ralph Guarino, who had gained maintenance access to the World Trade Center, arranged a three-man crew for a heist that netted over $2 million from a Brinks delivery to the eleventh floor of the World Trade Center.[9]

text: Other events

text: In 1981, an Aerolineas Argentinas airliner was guided away by air traffic controllers following radar signals that indicated it was on a collision course with the North Tower (1 WTC). The aircraft was flying at a much lower altitude than regulations recommended, while scheduled to land at nearby Kennedy International Airport.[128]

text: In 1983, on Memorial Day, high-rise firefighting and rescue advocate Dan Goodwin successfully climbed the outside of the North Tower (1 WTC). His stunt was meant to call attention to the inability to rescue people potentially trapped in the upper floors of skyscrapers.[129][130]

text: The 1995 PCA world chess championship was played on the 107th floor of the South Tower.[131]

text: Proposed lease

text: In 1998, the Port Authority approved plans to privatize the World Trade Center.[132] In 2001, the Port Authority sought to lease the World Trade Center to a private entity. Bids for the lease came from Vornado Realty Trust, a joint bid between Brookfield Properties Corporation and Boston Properties,[133] and a joint bid by Silverstein Properties and The Westfield Group.[10] By privatizing the World Trade Center, it would be added to the city's tax rolls[10] and provide funds for other Port Authority projects.[134] On February 15, 2001, the Port Authority announced that Vornado Realty Trust had won the lease for the World Trade Center, paying $3.25 billion for the 99-year lease.[135] Vornado outbid Silverstein by $600 million though Silverstein upped his offer to $3.22 billion. However, Vornado insisted on last minute changes to the deal, including a shorter 39-year lease, which the Port Authority considered nonnegotiable.[136] Vornado later withdrew and Silverstein's bid for the lease to the World Trade Center was accepted on April 26, 2001,[137] and closed on July 24, 2001.[138]

text: Destruction

text: On September 11, 2001, Islamist terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and crashed it into the northern façade of the North Tower at 8:46:40 a.m., the aircraft striking between the 93rd and 99th floors. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03:11 a.m., a second group crashed the similarly hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 into the southern facade of the South Tower, striking it between the 77th and 85th floors.[139] The damage caused to the North Tower by Flight 11 destroyed any means of escape from above the impact zone, trapping 1,344 people.[140] Flight 175 had a much more off-centered impact compared to Flight 11, and a single stairwell was left intact; however, only a few people managed to pass through it successfully before the tower collapsed. Although the South Tower was struck lower than the North Tower, thus affecting more floors, a smaller number, fewer than 700, were killed instantly or trapped.[141]

text: At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed after burning for approximately 56 minutes. The fire caused steel structural elements, already weakened from the plane impact, to fail. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., after burning for approximately 102 minutes.[142] At 5:20 p.m.[143] on September 11, 2001, 7 World Trade Center started to collapse with the crumble of the east penthouse, and it collapsed completely at 5:21 p.m.[143] owing to uncontrolled fires causing structural failure.[144]

text: The Marriott World Trade Center, a hotel, was destroyed during the collapse of the two towers. The three remaining buildings in the WTC plaza were extensively damaged by debris and later were demolished.[145] The cleanup and recovery process at the World Trade Center site took eight months.[146] The Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center complex was later condemned owing to the uninhabitable toxic conditions inside; it was deconstructed, with work completed in early 2011.[147][148] The Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway was also condemned owing to extensive damage, and it was demolished and completely rebuilt.[149]

text: In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, media reports suggested that tens of thousands might have been killed in the attacks, as over 50,000 people could be inside the World Trade Center, although the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimated that approximately 17,400 occupants were in the towers at the time of the attacks.[150] Ultimately, 2,753 death certificates (excluding those for hijackers) were filed relating to the 9/11 attacks in New York City, including one filed for Felicia Dunn-Jones, who was added to the official death toll in May 2007; Dunn-Jones died five months later from a lung condition linked to exposure to dust during the collapse of the World Trade Center.[151] Three other victims were then added to the official death toll by the city medical examiner's office: Dr. Sneha Anne Philip, who was last seen the day before the attacks; Leon Heyward, a man who developed lymphoma and subsequently died in 2008 as a result of dust ingestion during the events following the attacks to the Twin Towers;[152][153] and Jerry Borg, who died in December 2010 of pulmonary sarcoidosis determined in June 2011 to be the result of dust from the attacks.[11] 2,192 civilians died in and around the World Trade Center, including 658 employees of Cantor Fitzgerald L.P. (an investment bank on the 101st–105th floors of One World Trade Center),[154] 295 employees of Marsh & McLennan Companies (which was located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–101, the location of Flight 11's impact), and 175 employees of Aon Corporation.[155] In addition to the civilian deaths, 343 New York City Fire Department (FDNY) firefighters were killed in the attacks, as well as 71 law enforcement officers, including 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) and 23 members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD).[156][157][158] Ten years after the attacks, remains of only 1,629 victims had been identified.[159] Of all the people who were still in the towers when they collapsed, only 20 were pulled out alive.[160]

text: New World Trade Center

text:
Rebuilding of the
World Trade Center

One WTC

Construction
In popular culture

2–7 WTC

2
3
4
5
7

Other elements

Liberty Park
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
Performing Arts Center
Transportation Hub
Vehicular Security Center
Westfield World Trade Center
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

v
t
e

tag: table

text: Over the following years, plans were created for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), established in November 2001 to oversee the rebuilding process,[161] organized competitions to select a site plan and memorial design.[162] Memory Foundations, designed by Daniel Libeskind, was selected as the master plan;[163] however, substantial changes were made to the design.[164]

text: The first new building at the site was 7 WTC, which opened in May 2006.[165] The memorial section of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum opened on September 11, 2011[166] and the museum opened in May 2014.[167] 1 WTC opened on November 3, 2014;[168] 4 WTC opened on November 13, 2013;[169] and 3 WTC opened on June 11, 2018.[170]

text: As of November 2013[update], according to an agreement made with Silverstein Properties Inc., the new 2 WTC will not be built to its full height until sufficient leasing is established to make the building financially viable.[171] In Summer 2015, Silverstein Properties revealed plans for a redesigned Tower 2 with News Corp as the core tenant; the Bjarke Ingels-designed structure was expected to be finished by 2020.[172] 5 WTC will be developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, but above-ground construction was suspended in November 2013 due to a lack of tenants[173] as well as disputes between the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.[174]

text: Impact

text: On surrounding community

text: The original World Trade Center created a superblock that cut through the area's street grid, isolating the complex from the rest of the community.[62][175][176] The Port Authority had demolished several streets to make way for the towers within the World Trade Center. The project involved combining the twelve-block area bounded by Vesey, Church, Liberty, and West Streets on the north, east, south, and west, respectively.[175][177] 7 World Trade Center, built on the superblock's north side in the late 1980s, was built over another block of Greenwich Street. The building acted as a physical barrier separating Tribeca to the north and the Financial District to the south.[178] The underground mall at the World Trade Center also drew shoppers away from surrounding streets.[179]

text: The project was seen as being monolithic and overambitious,[180] while not involving public input.[181] By contrast, the rebuilding plans had significant public input,[182] and the public supported rebuilding a street grid through the World Trade Center site.[181][175][183] One of the rebuilding proposals included building an enclosed shopping street along the path of Cortlandt Street, one of the streets demolished to make room for the original World Trade Center.[179] However, it was ultimately decided to build Cortlandt, Fulton, and Greenwich Streets, which had been destroyed during the original World Trade Center's construction.[175]

text: As icon of popular culture

text: Prior to 2001, the World Trade Center was an icon of New York City, and the Twin Towers were the centerpiece that represented the entire complex. The Twin Towers were used as "establishing shots", standing for New York City as a whole.[184] In 1999, one writer noted: "Nearly every guidebook in New York City lists the Twin Towers among the city's top ten attractions."[185] Consequently, several high-profile events that occurred at the World Trade Center. The most notable one occurred in 1974, French high wire acrobatic performer Philippe Petit walked between the towers on a tightrope,[186] as shown in the documentary film Man on Wire (2008)[187] and depicted in the feature film The Walk (2015).[188] Petit walked between the towers eight times on a steel cable.[189][186] In 1977, Brooklyn toymaker George Willig scaled the exterior of the South Tower (2 WTC). He later said, "It looked unscalable; I thought I'd like to try it."[190][191]

text: The complex was featured in numerous works of popular culture; one estimate in 2006 noted that the World Trade Center has appeared in some form in 472 films.[184] Several iconic meanings were attributed to the World Trade Center. The film critic David Sterritt, who lived near the complex, stated that the World Trade Center's appearance in the 1978 film Superman "summarized a certain kind of American grandeur [...] the grandeur, I would say, of sheer American powerfulness." Remarking on the towers' destruction in the 1996 film Independence Day, Sterritt said, "The Twin Towers have been destroyed in various disaster movies that were made before 9/11. That became something that you couldn't do even retroactively after 9/11." Other motifs included romance, depicted in the 1988 film Working Girl, and corporate avarice, depicted in Wall Street (1987) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987).[192] Comic books, animated cartoons, television shows, video games, and music videos also used the complex as a setting.[193]

text: After the September 11 attacks, some movies and TV shows deleted scenes or episodes set within the World Trade Center.[194][195][196] For example, the Simpsons episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", which first aired in 1997, was removed from syndication after the attacks because a scene showed the World Trade Center.[197] Songs that mentioned the World Trade Center were no longer allowed to be aired on the radio, and the release dates of some films, such as Sidewalks of New York, were delayed so producers could remove scenes that included the World Trade Center.[193]

text: Other episodes and films mentioned the attacks directly, or depicted the World Trade Center in alternate contexts.[194] The production of some family-oriented films was also sped up due to a large demand for that genre following the attacks, while demand for horror and action films decreased. Within a short time, however, demand for horror and action films returned to normal.[196] By the first anniversary of the attacks, over sixty "memorial films" had been created.[198] Filmmakers were criticized for removing scenes related to the World Trade Center. Rita Kempley of the Washington Post stated that "if we erase the towers from our art, we erase it [sic] from our memories."[199] Author Donald Langmead compared the phenomenon to the 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where historic mentions of events are retroactively "rectified".[200] Oliver Stone's film World Trade Center—the first movie that specifically examined the effects of the attacks on the World Trade Center, as opposed to the effects elsewhere—was released in 2006.[200]


document_title: Sweet Home Alabama (film)

question_text: who was the main actor in sweet home alabama

text: Sweet Home Alabama (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: On a stormy Alabama beach, Jake Perry shows Melanie Smooter the glass sculptures that result when sand is struck by lightning. They discuss their future together, with Jake asserting they will be married one day.

text: In the present day, Melanie has changed her last name to Carmichael to hide her poor Southern roots. She is a successful up-and-coming fashion designer in New York City. After becoming engaged to Andrew, Melanie goes home alone to Alabama to tell her parents and to procure a divorce from her estranged husband Jake. Andrew's mother, the Mayor of New York, expresses doubt that Melanie is good enough for her son, whom she is grooming to eventually run for President of the United States. Melanie asks Jake why he has returned the divorce papers unsigned for the last seven years; he orders her out of his house, eventually calling the sheriff to intervene. When Melanie's father brings her home from the station, she announces her engagement.

text: Hoping to spur Jake to sign the papers, Melanie empties out his checking account, after learning that her name is still on it. Jake says he will sign the papers in the morning, lamenting "nobody finds their soulmate when they're ten years old".  Following Jake to a local bar, Melanie gets drunk and embarrasses herself in front of her childhood friends, expressing disgust at their lifestyle, confessing that Jake got her pregnant, hence why she married him, and outing a mutual friend, Bobby Ray Bailey.  When Melanie wakes up the next morning, the divorce papers are lying on her bed, finally signed by Jake.

text: Melanie visits the Carmichael plantation to apologize to Bobby Ray, where she is cornered by a man who claims to be a journalist but is actually the mayor's assistant, sent to gather information on Melanie's background. Realizing her predicament, Bobby Ray pretends to be her cousin, backing up her pretense that this is her childhood home. Melanie soon reconciles with her other friends, and learns that Jake followed her to New York City to win her back—intimidated by the size of Manhattan, he returned home determined to make something of himself first. Jake finds Melanie in a graveyard upset over their old dog, and they have a heart to heart about their wedding, the loss of their baby due to miscarriage, and Melanie leaving for a new life. Melanie now realizes why Jake never signed the divorce papers.

text: Andrew arrives at the Carmichael Plantation to surprise Melanie. Jake takes him to a Civil War reenactment, where Melanie is with her father. On the way, knowing who Andrew is, Jake regales him with the story of "Felony" Melanie Smooter, a young girl who once tied dynamite to a cat's tail and then was arrested after it ran into the bank. When Andrew sees Melanie at the battlefield, she tells  him Jake is her former husband. When her father introduces himself as Earl Smooter, Andrew realizes that Melanie has lied to him about who she really is and leaves. Andrew soon appears at Melanie's parents' house, having gotten over the shock and admitting he still wants to marry her, here in Alabama. Once Melanie's friends from New York arrive, they browse at a glazier whose wares they all have admired in New York, only to realize it is Jake.

text: Melanie's lawyer interrupts the wedding ceremony, bringing the divorce papers that Melanie herself has missed signing. Melanie hesitates, realizing her love for Jake.  She wishes Andrew luck in finding a good woman. Andrew, distressed but showing no ill-feelings, wishes her well in return. His mother explodes, berating Andrew for risking his promising political career and verbally attacking Melanie.  She then insults the town and Melanie's mother, for which Melanie punches her in the jaw, to the cheers of the crowd.

text: Melanie, in her wedding gown in the rain, finds Jake planting metal rods in the beach to draw lightning to create more sand sculptures. She tells him they are still married, and asks why he didn't tell her he came to New York. They repeat the conversation from when they were children about why they want to be married. As Jake and Melanie kiss, sheriff Wade "arrests" them and takes them to the bar owned by Jake's mother, where their friends and family are waiting. The pair finally get their long-awaited first dance as husband and wife, to the tune of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama." A mid-credits sequence shows that they have a daughter. Melanie continues to thrive as a designer and Jake opens a "Deep South Glass" franchise in New York. A newspaper clipping announces the wedding of Andrew and a girl named Erin Vanderbilt.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Reese Witherspoon as Melanie Smooter-Carmichael. She grew up in Pigeon Creek, Alabama and moved to New York City to follow her dreams. Now a noted fashion designer, she was engaged to the wealthy Andrew Hennings.
Dakota Fanning as Young Melanie
Josh Lucas as Jake Perry. Perry is married to Melanie who has been his best friend since childhood. He lives in Pigeon Creek, Alabama.
Thomas Curtis as Young Jake
Patrick Dempsey as Andrew Hennings. The son of New York City Mayor Kate Hennings, he is engaged to Melanie.
Ethan Embry as Bobby Ray Bailey, one of Melanie's childhood friends. He is outed by Melanie and is a good friend to Jake.
Mary Kay Place as Pearl Smooter, mother of Melanie. She is happily married to Earl Smooter.
Fred Ward as Earl Smooter, Melanie's father. He enjoys participating in re-enactments of the Civil War.
Candice Bergen as Mayor Kate Hennings. The mother of Andrew, she is wary of his relationship with Melanie.
Jean Smart as Stella Kay Perry, the mother of Jake, Melanie's husband. She owns "Stella's", a local tavern.
Melanie Lynskey as Lurlynn, who lives in Pigeon Creek and is a childhood acquaintance of Melanie.
Courtney Gains as Sheriff Wade, a childhood friend of Melanie.
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Dorothea, Wade's wife.
Rhona Mitra as Tabatha Wadmore-Smith, one of Melanie's best friends from New York.
Susannah Halling as the official leader of the Redneck Dancing Association.
Nathan Lee Graham as Frederick Montana, Melanie’s friend and mentor from New York. He is a fashion designer and friendly competitor.
Kevin Sussman as Barry Lowenstein, assistant to Mayor Kate Hennings.
Sean Bridgers as Eldon

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Filming[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Although centered in a fictional version of the town of Pigeon Creek, near a fictional version of Greenville, Alabama, the film was mostly shot in Georgia. The Carmichael Plantation, which Melanie tells the reporter is her childhood home, is the Oak Hill Berry Museum, a historic landmark in Georgia which is on the campus of Berry College in Rome, Georgia.

text: The streets and storefronts of Crawfordville, Georgia were used as the backdrop for the Catfish Festival and other downtown scenes. The coonhound cemetery was on Moore Street in Crawfordville, and the bar was located at Heavy's Barbecue near the town. Glass that forms when lightning hits sand, as in the film, is called fulgurite.

text: Jake's glassblowing shop was filmed at an old mill, named Starr's Mill, in Fayette County, Georgia. Wynn's Pond in Sharpsburg, Georgia is the location where Jake lands his plane. The historic homes shown at  Melanie's return to Pigeon Creek were shot in Eufaula, Alabama.

text: The film title and theme song lyrics are from the "Sweet Home Alabama" song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, that first appeared in 1974 on their second album, Second Helping.[2]

text: Release[edit]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: This film received mostly mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, 38% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 157 reviews. A critics consensus reads: "Reese Witherspoon is charming enough, but the road to Alabama is well-traveled."[3]

text: Roger Ebert, critic for the Chicago Sun Times, awarded it three-out-of-four stars, commenting, "It is a fantasy, a sweet, light-hearted fairy tale with Reese Witherspoon at its center. She is as lovable as Doris Day would have been in this role... So I enjoyed Witherspoon and the local color, but I am so very tired of the underlying premise."[4]

text: Andrew Sarris, critic for the New York Observer, said that the movie "Would be an unendurable viewing experience for this ultra-provincial New Yorker if 26-year-old Reese Witherspoon were not on hand to inject her pure fantasy character, Melanie Carmichael, with a massive infusion of old-fashioned Hollywood magic."[5]

text: Box office performance[edit]

text: The film grossed over US$35 million in its first weekend. By the end of its run in the United States, Sweet Home Alabama grossed over US$130 million, and another US$53,399,006 internationally. With a reported budget of US$30 million, it was a box office hit, despite the mixed reviews.[1]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The film won the following awards:

text:
Association

Category

Recipient

Result

Ref

BMI Film & Television Award

BMI Film Music Award

George Fenton

Won

[6]

GLAAD Media Award

Outstanding Film — Wide Release

Sweet Home Alabama

Nominated

Golden Trailer Award

Best Romance

Secretary

Nominated

Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award

Best Contemporary Hair Styling — Feature

Anne Morgan

Nominated

MTV Movie + TV Award

Best Female Performance

Reese Witherspoon

Nominated

Teen Choice Award

Choice Movie — Comedy

Sweet Home Alabama

Won

Choice Movie Actress — Comedy

Reese Witherspoon

Nominated

Choice Movie — Villain

Candice Bergen

Nominated

Choice Movie — Liplock

Reese Witherspoon
Josh Lucas

Won

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: Sweet Home Alabama (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the film soundtrack, includes thirteen songs by different artists.[7]

text: No.TitleWriter(s)Length1."Sweet Home Alabama"Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, Edward King3:432."Mine All Mine"Kristyn Osborn, Hollie Poole3:553."Falling Down"Avril Lavigne, David Alspach, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards3:544."Gonna Make You Love Me"Ryan Adams2:365."To Think I Used to Love You (DJ Homicide Remix)"Uncle Kracker3:266."Keep Your Hands to Yourself"Daniel J. Baird3:067."Bring On the Day"Amy Powers, Jeffrey C.J. Vanston4:338."Long Gone Lonesome Blues"Hank Williams2:559."You Got Me"Jason Chain3:4410."Now That I Know"Eric Bazilian, Shannon McNally4:4411."Marry Me"Dolly Parton3:1512."Weekend Song"Matt Cantor, Pete Chill, Aston Harvey, Tenor Fly3:5813."Felony Melanie - Sweet Home Alabama Suite (Score)" 5:02