So I've been thinking about The Help...
...and I think I've come up with a number of reasons why this film based on a best-selling book that celebrates the fellowship between the white and black protagonists isn't really that groundbreaking in the way it treats race.
I'll preface this by saying the only reason I went to see this movie is because my grandma wanted to see it, and I really like Emma Stone as an actress, and the reviews for the film weren't terrible. I had low to nuetral expectations about it, and those expectations were more or less met, but the experience of watching the movie wasn't completely terrible, as at least I enjoyed the actoress' performances. I had reasons for not going to see it:
1) The author of the book was involved in a lawsuit with the maid of her brother, who claims that the author used her likeness without her permission. That lawsuit was recently dismissed due to a statute of limitations, and there are other similiarities, like a similar name (Ablene Clark in the novel vs. the real life Ablene Cooper) appearance (both Ablnes have one gold tooth), and life stories (like the fictional Ablne Clark, Ablene Cooper also lost a son some months before her employer had their first child). But the thing that convinces me is that Stockett went out of her way to contact this Cooper to tell her "this character is not based on you." If the author foresaw the possibility of the conclusion that this character was based on Cooper then she had ample opportunity to change her narrative when it became clear that Cooper was upset about it.
2) The book features a line of dialog wherein a black character (Ablne Clark, as it would happen) compares the color of her skin to the color of a cockroach. Yeah, thanks, but no.
3) It seemed that this book and this movie was about the struggle of minority characters against a biased society in a emotionally and socially charged time---all on the initiative of a white person. And of all the stories already out there set in this era, did we really need another one wherein a white character is in the center of it all, ultimately having more sway or impact in the dipicted struggle that wasn't really about them or for them in the first place?
Before I go further, a point of clarification: I am in no way belittling the contributions of any white persons who supported the civil rights movement then, nor am I undermining anybody, white, black, or of any minority today that believes things today aren't as equal as they should be and tries to change that fact. I think that when things are unfair, that's when you speak up, no matter if it's unfair to you or to someone else.
But far too often people with the most sway in the media (be it news media or entertainment media or text book media), those people most often being white and priviledged, will whitewash that which they have control over in order to take whatever positive power exists in that story and spin it in their own favor. For example, the upcoming AMC telvision show based in the era of the US continental railroad will not feature any Chinese labor workers, despite the fact that they were integral to the history of the railroad and their story is largely ignored in history books in the United States, and as a disenfranchised minority their stories have been given far less attention than of American citizens involved in that time period. The creators of that show blitely admitted to the existance of the Chinese workers in history during an interveiw about that show (going so far as to say that they "predicted this is probably going to be the first question [of if the show was going to feature Chinese workers] we were going to be asked," but largely felt that other "American" aspects of the railroad's history appealed to them more. (To read the interview, go here.)
Texas Education officials removed Oscar Romero, a Salvadorian activist from their revised textbooks because they had never heard of him and as one board member said, “he didn’t have his own movie” like Nelson Mandela and Mohandas Gandhi." But they made a speical place for Phyllis Schlafly as a conservative hero. I actually didn't learn about Oscar Romero in school, so I wiki'd him: He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture, often instigated by his own government. At a time where members of the Catholic church were vulnerable (many had already been murdered in El Salvador), he publically called on Jimmy Carter to stop supporting the newly formed right-wing government that was supressing the people. He was eventually murdered because of this, probably by the United States. Phyllis Schlafly (probably) felt personally threatened by minority groups (especially women, for some reason) asking for equal treatment in all aspects of life, including the workplace, and actively worked against The Equal Rights Amendment that would at least garuntee that just because someone was born with a vagina they wouldn't become a virtual second-class citizen.
Even fiction isn't safe: The Last Airbender, a cinematic crime against humanity, featured white actors as the main protagonists (despite how in the original--and award winning--show, the protagonists were clearly based on Inuit and Pan-Asian cultures), while the villians of the film were all either of Indian or Middle Eastern discent (in the show, the villains were light skinned and based off of Chinese and Japanese cultures). All ofther characters were either nameless victims in rundown villages or prision camps, that were unable to defend themselves--even in cases wherein as a village they outnumbered the bad guys seven to one, as in one such scene--or they were the cultured and priveliged Northern Water Tribe, powerful and wealthy as well as--you guessed it--white.
But for my grandmother's sake (as well as for the sake of returning to the topic of this post) I went to see The Help, and I tried to keep an open mind. It was possible, I tried to convince myself, that this story could work. After all, there were probably a few white people in Jackson Mississippi that weren't complete raging racists--statistically speaking, probably true. There were probably a few--not many--friendships or genuine bonds formed by people of both colors. If this film was actually about those friendships and actually about the struggles and trials of the female black characters, and the story of the white, good-hearted girl took a backseat to that story, then maybe The Help would earn my respect. Thinking about it, I didn't hate it. But that's the best thing I can say about it, and here's why.
1) We learn of in the film (but never actually see it represented, like in a flashback) the personal tradgedies of the main two black characters, Ablne and Minny--Ablne lost her son in what is presumably at best an accident and at worst manslaughter, and Minny's husband physically abuses her (but we don't even see her husband on camera.) However, Emma Stone's character "Skeeter" gets two flashbacks that develop her own character and insecurities (she doesn't feel pretty enough in a society that still only really values a woman's face over her mind). I can excuse one of them, because at least it features the black maid with whom Stone's character has a deep emotional bond, but really? Doesn't losing a child or being on the recieving end of spousal abuse strike anyone as being a more weighty emotional issue than just feeling insecure about your looks?
2) The solutions to solving or at least addressing Ablene and Minny's personal problems are presented by white characters. The whole concept of the book is presented by Stone's character (which is ultimately supposed to be a kind of solution to racial issues in general--see these people, walk in their shoes for a mile, can't you understand that they are people too?), and the final bit of narration in the flim is Ablene, fired from her soul-sucking job to a calous white lady but determined to write more, as her son once told her there would one day be a writer in their family, and now it might as well be her. The ditzy but good-hearted employer Minny finds herself working for spots a brusie on Minny's face and says, "If it were me, I'd give back as good as I got, and then I would leave him" or something to that effect. As it happens, it is Minny's portion of the book's initial profit that gives Minny "the strength" to finally leave her abusive husband with her children.
3) Beyond the Ablene and Minny, not many other black characters are featured or developed on a level that we feel anything about. There is the maid that Stone's character grew up with, but she only comes in during the flashbacks, and beyond looking frail and emotionally wounded, there isn't much I could tell you about her character. (I've got 'kind' and 'motherly,' but did she have a sense of humor? What was her relationship with any character besides Skeeter? Was she reserved or extraverted? Serious or absent minded? I have no idea.) We feel emotionally for one black character who steals a forgotten ring in order to pay for her sons' college tuition after being demoralized by her quite racist (and quite two dimensional) employer and is later arrested for it, but who was she? She wasn't 'sassy' like Minny or 'quiet but strong' like Ablene--we barely got to know her. Whereas we learn pleanty about Skeeter, Skeeter's mom, Skeeter's love interest (sidenote: Chris Lowell is still really hot!), and Skeeter's former friends and main antagonists: super-racists Miss Hilly and Miss Leefolt, as well as Miss Hilly's comically-addled mother, Mrs. Walters. Even the bit character of the newspaper editor has more oomph than most of the supporting black cast, and I can only come to the conclusion that it's a matter of screen time and emphasis. The black ensamble cast should have been the ones to carry this film, but, then again, Hollywood doesn't think that way.
In summary, The Help is a book written by a white woman set during a time and focusing on a social movement that should be about black people--and I haven't read that book, but I've seen the movie. And the movie seems to be more about Skeeter than about Ablene and Minny, and that's not what I was hoping to see, as much as I love Emma Stone.
I'll preface this by saying the only reason I went to see this movie is because my grandma wanted to see it, and I really like Emma Stone as an actress, and the reviews for the film weren't terrible. I had low to nuetral expectations about it, and those expectations were more or less met, but the experience of watching the movie wasn't completely terrible, as at least I enjoyed the actoress' performances. I had reasons for not going to see it:
1) The author of the book was involved in a lawsuit with the maid of her brother, who claims that the author used her likeness without her permission. That lawsuit was recently dismissed due to a statute of limitations, and there are other similiarities, like a similar name (Ablene Clark in the novel vs. the real life Ablene Cooper) appearance (both Ablnes have one gold tooth), and life stories (like the fictional Ablne Clark, Ablene Cooper also lost a son some months before her employer had their first child). But the thing that convinces me is that Stockett went out of her way to contact this Cooper to tell her "this character is not based on you." If the author foresaw the possibility of the conclusion that this character was based on Cooper then she had ample opportunity to change her narrative when it became clear that Cooper was upset about it.
2) The book features a line of dialog wherein a black character (Ablne Clark, as it would happen) compares the color of her skin to the color of a cockroach. Yeah, thanks, but no.
3) It seemed that this book and this movie was about the struggle of minority characters against a biased society in a emotionally and socially charged time---all on the initiative of a white person. And of all the stories already out there set in this era, did we really need another one wherein a white character is in the center of it all, ultimately having more sway or impact in the dipicted struggle that wasn't really about them or for them in the first place?
Before I go further, a point of clarification: I am in no way belittling the contributions of any white persons who supported the civil rights movement then, nor am I undermining anybody, white, black, or of any minority today that believes things today aren't as equal as they should be and tries to change that fact. I think that when things are unfair, that's when you speak up, no matter if it's unfair to you or to someone else.
But far too often people with the most sway in the media (be it news media or entertainment media or text book media), those people most often being white and priviledged, will whitewash that which they have control over in order to take whatever positive power exists in that story and spin it in their own favor. For example, the upcoming AMC telvision show based in the era of the US continental railroad will not feature any Chinese labor workers, despite the fact that they were integral to the history of the railroad and their story is largely ignored in history books in the United States, and as a disenfranchised minority their stories have been given far less attention than of American citizens involved in that time period. The creators of that show blitely admitted to the existance of the Chinese workers in history during an interveiw about that show (going so far as to say that they "predicted this is probably going to be the first question [of if the show was going to feature Chinese workers] we were going to be asked," but largely felt that other "American" aspects of the railroad's history appealed to them more. (To read the interview, go here.)
Texas Education officials removed Oscar Romero, a Salvadorian activist from their revised textbooks because they had never heard of him and as one board member said, “he didn’t have his own movie” like Nelson Mandela and Mohandas Gandhi." But they made a speical place for Phyllis Schlafly as a conservative hero. I actually didn't learn about Oscar Romero in school, so I wiki'd him: He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture, often instigated by his own government. At a time where members of the Catholic church were vulnerable (many had already been murdered in El Salvador), he publically called on Jimmy Carter to stop supporting the newly formed right-wing government that was supressing the people. He was eventually murdered because of this, probably by the United States. Phyllis Schlafly (probably) felt personally threatened by minority groups (especially women, for some reason) asking for equal treatment in all aspects of life, including the workplace, and actively worked against The Equal Rights Amendment that would at least garuntee that just because someone was born with a vagina they wouldn't become a virtual second-class citizen.
Even fiction isn't safe: The Last Airbender, a cinematic crime against humanity, featured white actors as the main protagonists (despite how in the original--and award winning--show, the protagonists were clearly based on Inuit and Pan-Asian cultures), while the villians of the film were all either of Indian or Middle Eastern discent (in the show, the villains were light skinned and based off of Chinese and Japanese cultures). All ofther characters were either nameless victims in rundown villages or prision camps, that were unable to defend themselves--even in cases wherein as a village they outnumbered the bad guys seven to one, as in one such scene--or they were the cultured and priveliged Northern Water Tribe, powerful and wealthy as well as--you guessed it--white.
But for my grandmother's sake (as well as for the sake of returning to the topic of this post) I went to see The Help, and I tried to keep an open mind. It was possible, I tried to convince myself, that this story could work. After all, there were probably a few white people in Jackson Mississippi that weren't complete raging racists--statistically speaking, probably true. There were probably a few--not many--friendships or genuine bonds formed by people of both colors. If this film was actually about those friendships and actually about the struggles and trials of the female black characters, and the story of the white, good-hearted girl took a backseat to that story, then maybe The Help would earn my respect. Thinking about it, I didn't hate it. But that's the best thing I can say about it, and here's why.
1) We learn of in the film (but never actually see it represented, like in a flashback) the personal tradgedies of the main two black characters, Ablne and Minny--Ablne lost her son in what is presumably at best an accident and at worst manslaughter, and Minny's husband physically abuses her (but we don't even see her husband on camera.) However, Emma Stone's character "Skeeter" gets two flashbacks that develop her own character and insecurities (she doesn't feel pretty enough in a society that still only really values a woman's face over her mind). I can excuse one of them, because at least it features the black maid with whom Stone's character has a deep emotional bond, but really? Doesn't losing a child or being on the recieving end of spousal abuse strike anyone as being a more weighty emotional issue than just feeling insecure about your looks?
2) The solutions to solving or at least addressing Ablene and Minny's personal problems are presented by white characters. The whole concept of the book is presented by Stone's character (which is ultimately supposed to be a kind of solution to racial issues in general--see these people, walk in their shoes for a mile, can't you understand that they are people too?), and the final bit of narration in the flim is Ablene, fired from her soul-sucking job to a calous white lady but determined to write more, as her son once told her there would one day be a writer in their family, and now it might as well be her. The ditzy but good-hearted employer Minny finds herself working for spots a brusie on Minny's face and says, "If it were me, I'd give back as good as I got, and then I would leave him" or something to that effect. As it happens, it is Minny's portion of the book's initial profit that gives Minny "the strength" to finally leave her abusive husband with her children.
3) Beyond the Ablene and Minny, not many other black characters are featured or developed on a level that we feel anything about. There is the maid that Stone's character grew up with, but she only comes in during the flashbacks, and beyond looking frail and emotionally wounded, there isn't much I could tell you about her character. (I've got 'kind' and 'motherly,' but did she have a sense of humor? What was her relationship with any character besides Skeeter? Was she reserved or extraverted? Serious or absent minded? I have no idea.) We feel emotionally for one black character who steals a forgotten ring in order to pay for her sons' college tuition after being demoralized by her quite racist (and quite two dimensional) employer and is later arrested for it, but who was she? She wasn't 'sassy' like Minny or 'quiet but strong' like Ablene--we barely got to know her. Whereas we learn pleanty about Skeeter, Skeeter's mom, Skeeter's love interest (sidenote: Chris Lowell is still really hot!), and Skeeter's former friends and main antagonists: super-racists Miss Hilly and Miss Leefolt, as well as Miss Hilly's comically-addled mother, Mrs. Walters. Even the bit character of the newspaper editor has more oomph than most of the supporting black cast, and I can only come to the conclusion that it's a matter of screen time and emphasis. The black ensamble cast should have been the ones to carry this film, but, then again, Hollywood doesn't think that way.
In summary, The Help is a book written by a white woman set during a time and focusing on a social movement that should be about black people--and I haven't read that book, but I've seen the movie. And the movie seems to be more about Skeeter than about Ablene and Minny, and that's not what I was hoping to see, as much as I love Emma Stone.