The Help

[Deleted]

The lawsuit is still pending.

Kathryn Stockett's brother has a maid; this maid is one suing. She claims the character Aibileen Clark was based on her without permission. Stockett says this is not true; she has only met this maid for a few seconds and wants the lawsuit dismissed.

[Babycakes]

Aug 13, 2011 4:15:21 GMT -4 bklynred said:

Wow, did a reviewer really describe it as lighthearted? Believe me, the book wasn't. It had some funny moments but the subject matter alone makes "lighthearted" a really trite and inappropriate description of it all. Ah well, I still recommend the book to those who have sworn off the movie already.

BTW, what's reverse magical negro? I know the original definition is used for movies like Bagger Vance or The Green Mile (although that may have been a more literal definition), basically any movie, book et al. where a black (or other minority) character mysteriously shows up and is used to get a (usually) caucasian character to have an eipiphany or a similarly deep, emotional revelation about him/herself. Would Skeeter be the reverse magical person in this case?

I also think EW noted that filming brought about $17m into the small southern town that the director insisted on filming in, which I thought was cool.

Lighthearted and heartwarming was my take on the movie based on the trailer. I couldn't think of another/better term for the plot since I haven't read the book, but that's the way it comes off from the trailer. Skeeter steps in the helps liberate the maids in MS and empowers them. She comes into her womanhood, and gives comeuppance/turns around the elite white women in town. The trailer may not do the story justice, but it is trying to be the least offensive to get the maximum amount of butts into seats in the theater. Of course they aren't going to focus on the more salient points. Just snobby woman squealing in rage, black woman saying something sassy, Skeeter in convertible, a warm hug, and a peppy soundtrack. I wouldn't watch this movie if it was on Lifetime and had a cast of the same race. But just the geographical and chronological setting is off putting. So yeah.

And yeah, Skeeter would be the Magical Caucasian in this case. And it's not as insulting as some other cases, but I just don't want to see it in this movie.

And that is cool that the local economy was helped. MS needs all the help (heh) that it can get.

[Shanmac]

I also didn't think it was a feel-good read at all. It was actually quite horrifying at times IMHO.

Maybe the trailer is different, but with regard to the book, same here. It wasn't perfect (what book is?), but it wasn't "rah, rah, all the problems are solved" at the end. In fact, I was kind of horrified by the fact that Skeeter gets the hell out of Dodge to pursue her career, and even though she has their blessing, leaves Aibileen and Minny, etc., to face the consequences of the book on their own. The readers are told that Aibileen loses her job, but realistically, I couldn't help but think she could potentially be in for much worse; meanwhile, Skeeter is off doing her own thing. To me, it was very clear that by participating in the book, all the women put themselves at grave risk. So I didn't consider it light-hearted at all. I closed the book still fearing for what could happen to them down the line.

Also, the depictions of the women caring for the white children were also heart-wrenching, definitely not light-hearted (I read it on a plane and was embarrassed because I burst into tears at one point). Like bklynred said, it has some funny moments, but for the most part, I didn't find The Help to be light-hearted at all. That said, I haven't seen the movie yet, and maybe the tone is different. Or maybe my interpretation of the book was different from that of others, or something.

All of that aside, I get where people are coming from when they criticize the book/movie, especially the idea of a white woman telling the stories of black women. I do think that in the book, it seems like Skeeter is literally just the mouthpiece — the women tell their stories in their own words, and she just records them, almost like a historian. And, realistically, in that time and place, that was probably the only way to get those stories out there. But I get why some people find that objectionable.

However? I did have to cringe at the way the black "dialect" was written phonetically like that. I'm sure the white folks had accents/a certain way of speaking too, but their words were written in standard English. But there's a lot of books that make me cringe for that same reason, so "The Help" isn't the only culprit.

All in all, I really enjoyed the book and I plan to see the movie, too. I didn't realize Cicely Tyson is in it. I'll definitely be there.

[bklynred]

I'm genuinely surprised at some of the responses to the movie based on the trailer alone and not having read the book. I guess YMMV. I want to help boost opening weekend numbers so I think I might see it tomorrow & then see it again when my mom's up to going.

[ladyvorkosigan]

For me, as a minority, it's more just a sort of sadness that in this day and age, we're still not able to tell our own stories. So while the book (and the movie) may be well crafted and lovely, it still says something about society that we seem to be more comfortable using black women as accessories in a white woman's story. I think academics call it centering whiteness.

It not that the book/movie/author/fans are necessarily racist, not at all, it's just that it's so sad that we're never the center of our own stories in pop culture. You can't blame Stockett for that. But you can still be unhappy with a system that popularizes these stories above all.

Here's a short piece that sort of summarizes some of the criticism of pop culture's role in this.

The Help underscores the failure of pop culture to acknowledge a central truth: Within the civil rights movement, white people were the help.

The architects, visionaries, prime movers, and most of the on-the-ground laborers of the civil rights movement were African-American. Many white Americans stood beside them, and some even died beside them, but it was not their fight — and more important, it was not their idea.

Here's another piece by a blogger I really respect, especially when it comes to race-related issues (she liked the book, but is also concerned about the overall messag)

This is my worry: That even if The Help film gets it right, viewers will see just another movie about a spunky, young, white girl, setting the world on fire, while the lives, stories and agency of black women remain invisible.

One of the good things about this movie, besides getting Viola Davis onscreen again, is that we all get to talk about race in a way that often doesn't come up.

ETA: bklynred, I think the "reverse magical negro" is called the Nice White Lady, ala Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side. Maybe I can dig up a link or two...

[Deleted]

This is my worry: That even if The Help film gets it right, viewers will see just another movie about a spunky, young, white girl, setting the world on fire, while the lives, stories and agency of black women remain invisible.

The above quote is the exact reason that I have no interest in seeing this movie or reading the book for that matter. And I say that as a person who is not a minority. I don't want to see another movie or read another book by a white person describing the minority experience. Because no matter how well intentioned, how can they really know what it must be like or must have been like?

[sjankis630]

I have not read the book nor have i seen the movie. I am Black and my Mother can't wait to see this. (she is going this weekend) I have no problem with someone (of any color) writing fiction. If you want to write, then write - please.
What I do have a problem with - my prejudices entirely - was a friend who loved the book went to the author's "meet and greet" here in Reston VA. The entire place was sold out and the author - who is southern - apparently just laid the southern bell chaaaarrrm on a little bit thick.
When i hear this it just kind of chaps me some. I want to say "you know that 50-60s southern belle was great and all but when you lay it on thick when you try and describe the struggles of some who had an entirely different view of the South back then - and who weren't treated like kewpi dolls - then it kind of gives off a "what is the big deal" vibe"
Kind of like a Southern man writing a book about the beginning of the Civil Rights movement wearing a rebel flag t-shirt. (It's about "Souther Heritage" and pride) - Right MF.
Anyway my friend, who is white, started asking me who did I think could play the maids? I retorted that there were only a few Black actresses of a certain age that could probably play this role. I guess I was wrong because I didn't see Alfre Woodard, Loretta Devine, Angela Bassett, or Lynn Whitfield anywhere in the cast. Viola Davis is in it I see.

[GoldenFleece]

There were slave narratives published in the 1700s and 1800s, so the central idea of The Help, that voiceless black maids in the mid-twentieth century need a white writer to get their story told, doesn't appeal to me at all. Maybe if the writer protagonist had been the daughter of "the help", reaping the benefits of her mother's job but also suffering because her mother was off raising another set of kids, and it explored class issues among African-Americans in that era. But that's a different story, and one that's not Kathryn Stockett's to tell. It's...interesting to watch which stories about this time in American history take hold in pop culture and with Hollywood.

[Deleted]

I was subjected to the commercial for this over and over when I was watching The Bachelor On Demand with the lovely new On Demand feature that doesn't allow you to FF (Grrrrr!!!!). It piqued my interest the first time I saw it, but after that I started to get annoyed. The problem is the lighthearted nature of it. According to the trailer this is a movie about mean white girls getting their comeuppance in their social circle and being made fools of because of "the help." Sorry, racism isn't cute and it's not about the popular gal getting egg on her face. If the movie in it's entirety has more substance somebody made a big mistake with the trailer because the way this is being presented just doesn't feel.....right.

*Feel free to disregard my opinions based on the fact that I watch The Bachelor.

[GoldenFleece]

I got The Help commercials when I watched something OnDemand, too. It was another ABC show.

This movie has a first time director so he'd have no clout to control the trailer's tone at all. Trailers are usually outsourced, the companies who do them get a certain amount of movie footage to carve into something "marketable". I think the studio went with lighthearted angle here to "reassure" the general public that a story about race relations wouldn't be completely heavy and depressing time at the movies.