The Help

[Deleted]

Actor Wendell Pierce has joined in the criticism.

As audiences continue to debate whether The Help is an inadequate racial drama or a crowd-pleasing discussion starter, Treme actor Wendell Pierce has joined the fray. "The movie The Help was painful to watch," he tweeted last night. "This passive segregation lite was hurtful." Pierce went to a screening with his mother, who told her son for the first time that she, too, had once been "the help"; she was angry that the movie was sentimentalized and didn't touch on the curtailed education options for black children that often steered them toward a lifetime of maid service. " watching the film in UptownNewOrleans to the sniffles of elderly white people while my 80year old mother was seething," wrote Pierce. "She told me how she wasn't allowed in the kitchen. She couldn't eat during a 12 hour shift. Only left overs if there was any. She couldn't drink water from the kitchen but had to go to the faucet out doors." Even more problematic for Pierce was the presence of Emma Stone's lead character: "Hollywood loves the formula: the Great White Savior. I am tired of this cliche. These black women didn't need a young white woman be empowered."

I started reading the book because I hate not knowing what everyone is talking about and it seems to me that the book does address all the things he's talking about. It would be a real shame if the movie did sanitise these things.

[jynni]

I read the book on a recommendation of a co-worker and will admit that I rolled my eyes a bit when I realized how Skeeter's character was playing into the story. That said, it kept my attention because it was extremely well written - the chapters voiced by Abileen and Minny were far more interesting than anything revolving around Skeeter. She felt like a little of a Mary Sue stand in for the author herself.

[Deleted]

I loved this comment regarding Wendell Pierce's statement:

Is the implication that movies are anything other than a hyperbolic representation of real life, becasue by definition hyperbole is exaggeration. I find that people like Wendell, whose profession consists of lying and playing make believe, get upset when a movie comes across as one-sided, misses key points, or otherwise glosses over actual history. It's a movie, based on a book, based on some stuff that really could have happened. For people who look to movies, music or other forms of entertainment as historical fact, the problem starts with the premise that these methods of expression strive for historical accuracy. Actors are professional liars, Wendell does not actually play in a Jazz club in New Oreleans for a living, he does not investigate homicides in baltimore either, he makes money acting.

[incognito]

I actually think that person's comment is stupid and spectacularly missing the point. And it's some incredibly fallacious reasoning on their part to say that an actor cannot call out a movie for being one-sided and overly sentimental, especially when said one-sided view is a particularly offensive and tired one that ties back into Hollywood's love affair with the White Savior stereotype, as Pierce takes issue with.

I mean, disagreeing whether the movie is actually a White Savior vehicle or completely one-sided is one thing - I haven't seen it, and I've heard people say (like in this thread) that the marketing is completely misleading and that Emma Stone's character isn't meant as a "savior" role at all. But the commenter doesn't take issue with those points at all, their entire response boils down to: "LOLz, it's Hollywood and it's fiction! It's just a movie!" And that's bullshit.

[Neurochick]

Aug 17, 2011 19:54:32 GMT -4 baileydash said:

I'm annoyed not so much by the movie itself as by the fact that films like this get made only if they have a Skeeter-like character in them.

And it's also annoying to be told by SOME of the film's defenders to STFU and be grateful for ANY film about the civil rights movement, even when they are problematic.

Btw, I hate Tyler Perry movies. His films are so bad, I'd rather do without black films than sit through his cinematic crap.

This is very true. If there's not a major white person in the movie, then it won't get made. It's like white people can't deal with not seeing white people on a movie screen, like they'll have a stroke or something.

So instead of movies like The Help, films such as Precious should be made instead, am I correct? Precious, which had an African American writer, screenwriter, director, and producers, but was chastised by many AAs because of the stereotypes of urban life and the fact that the protagonist was an overweight black teen with a sadistic overweight mother. Yet, that movie won two Oscars.

First being overweight isn't a crime. Second, what's wrong with making a romantic comedy about <gasp> black people. I don't think the world will com-bust if that happens. All I want to see is black people as the stars of our own stories. PERIOD.

[Deleted]

First being overweight isn't a crime. Second, what's wrong with making a romantic comedy about <gasp> black people. I don't think the world will com-bust if that happens. All I want to see is black people as the stars of our own stories. PERIOD.

You COMPLETELY missed the point of what I said. First off, one of my favorite romantic films is a movie called Love Jones, which was a film that starred black people and was created by black people. The unfortunate part about this is the movie was made 13 years ago. With the exception of Love and Basketball, I have yet to see a decent romantic comedy about black people over the past decade or so. So who's fault is this, black film makers or Hollywood? The question is what kind of black movies do you want to see made? It all comes back to Hollywood and what makes money. You know that and I know that. When Denzel Washington directed The Great Debators, that movie didn't find an audience. What did African Americans do? Sat on their asses and waited until the next Tyler Perry movie came out.

Plus, you didn't answer my question regarding Precious. You jumped on the overweight part, yet refused to talk about why many critics--many of whom were white--praised the film yet many African Americans hated the film because of the premise. How do you respond to this?

Neurochick, I've always respected your Devil's Advocate posts; however, we're never going to come to a meeting of the minds in regards to this film. As for the "white savior" aspect, I guess To Kill a Mockingbird should be banned as well, right? Face the facts, there will always be that aspect of Hollywood. It will never change. What you can do is either see the movie for what it's worth or don't see the movie at all.

[Neurochick]

First To Kill A Mockingbird was written in 1960 and yes the standard was different then.

One of the reasons Tyler Perry's movies do so well is because he discovered an audience that Hollywood never realized existed, another reason is that his movies are marketed better than movies like "Love Jones" which really became popular because of word of mouth. Many black movies don't do well because they receive little or no publicity. On the other hand, a movie like "The Help" is all over the place. The question is, why is a movie like "The Help" all over the place while a black romantic comedy might not be.

I think a lot of black people didn't like Precious, not because of the subject, but because movies like that, showing black pathology are marketed better than movies that show black people as people. In movies today, the black character is the sidekick, or the maid, or the "magical negro" but never the star.

[incognito]

I think a lot of black people didn't like Precious, not because of the subject, but because movies like that, showing black pathology are marketed better than movies that show black people as people.

Neurochick, I'm just curious, but did you ever read Percival Everett's Erasure? Your comment reminded me of it.

[MrsCatHead]

I'm betting the author and the producers are extremely happy with all the controversy.

[Deleted]

Many black movies don't do well because they receive little or no publicity. On the other hand, a movie like "The Help" is all over the place. The question is, why is a movie like "The Help" all over the place while a black romantic comedy might not be.

I said it before and I will say it again: it goes back to Hollywood. As you mentioned, Hollywood will promote a movie such as The Blind Side, yet 20th Century Fox failed to promote Antwone Fisher, a film directed by one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and it didn't do anything at the box office. Can you imagine if Fox did the promotion that Warner Brothers did for The Blind Side?

Perhaps it's time for a boycott of the corporations who own the major motion picture studios in regards to making films with African Americans from a positive standpoint. It won't happen because there are more important things (unemployment, et al) to discuss rather than a fictional movie that will be gone from the theaters in two months.

Plus, Hollywood is all about money. That's why Columbia Pictures freaked out when Will Smith and Martin Lawrence starred in Bad Boys because they didn't want two African Americans as the lead in a major motion picture because it would not do well internationally which is where the box office is today, yet the movie made millions and it warranted a sequel. Let's face it, Lion's Gate films keep promising to promote Tyler Perry movies internationally, but the subject matter goes over the heads of many foreign film goers. They fear foreigners will not sit through a movie with an all-African American cast. That's why Denzel Washington has to have Ethan Hawke as his sidekick. That's why Morgan Freeman needs Matt Damon's picture next to his on the movie poster. Hollywood is afraid of losing money, and that's the bottom line.