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The Black Pets Revealed In The Movie, The Help

1157 Words5 Pages

When we entitle a movie to try and signify a historical moment of racism, we expect the visualization so deep and painful that it will make us more thankful for the racial equality in the present day. The movie “The Help” was known to be a critical viewpoint of the racial segregation of black maids within the 1960s and was explained through the lifepoint of the white woman Skeeter. However the film makes the story of the black maids secondary to Skeeter which, induces the audience to believe it perpetuates a settler version of racism. This argument is justifiable for the movie was often found highlighting the ungrammatical speech of the black maids quite often and shone a spotlight on the character of Skeeter when it was unnecessary.
First, …show more content…

If the movie had decided to make one of the black maid the main character, we as the audience could have gotten more out of something. The audienced could’ve been able to explore the mindset of the black maids or their backstory and current situation. However, because the main protagonist was Skeeter, we were only able to visualize Skeeter’s thoughts and situation which was less meaningful because we as the audience already live the same type of lifestyle as her. We should have been able to explore the perspective of the black people and their treatments and understand why racism back then was so harsh to them. Instead we were offered irrelevant subplots such as Skeeter seeking for a man which carried no relations into the poor treatments of black maids. However, there were scenes that explored wonderful depth into the mistreatment but unnecessary scenes made it odd. An example of …show more content…

Throughout the film there had been the feeling of awfulness for the black maids as we witness their treatments and conditions. It starts off with that tone in the beginning of the movie but with the introduction to Skeeter’s writing, there was a growth of false hope which doesn’t make sense. It was almost as if black maids have tried to make no progress until the introduction of Skeeter. Skeeter was their only reasons they started to share their problems. With the introduction of Martin Luther King Jr during the time, there must’ve been more black maids giving their voices but, we are shown that they are completely powerless and none of them dares to speak against the white people. Skeeter’s release of the book then immediately changes the tone and proceeds to progress the movie as if she was the main hero of the conflict. Skeeter was only able to help with racism within her community and the fact that they ignore huge leaders such as Martin

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