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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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Skeeter becomes alienated due to her choices of not being married, and because of how her perspective on the division between white Southern households and black maids has changed due to being in the city and going to college. She also crosses social boundaries in the movie to write a book about the lives of black maids in the South, which is a highly controversial and could have gotten the maids who helped fired and shunned. These characteristics are what help her further her transformation from the women she was raised to be to the independent, brave woman who chooses her own

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Skeeter Phelan is an aspiring writer who wants to tell the stories of underpaid, overworked, and underestimated black maids while sacrificing her own “friendships” to bring a big change to the world of writing and an even bigger change to the lives of her subjects. Skeeter brings light and hope into the dark story of The Help and gives the reader a new perspective of how common stereotypes were in Mississippi during the 1960s. Born to Carlton and Charlotte Phelan and raised by a black maid named Constantine, Skeeter grew up on her family’s cotton plantation as the oddball of the family. Constantine was the closest thing Skeeter had to a loving mother. What was most memorable about their relationship was when Skeeter recalls, “All my life I’d been told what to believe about politics, colored, being a girl.

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Skeeter became capable of fully seeing the prejudice and unfair treatment of the maids after she was socially isolated from society. To Skeeter’s friends, coloreds were supposed to be treated this way, because they were supposedly lesser than whites. However, as stated by Michael Bassey Johnson, “To be of good quality, you must first excuse yourself from the presence of shallow and callow minded individuals.” Even though Skeeter’s views were unpopular, her ability to share insight on the life of being a colored maid during the 1960’s helped spread awareness of the errors of

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I realized that Skeeter set multiple examples throughout the book that stands out of the gender stereotypes and examples of feminism. For example, being tall and not dating or marrying a guy during college. 9. I find it interesting to be able to relate back in the past especially history. Racism is one the issues we still have today, and it was a major problem back in the sixties where everyone is segregated unlike

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The Help focuses on the story of a upper class writer that tries to find her social identity as well as others. With help from the maids of Jackson, Mississippi, they all overcome stereotypes and discrimination. Aibileen's story was the foundation idea for Skeeter because she had been through so much in her life that she decided to tell her story. The fact that she was black, and a woman the role of a maid for the upper class families were passed down from generations so she saw her fair share of being looked down upon. Being a part of the Black/African African race, there were certain things

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Skeeter is seen to develop in two different ways: a young woman who doesn 't have marriage as a first priority anymore and a woman who later sees an injustice to the black help. Skeeter is a white socialite who just graduated from college with a degree in writing. She came back to Jackson Mississippi with the idea of starting to write for book publishing companies but arrives home only for her mother to question her about marriage. Upon the many

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She battles to free herself from the power that white Americans hold over her and her community during this time. With the help of a few fellow maids and Miss Skeeter, the white women who sparked the question of change, Aibileen hopes to change people’s opinions about how they perceive blacks

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She asked Skeeter, a white college girl, to get her a few books, because “you know colored folks ain’t allowed in that library” (179). Skeeter knew the risks, but she also knew what a black family went through in Jackson, Mississippi. Despite what society thought was right, there were still people, like Skeeter and her family, who were looking out for the black community. Mr Phelen, Skeeter’s dad, stated, “I'm ashamed, sometimes, Senator. Ashamed of what goes on in Mississippi” (316) during a discussion of race at the dinner table. People like Skeeter and her family are one of the reasons “The help” stayed in Jackson; they felt respected by

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During the entire film African Americans are treated poorly. Whether it was them not being able to use the same toilet as the white people or have to move to the back of the bus when a white person entered. The maids Aibileen and Minny take on Skeeter’s suggestion to share their awful experiences. They build up their bravery and take a risk “Alright, I’m gonna do it.

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The social groups focused on in this novel are white housewives, whose group consists of Skeeter, the privileged daughter of a farmer, who just returned from college, and “the help” or a group of maids who are of course of African American decent. The help is forced to obey their irrationally needy bosses, cooking for them, cleaning for them, and even raising their children, only to be treated inhumanely and unfairly by petty housewives. For example, one of the housewives, Hilly Holbrook, a seemingly conflicting character alone, was very suggestive of a bathroom act being enforced, which made it mandatory that every home have a separate bathroom for its help as a “safety precaution” because they could transmit diseases through their bodily functions. In situations like these, African Americans were very alienated, and it really displayed the gap in reality for the two groups. This in turn caused conflict between them, as African Americans were looked down at by whites and the whites were seen as threatening and wicked minded by African Americans.

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Throughout the movie, the white women generally would stay at home and complete tasks and hobbies that they enjoyed participating. Usually assuming the roles of childbearing, many white women did not have a place within the working community. For years, a woman who pursued her education was seen as a threat. Although very few women went against these stereotypical roles, Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan became one of those exceptions. Graduating from college and pursuing a stable writing career Skeeter became both disliked and feared by many of the women within Jackson, Mississippi.

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A young college graduate, Skeeter, returns home to be with her ailing mother, and in her ambition to succeed as a writer, turns to the black maids she knows. Skeeter is determined to collect their oral histories and write about a culture that values social facade and ignores the human dignity of many members of the community. Two maids, Aibileen and Minny, agree to share their stories, stories of struggle and daily humiliation, of hard work and low pay, of fear for themselves. It is a time of change, when

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Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

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