The Help

September 7, 2011 in Blog, Film & Television with 8 Comments

Based on the 2009 bestseller of the same name, The Help is a truly fantastic piece of storytelling that reveals the nature of violence and dehumanization, and how they can be overcome through friendship, community and courage.

The film opens in early 1960s Jackson, Mississippi on Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) being interviewed by Skeeter (Emma Stone). The film quickly flashes back to Aibileen caring for the young child of the woman for whom Aibileen is “the Help” – a maid cum cook cum nanny. Through Aibileen, we meet several more of the black community, including Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), who works for the town’s young matriarch, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard).

Hilly has begun a crusade to pass legislature requiring all white homes with black Help to build a separate bathroom in the home for blacks to use. This outrages not only the black community (who bear yet another injustice with public acquiescence and private mockery), but also Skeeter, the aspiring journalist newly returned from college.

Herself a misfit because she's educated and single, Skeeter hopes to help the black women of Jackson find their voice.
Skeeter decides to compile a book of stories from the various women in Jackson’s black community. Her goal is to give the Help a voice, to humanize them. She manages to enlist Aibileen’s help (hence the film’s opening scene), and then Minny’s – after Hilly fires her for using the indoor (white) bathroom. After Medgar Evers is killed, the rest of Jackson’s black maids join their cause.

The Help is published (by Anonymous and with all names changed) and generates more buzz than any of the women anticipated. When some of the white women in Jackson begin to wonder if the book is in fact about them, they are dissuaded by none other than Hilly herself.

It turns out that Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny took out an insurance policy of sorts. They included a story about what happened after Hilly fired Minny. Apparently Minny took one of her famous chocolate pies to Hilly, ostensibly to apologize and beg for her job back. She stands by, submissive and quiet, until Hilly has eaten nearly two pieces of pie. In a David-and-Goliath moment, Minny cries out triumphantly,
Eat. My. S**t!
Because that’s what you been doin!
Hilly will go to any length to keep it secret that she’s eaten not just poop, but black poop. And so she works harder than anyone to convince Jackson’s white community that The Help is most certainly not about them.

Very much against her will, Hilly becomes the savior of Jackson’s black community, the very women who have found their voice in the book.
the-helpPublishing the book costs the three women dearly. Skeeter’s boyfriend dumps her in a fury, and she’s forced to abandon Jackson for New York City. Aibileen is fired for stealing – a ruse cooked up to force her boss’ hand by Hilly. She joined Minny as an unhireable maid – thanks to Hilly’s ill will and influence.

But the film closes on Aibileen walking off into the distance, the future bright and pregnant with possibility. She has been heard. And she has more stories to tell, now that the world is listening.

The Help is one of those rare films that makes you a better person for watching it. You’ll laugh. You’ll pause and think. You’ll tear up, at least a little (assuming your heart isn’t granite). Go see it.
Next week, I’m going to write more about this movie (yes, it’s that good). I’ll explore 4 things The Help teaches us about racism. For now…

What did you think of The Help? Who were your favorite characters? What was your favorite part of the film?

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  • http://pomoxian.com Henry Imler

    I'm interested to see your take on The Help and racism as a lot of black historians and feminists have seen it as The Blind side lite - a whitewashing of race relations. I can't speak authoritatively on the movie or the historical situations I just know that's a critique of the film's racial elements. I can send you some links if you like. (And feel free to remove this comment if it distracts too much from your point in this post.)

  • http://www.jrforasteros.com JR. Forasteros

    I can see what they mean, but IMO the film opens more avenues of discussion and understanding than it closes. It's certainly not "Precious", but it's a START. I haven't seen "The Blind Side". I'll be anxious for your reaction to my thoughts as well.

  • http://pomoxian.com Henry Imler

    That makes sense. An entry into a discussion in which the aim is towards peace and justice need not be perfect in every regard. I can dig.

    Oh, and the Blind Side is so bad that all the pissed off black historians make a point to say "at least it is not as bad as The Blind Side, the purpose of which was to make white people feel good about privilege."

  • Anonymous

    I saw "The Help" last night and thought it was fantastic. One of the biggest takeaways for me was that it demonstrated the power of social pressure to do the wrong thing (e.g., Aibileen's and Constantine's firings). I really liked the way that Minnie and Celia interacted. It was one of the ways that the "white knight" archetype was upset because it was primarily Minnie that helped Celia and not vice versa. My favorite scene in the movie was probably when Hilly comes tearing down the dirt road to Skeeter's house, and then Skeeter's mother tells her to get off their property, showing some backbone to do what's right for the first time in the movie thanks to her daughter demonstrating it to her first. 

    Overall, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading your next post on it.

  • Anonymous

    This film does a much better job than "The Blind Side" (although I didn't think "The Blind Side" was as bad as some critics did). My critique of criticisms of race-relations movies is that it's just as historically inaccurate and unrealistic to show blacks only helping themselves (the myth of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps) as to show the white person with the heart of gold helping the poor helpless black person up. If you're going to have white people in a movie like this who befriend black people, they're either going to help each other or the friendship is a two-dimensional prop for an agenda. "The Help" shows, yes, that black people need white people, but also that white people need black people. Skeeter can't write her cleaning column without the help of Aibileen; Skeeter could never have even gotten published if it weren't for Aibileen. But at the same time, Aibileen would have never known that she was as good of a writer as she is if Skeeter hadn't allowed her to co-write the book with her. "The Help" authentically demonstrates what real friendship should be about--mutual, not uni-directional, help. 

  • http://pomoxian.com Henry Imler

    I like what you are putting down, Scott. If I remember correctly, the major criticism was that the film and book portrayed racism as a personality flaw, not the "air of the south" that one could not help but to breathe. Restated, that racism was merely individual, not a pervasive systematic issue. But, I could be wrong.  From what people tell me, I have been so before. 

  • Anonymous

    Loved this book and movie. Great review!

  • http://www.jrforasteros.com JR. Forasteros

    Thanks very much! What's your pick for Best Picture? This is very high on my list, for sure.