'The Help' is a well-meaning attempt to educate the film going public about the civil rights era in the deep South through the perspective of the relationship between black maids and their white female employers. Author Kathryn Stockett, who wrote the book on which the film is based, does well in reminding us that the black 'help' not only had to endure the threat of violence as a result of the encroaching backlash from white racists upset over a new black militancy in southern communities, but also had to deal with a multiplicity of indignities on the drab domestic front, including being forced to use separate bathrooms in the homes of their white female employers. Not only does Hilly Holbrook (the film's principal 'villain') enforce this rule in her own home and influences her immediate neighbors to follow suit, but lobbies local politicians in order to have her racist initiative be codified into law.
While Hilly may be a tad bit melodramatic as Stockett's 'Cruella de Vil', she is undoubtedly the most compelling character in the entire film. Stockett also does well with Elizabeth Leefolt, Aibileen's racist employer, who is perhaps more repulsive than Hilly, in that she does not have the self-awareness to realize that she is an incompetent mother. Occasionally, Stockett even suggests that some of oppressed maids may not have all their moral compasses in order. In perhaps one of the most interesting scenes in the film (due to the ambiguity), one of the maids is roughly pulled off a bus and arrested by seemingly racist, redneck policeman. I could hear the indignant sounds of the audience suddenly go quiet, when it's revealed that the maid arrested was the one who pilfered a diamond ring that had fallen behind a cabinet in the home of one of the white employers.
Despite Stockett's noble attempt to relate the atmosphere of institutional racism so prevalent in the south during early 1960s, her main character, Skeeter, feels wholly anachronistic. It's as if Stockett projected her own modern day sensibility on to Skeeter and asks us to believe that such a character would have existed at that time. If there were progressive minded white liberals participating in the civil rights movement in the early 60s, usually they came from the north and were often met with outright violence. To have such a progressive minded white female from the south take up the cause of the oppressed black 'help', let alone create a book based on interviews with such women, is simply wish fulfillment on the part of the author. Stockett is obviously trying to mitigate some of her own guilt by creating the illusory, "feel-good" character of Skeeter. No book like "The Help" ever appeared in the early 60s and it would have never been published at that time.
There's another reason why 'The Help' makes little sense. Why would "The Help" ever agree to Skeeter's plan? They certainly receive little financial compensation for their efforts and in the end, they're only setting themselves up for retaliation. A character in a book might take some satisfaction in mouthing off against an employer who subjects them to racist humiliation, but in the real world (and especially in the 60s deep South), one doesn't 'talk back', unless one wants to lose their sole source of support. Of course there were individual black women who worked as maids who could have 'talked back' and lost their jobs, but to suggest such a large group of women agreed to interviews en masse, is another one of Stockett's 'feel-good' conceits!
While all those juicy interviews Stockett collected from the 'Help' may have worked in the book, the stories come off as dry recitations in the film. We don't actually experience the maids' stories visually—they are merely communicated to Skeeter during the interviews. Obviously, flashbacks wouldn't have worked during the interview scenes since there were too many of them. Stockett's other big problem with the 'Help' is that she's forced to place her main 'Help' characters on a pedestal. Yes Aibileen and Minny ARE victims but can they do no wrong? It may have been a more interesting story if "The Help" were REALLY told from their perspective. Stockett unfortunately is unable to make the Help's world come alive—do they actually have a back story? (the best we get is an allusion to Minny's "abusive" husband who never appears on screen). Or is everything defined by their relationship to the white world?
Stockett resorts to melodramatic form, by offering up storytelling akin to a decidedly unsubtle 'quid pro quo.' You have your evil Hilly and then you need to counter it with the ditsy but kind Cecelia Foote, another unbelievable character designed to prove that whites weren't all that bad during the era. Even Charlotte, Skeeter's mother, must be subject to Stockett's quid pro quo treatment (Charlotte channels Hilly when she banishes beloved family maid Constantin in order to appease her racist club members but then sticks up for Skeeter when Hilly tries to blackmail her daughter).
Worst of all are Stockett's male characters who are practically non-existent in the film. I didn't buy for one second that Skeeter would have actually been attracted to the boyfriend and gone out with him for a time. Wouldn't she have clarified from the beginning that he was a racist and had nothing to do with him?
For those who are interested in getting a better picture of black life during the civil rights era, can I recommend the classic 1964 picture, 'Nothing But a Man'? 'The Help' only seems to suggest that white people deserve more credit than they really should receive for aiding black people in their quest for social equality and justice.
While Hilly may be a tad bit melodramatic as Stockett's 'Cruella de Vil', she is undoubtedly the most compelling character in the entire film. Stockett also does well with Elizabeth Leefolt, Aibileen's racist employer, who is perhaps more repulsive than Hilly, in that she does not have the self-awareness to realize that she is an incompetent mother. Occasionally, Stockett even suggests that some of oppressed maids may not have all their moral compasses in order. In perhaps one of the most interesting scenes in the film (due to the ambiguity), one of the maids is roughly pulled off a bus and arrested by seemingly racist, redneck policeman. I could hear the indignant sounds of the audience suddenly go quiet, when it's revealed that the maid arrested was the one who pilfered a diamond ring that had fallen behind a cabinet in the home of one of the white employers.
Despite Stockett's noble attempt to relate the atmosphere of institutional racism so prevalent in the south during early 1960s, her main character, Skeeter, feels wholly anachronistic. It's as if Stockett projected her own modern day sensibility on to Skeeter and asks us to believe that such a character would have existed at that time. If there were progressive minded white liberals participating in the civil rights movement in the early 60s, usually they came from the north and were often met with outright violence. To have such a progressive minded white female from the south take up the cause of the oppressed black 'help', let alone create a book based on interviews with such women, is simply wish fulfillment on the part of the author. Stockett is obviously trying to mitigate some of her own guilt by creating the illusory, "feel-good" character of Skeeter. No book like "The Help" ever appeared in the early 60s and it would have never been published at that time.
There's another reason why 'The Help' makes little sense. Why would "The Help" ever agree to Skeeter's plan? They certainly receive little financial compensation for their efforts and in the end, they're only setting themselves up for retaliation. A character in a book might take some satisfaction in mouthing off against an employer who subjects them to racist humiliation, but in the real world (and especially in the 60s deep South), one doesn't 'talk back', unless one wants to lose their sole source of support. Of course there were individual black women who worked as maids who could have 'talked back' and lost their jobs, but to suggest such a large group of women agreed to interviews en masse, is another one of Stockett's 'feel-good' conceits!
While all those juicy interviews Stockett collected from the 'Help' may have worked in the book, the stories come off as dry recitations in the film. We don't actually experience the maids' stories visually—they are merely communicated to Skeeter during the interviews. Obviously, flashbacks wouldn't have worked during the interview scenes since there were too many of them. Stockett's other big problem with the 'Help' is that she's forced to place her main 'Help' characters on a pedestal. Yes Aibileen and Minny ARE victims but can they do no wrong? It may have been a more interesting story if "The Help" were REALLY told from their perspective. Stockett unfortunately is unable to make the Help's world come alive—do they actually have a back story? (the best we get is an allusion to Minny's "abusive" husband who never appears on screen). Or is everything defined by their relationship to the white world?
Stockett resorts to melodramatic form, by offering up storytelling akin to a decidedly unsubtle 'quid pro quo.' You have your evil Hilly and then you need to counter it with the ditsy but kind Cecelia Foote, another unbelievable character designed to prove that whites weren't all that bad during the era. Even Charlotte, Skeeter's mother, must be subject to Stockett's quid pro quo treatment (Charlotte channels Hilly when she banishes beloved family maid Constantin in order to appease her racist club members but then sticks up for Skeeter when Hilly tries to blackmail her daughter).
Worst of all are Stockett's male characters who are practically non-existent in the film. I didn't buy for one second that Skeeter would have actually been attracted to the boyfriend and gone out with him for a time. Wouldn't she have clarified from the beginning that he was a racist and had nothing to do with him?
For those who are interested in getting a better picture of black life during the civil rights era, can I recommend the classic 1964 picture, 'Nothing But a Man'? 'The Help' only seems to suggest that white people deserve more credit than they really should receive for aiding black people in their quest for social equality and justice.