With countless books and movies sexualizing women and depicting graphic violence, why are so many people focusing their energies on firing away at The Help? The story takes place in 1960s’ Mississippi, where an idealistic young woman bands together with the maids to reveal how they’re really being treated by the Southern belle bosses who happen to be her friends.
Critics say The Help once again glorifies — and I’m quoting a number of essays almost verbatim here – “a heroic white woman who comes along to help the poor black people who can’t help themselves.” They claim that the maid role is demeaning but pretty much the only one available for Hollywood’s African-American actresses.
They may be right on both those counts but I think they’re missing the big picture. The Help is, above all, about the importance of women sharing their stories with each other. Yes, Skeeter is able to give a voice to the maids — but they also give her one. They help her land the job of her dreams and empower her to leave the stifling South to pursue her passion. And although bubbly blond Celia hires Minny when no one else will and encourages her to leave her abusive husband, Minny also teaches Celia skills she sorely needs, giving her the confidence to face some hard truths. Not one of these women – white or black – could have achieved what they did without the help of the others.
Oh, it’s just like The Blind Side, the critics sneer, where rich, white Sandra Bullock takes in a poor, young black boy and enables him to become a star football player. Well, guess what? Leigh Anne Tuohy really did do that – and good for her. Shouldn’t she be applauded for giving Michael Oher the opportunity to excel? Who cares that she’s white and he’s black? Don’t we want people who have the means to help those who don’t?
I went to a screening at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center the other night of Stories From an Undeclared War, a powerful new documentary about the Freedom Writers. If you don’t know the story, in the mid-1990’s, teacher Erin Gruwell completely transformed the lives of 150 at-risk youths from Long Beach, California by believing in them, opening up the world of literature for them and giving them a safe haven to express themselves through journaling. She stayed with the same students throughout all four years of high school, and every single one of them graduated. Should we look scornfully upon her because she’s white and her students were predominantly African-American, Hispanic and Asian? Many did when the fictionalized movie about her came out with Hilary Swank as Erin. Why? Because she’s white? Is To Sir, With Love more acceptable because Sidney Poitier is a black teacher changing the lives of at-risk white students? Erin is a hero not because of her color but because, well, first of all, she’s real. The woman took her considerable talents and her gigantic heart, and she worked her ass off to literally save a group of kids who worried about being killed every time they left home – some of them even in their homes.
There are plenty of African-Americans who are changing lives and making a difference every day. There’s probably no one – black or white – more philanthropic than Oprah. I’m not talking about giving away cars or iPads. I’m talking about providing educations, creating foundations, building a leadership academy, and helping individuals – black and white – who are sick, who can’t pay their bills. Do we need more movies made about rich black people helping poor white people? Sure! But that doesn’t mean we should stop making movies like The Help or The Blind Side. We need more movies about people helping people, period.
I’m not African-American so I recognize there may be other sensitivities of which I’m not aware. I am Jewish, though, and I can tell you that I am grateful beyond words when Oskar Schindler saves a thousand Jews in Schindler’s List – even though he’s German. You can make a million Holocaust movies, real or fictionalized, and I’ll appreciate every time a German — or anyone else, for that matter — helps a Jew.
The point is we need to help each other, and we need to keep encouraging people to do so. Dismissing someone’s efforts as too easy – “oh, she’s rich,” “well, he has the connections” – is unfair and counterproductive.
Let’s listen to each other and be each other’s biggest support system. Ultimately, that’s what helping – and The Help – is all about.
Amen! All of the movies/books (all my faves) you cited are about people helping people with no regard to race. It is extremely unfortunate for all of us that “race” is still an issue in our country. Oh what a world we could create if it wasn’t still a stop stick thrown in the road of progress !
I agree with everything you wrote. I think the unfortunate thing about the world we are living in at the moment is this great big tendency to look for what is wrong instead of what is right and let that overshadow the good.
I think the issue is more that life turns out well for the writer –a job offer! but the maids were stuck in the same life–only now the white employers are even more suspicious. Nothing much had changed, really, except for Minny leaving her abusive husband, which granted, is a big deal. I didn’t see the writer acting as much out of idealism as opportunism. It’s a stretch to say she saw a wrong and tried to right it.
Regardless of anyone’s position on this, a book that sparks this much discussion (and now a movie, sparking even more) has done its job.
http://www.middle-aged-diva.blogspot.com
I agree to some extent, but I do think that, as a country, we still have a problem with giving white voices precedence. I read The Help, but haven’t seen the movie. While I enjoyed the book, it makes me uncomfortable that, once again, a white writer is launched to fame for writing black voices. We are still more comfortable with “the black experience” if it’s filtered through a white lens. It’s easier for a white writer to gain fame and recognition on a wide scale than it is for a black writer.
You are correct that we should focus on the mutual help that the women in the book and movie experience and the community that is built. You cannot ignore, however, that The Help falls victim to the same racial politics that have been going on for decades.
Couldn’t agree more……this is the story & the acting was superb by ALL the women.
http://therumpus.net/2011/08/the-solace-of-preparing-fried-foods-and-other-quaint-remembrances-from-1960s-mississippi-thoughts-on-the-help/
I was fortunate to see a preview of The Help, and especially enjoyed the way the women supported one another with enduring love and feistiness. They were strong, and I admired them all. Would that WE could all be so lucky to have such great friends. It’s about surviving, with as much love as possible. Not easy. And, when you fall, and we do, it’s about your sisters carrying you until you can again stand alone.
I grew up in Los Angeles. I was taught my mother’s African American help were due great respect, and those women were always good to me, teaching me many strengths and lessons of love and survival. My parents helped them, with homes, educations, money when in need, better jobs, and many other things.
My mother was from an old Virginia plantation family, and yes, they had slaves. During the Civil War, everyone worked to survive, and suffered equally, together. After this war, everyone stayed near, continuing to love and help each other. There was no place to go, for anyone. But they had land, and they could make a safe living there. The former slaves were important to my mother’s family, and it was considered they were due respect, security, protection, educations, plus a better future for their children.
This is another viewpoint I’ve experienced, different from the horrid and insecure women in 1960’s Mississippi. I wonder if anything much has changed? Likely not.
I didn’t interpret the plot of The Help to be white woman helping black servants. I think things were starting to happen, and Skeeter was having her own personal awakening. Her environment was one of status quo. Everyone, Black and White, knew the roles. Skeeter sensed change, but couldn’t know where it all would lead. I didn’t see her as wanting to be the savior of these women, and I didn’t see these bright, incredibly strong women as wanting to be on the cutting edge of the movement. It was more like the talking had a snowball effect, as it does when women of all colors open their thoughts to each other. The talking, sharing, gradual understanding of each other, and the eventual trust were a huge part of the story. The women’s relationships with each other and with their families changed as well, and they, not Skeeter, were the driving force,
It was not the 21st Century and can’t be seen in the context of today’s standards or cynicism. I remember that time, and it will always be a vivid memory for me, even though I was on the West Coast, not the South. There was a sense of excitement and change, as well as fear and questioning even in California. And then there were the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Movement. Remember how many of them were whites with the goal of helping the Blacks. That movement would not have worked without them. Yet no one felt a need to belittle them as whites who were saving blacks. How would we look at it now? As another example of whites thinking they could save the poor Blacks? The important part is the helping another, not the color of either.